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Authoritarian and Single-Party Tendencies in African Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Martin L. Kilson
Martin L. Kilson
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

With the exception of Libya, Egypt, the Sudanese Republic, and Ethiopia, where no political parties exist, some variation of the single-party political system or a distinctive tendency in that direction may be found in nearly all of the independent African states. That this should have come to pass within the relatively short period of the rise of African states has been a surprise to some observers of African nationalist movements and parties during the colonial period—who were rather sanguine about the prospects of Western-type democracy and party systems in Africa—as well as to the colonial powers themselves (especially Britain and France)—who presumably assumed that their policies of decolonization in Africa were providing the institutional framework within which Western-type party systems and politics would prevail.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , January 1963 , pp. 262 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1963

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References

1 My concern in this article is with independent African states in which the indigenous majority participates in government. Thus, Southern Rhodesia, which has had self-government since 1921, and the Republic of South Africa, independent since 1910, are not considered. It is noteworthy that though in these states a democratic system applies to parties and groups within the dominant white (minority) community, when viewed in reference to the overwhelming African majority these white parties constitute, for all practical purposes, a single-party system—a single political community—over and against the African majority. (Cf. Leys, Colin, European Politics in Southern Rhodesia [Oxford 1959].)Google Scholar They represent what may be termed an oligarchic single-party system, whose key feature is an alien minority that dominates political power, with a consequent absence of a meaningful franchise for the African majority. In this connection, Liberia is more akin to Southern Rhodesia and South Africa than to other African states, though its alien dominant minority is Negro, being of Negro-American slave origin.

2 Gosnell, Harold F., Grass Roots Politics (Washington, D.C., 1942), 7.Google Scholar

3 Most African parties tend to be of the caucus-type and even some mass-type parties include caucus-type features in their organizational structure—e.g., the UPS in Senegal and the Action Group in Western Nigeria. There does not appear to be any significant difference between the ability of a caucus-type and of a mass-type party to mobilize political support, as expressed in election turnout, through their rather different structures. (Cf. Hodgkin, Thomas, African Political Parties [London 1961], 68ff.Google Scholar Hodgkin's characterization of caucus-type parties—what he terms “elite parties”—as organizationally “more primitive” than the mass type would appear to suggest that the former are less politically effective than the latter.) Thus, in the Nigerian federal elections in 1959, the NPC—which is a caucus-type party of the purest sort—was able to manipulate local notables and their organizations (particularly Native Authorities) to effect a 93.7% registration of eligible voters in Northern Nigeria, whereas the mass-type party in the Eastern Region—the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons—secured a 75.7% registration; and only in the Western Region, where the Action Group, another mass-type party, prevails, did the proportion of eligible voters registered exceed that in the North—96.2%. Moreover, the percentage of the poll in the North was 89.4% (the NPC gained 61.2% of all votes), as against 75.3% in the East and 71.2% in the West. (See Report on the Nigeria Federal Elections, December 1959 [Lagos 1960], 6, 12, 24.)

4 See, e.g., Daily Times (Lagos, September 25, 1961), 1, and ibid. (October 7, 1961), 1, for an account of violence and murder accompanying local government elections in Western Nigeria and regional elections in Eastern Nigeria.

5 Evening News (Accra, October 23 and 25, 1961), 1.

6 Neumann, Sigmund, ed., Modern Political Parties (Chicago 1956), 400ff. Cf.Google ScholarRezette, R., Les Partis Politiques Marocains (Paris 1955), 314–16.Google Scholar

7 See Touré, Sékou, L'Action Politique du Parti Démocratique de Guinée (Paris 1959), 8–9.Google Scholar

8 See infra, 288ff.

9 Ould Daddah of the UPM, Sir Milton Margai of the SLPP, or Hamani Diori of the PPN do not compare with Nkrumah (CPP), Touré (PDG), Keita (Union Soudanaise) or Nyerere (TANU) in charismatic qualities and mass appeal.

