5 - Introduction to Zambia

Summary

This chapter begins the second section of the book, which tests the main empirical implications of the book's theory drawing on within-country variation in Zambia. It begins by providing a very brief history of both democracy and the chieftaincy in Zambia, explaining how these histories make the country fairly representative of sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. But there are also some distinct advantages of studying the Zambian case, and I describe these in the next section of this chapter. Then I explain the research methods employed to collect and analyze the Zambian data. Finally, I paint a picture of chiefs' day-to-day work in Zambia and describe the conditions under which they have incentives to facilitate the development of their communities.

Zambia's Experiments in Democracy

Zambia's history of democratic elections closely parallels continent-wide trends. Democracy spread across sub-Saharan Africa during the period of decolonization, and Zambia's first elections were held in 1964 in preparation for the country's independence from Britain. The United National Independence Party (UNIP), led by Kenneth Kaunda, easily won both these elections and follow-up elections in 1968. In a development that was common across British colonies, he changed the parliamentary system the country inherited from Britain into a system with both a directly elected president and a legislature elected from single-member constituencies.

Most countries in Africa experienced democratic reversals in the decade following independence, and Zambia was no exception. By 1972, President Kaunda was worried about the electoral gains two opposition parties, the African National Congress (ANC) and the United Progressive Party (UPP), were making in the south and north of the country, respectively. He solved the political threat by banning the UPP, convincing the ANC to merge with UNIP in return for cabinet representation, and declaring the country a single-party state. For the next nineteen years, UNIP was the only permitted political party in the country. Elections continued to be held, but all contestants were required to be members of UNIP.

A political opening did not occur until the third global wave of democracy in the early 1990s. Following the introduction of austerity measures in the late 1980s, Kaunda's government faced increasing opposition. A series of riots in 1990 provided the impetus for a coalition of civil society groups, including business, labor, and church organizations, to organize as the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD).