Unrepresentative 'Democracy': One-Party Rule in Zambia, 1973-1990

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Periodical article

Title:	Unrepresentative 'Democracy': One-Party Rule in Zambia, 1973-1990
Author:	Mushingeh, Chiponde
Year:	1994
Periodical:	Transafrican Journal of History (ISSN 0251-0391)
Volume:	23
Pages:	117-141
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Zambia Central Africa
Subjects:	one-party systems Politics and Government politics democracy political science history
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/24520273
Abstract:	In Zambia, one-party rule under the label of 'one-party participatory democracy' was imposed by the United National Independence Party (UNIP) government in December 1972. This paper examines the historical record of the system over the period 1973-1990, arguing that one-party rule, contrary to the pronouncements of its proponents, was not meant to achieve national unity, peace and prosperity, but to perpetuate the rule of a political class over the majority of the people. Instead of a true 'participatory democracy', one-party rule in Zambia was characterized by political and economic exclusiveness, arbitrariness and violence against the 'enemies' of the system, corruption and patronage, and the destruction of both the economy and civil society. The system invited opposition from a cross-section of society and by 1990, one-party rule had lost its legitimacy and came to an end. Notes, ref., sum.