10 For the legislative position of caucus-type parties in French-speaking Africa prior to independence, see Guillemin, Philippe, “La Structure des Premiers Gouvernements Locaux en Afrique Noire,” Revue Française de Science Politique (September 1959), 670–71.Google Scholar

11 See infra, 283ff.

12 Touré, 35, 216–18.

13 Ibid., 87–101. See also Touré, Sékou, Parti Démocratique de Guinée au Nom de la Révolution: Conférences Hebdomadaires, IX (Conakry 1962), 117–32.Google Scholar

14 Touré, , L'Action Politique du PDG, 218.Google Scholar

15 Quoted in West Africa (July 22, 1961), 799.

16 Nkrumah, Kwame, “What the Party Stands for,” The Party: CPP Monthly Journal (September 1960), 4–6.Google Scholar

17 Tawia Adamfio, “The New Party Structure,” ibid., 9–10.

18 Nkrumah, Kwame, Ghana (London 1959), vii.Google Scholar It is noteworthy that Nkrumah has also maintained that “capitalism is too complicated a system for a newly independent nation. Hence the need for a socialistic society.” (Ibid.)

19 Keita, Madeira, “Le Parti Unique en Afrique,” Présence Africaine (February–March 1960), 9Google Scholar, passim.

20 Touré, , L'Action Politique du PDG, 59.Google Scholar

21 Césaire, Aimé, “La Pensée Politique de Sékou Touré,” Présence Africaine (December 1959-January 1960), 70.Google Scholar

22 Quoted in ibid. See also Touré, Sékou, L'Expérience Guinéenne et Unité Africaine (Paris 1961), 401–2, 412, 420Google Scholar, passim. Cf. Baako, Kofi, Ghana's Conception of Socialism (Accra, June 14, 1961), 4–5Google Scholar, mimeo.

23 Nkrumah, , Ghana, viii.Google Scholar

24 See “We Demand One Party System,” Labour: Official Journal of the Trades Union, Congress (November–December 1961), 19.

25 Keita, 10, 11, 13. Cf. Touré, , L'Expérience Guinéenne, 353–54Google Scholar, passim.

26 Quoted in Le Monde, April 4, 1960. Cf. Keita, 7.

27 Keita, 9. Cf. Nyerere, J. K., “The Challenge of Independence,” East Africa and Rhodesia (December 7, 1961), 449.Google Scholar Cf. also Ghana Government, Statement by the Government on the Recent Conspiracy (Accra, December 11, 1961), 2Google Scholar: “Colonialism was responsible for producing a small reactionary Ghanaian ‘elite’ drawn from the professional classes and the agents and senior employees of the great merchant houses and educated to look at every social problem from an essentially colonial standpoint. They hoped on Independence to step into the shoes of the former colonial rulers but they had no intention of altering the social system which they hoped to inherit.” It is not altogether clear what Nyerere and the leaders in Mali and Guinea mean when they say that no classes exist in their countries, for in Touré's case he also speaks, and rather frequently, of “ouvriers et artisans, intellectuels et paysans, employés du secteur public et privé.…” (Touré, , L'Action Politique du PDG, 59Google Scholar, passim.) If these social categories do not constitute “social classes” and a “class structure” as understood in Western countries, they at least represent functional groups, each with its own peculiar needs and interests.

28 Quoted in Césaire, 71.

29 Keita, 11, 12–13. Cf. Touré, , L'Action Politique du PDG, 236–46Google Scholar; Nkrumah, , “What the Party Stands for”; Nyerere, 340.Google Scholar In a similar vein Julius Nyerere, leader of the Tanganyika African National Union, has stated: “We believe … that a second party will not need to grow, provided that a broad two-way channel of ideas and education is maintained through T.A.N.U. between the people and the Government. It is the establishment and maintenance of this channel of communication which is the real problem of democracy in Tanganyika, not the establishment of an artificial opposition.” (Ibid.)

30 Afrique Nouvelle (May 9, 1958), 1.

31 Touré, Sékou, La Lutte du P.D.G. pour l'Emancipation Africaine vi (Conakry, n.d.), 36.Google Scholar

32 Austin, Dennis, “Parties and Tradition in Ghana” (unpublished Seminar Paper, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, October 1959).Google Scholar

33 “Matchet's Diary,” West Africa (November 27, 1954), 1115. Cf. K. A. Busia, “The Gold Coast's Future,” ibid. (September 22, 1956), 742.

34 See “The Gold Coast Federalist,” ibid. (December 11, 1954), 1161. Cf. Busia, 742.

35 Cf. “Matchet's Diary,” 1115. In this very important correspondence, datelined Kumasi, David Williams reported that “… there are people here who are determined that if no Royal Commission is appointed they will create a situation, by whatever means, that will compel the British Government to appoint one. It is impossible to know how much importance to attach to phrases like ‘civil war,’ ‘bloody fight,’ or ‘no cooperation,’ or to the war cries which echo around Kumasi streets or in the villages when meetings are held. But there has been violence, there is much intimidation by the new movement, even of Chiefs, and attempts have been made to blow up buildings in Kumasi. … This is an extra-parliamentary movement, many of whose leaders openly repudiate the electoral method as unsuitable for Ashanti; even some highly educated young men speak of ‘our African way of doing things.’” (Italics added.) Cf. Hodgkin, Thomas, “African Political Parties and the Use of Violence” (unpublished Seminar Paper, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, October 1959)Google Scholar, in which Hodgkin says: “In the case of the NLM the use of violence seems fairly clearly to have been sanctioned by the party. …”

36 Report of the Commission Appointed under the Commissions of Enquiry Ordinance (Accra 1959), 26.

37 Ibid., 43.

38 See Touré, , L'Expérience Guinéenne, 209Google Scholar; West Africa (November 8, 1958), 1064.

39 Consequent upon this law, the main tribal, religious, and regional parties—viz., NLM, NPP, Muslim Association, and Ghana Congress Party—regrouped to form the United Party, which became the only opposition party in Ghana.

40 For background to the Fang tribal split, see Thompson, V. and Adloff, R., The Emerging States of French Equatorial Africa (Stanford 1961), 348ff.Google Scholar

41 For background to tribal differences in Dahomey politics, see Thompson, V. and Adloff, R., French West Africa (Stanford 1958), 143–44.Google Scholar

42 See “Les Partis Politiques en Afrique Noire et à Madagascar,” Chroniques de la Communauté (December 1959), 20–26.

43 See West Africa (April 25, 1959), 395; ibid. (January 7, 1961), 11.

44 Ibid. (February 20, 1959), 203.

45 See Thompson, and Adloff, , Emerging States, 490–92.Google Scholar

46 See Emerson, Rupert, “Pan-Africanism,” International Organization, XVI (Spring 1962), 275–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 Ghana, , Guinea, , and Mali comprise the UAS, which was formed in April 1961Google Scholar, and on a wider level of Pan-African grouping they constitute, along Egypt, widi, Algeria, , and Moroccon, , the so-called Casablanca Powers, established in January 1961.Google Scholar Some 21 African states comprise the Monrovia States—established in May 1961—including Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and all ex-French West and Equatorial African states (save UAS members), who themselves form the Brazzaville States, including Malagasy Republic. And within this latter grouping there is also the smaller Conseil de l'Entente comprising Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Upper Volta, and Niger.

48 Cf. Charter for the Union of African States (Accra, April 27–29, 1961), Article 3.

49 Speech by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah … at the Opening Session of the Conference on Positive Action for Peace and Security in Africa (Accra, April 7, 1960), 13, mimeo.

50 During his official visit to Sierra Leone in August 1960, Prime Minister Belewa of Nigeria declared that African states “should be united not by fusion … and if we insist on one country swallowing another, we shall have no peace in Africa.” (Sierra Leone Daily Mail, August 27, 1960, 3.) Similarly, Senghor of Senegal remarked during an official visit to Nigeria in February 1960 that a fundamental condition for Pan-African cooperation must be “to refuse interference in the internal affairs of another African state and consequently to respect its territorial integrity.” (Quoted in West Africa [February 18, 1961], 187.)

51 All-African People's Conference Resolution Regarding Frontiers, Boundaries and Federations—4th Committee (Accra, December 5–12, 1958), 7, mimeo.

52 Article 7 of the Charter for the Union of African States provides that the members “shall jointly ensure the defence of their territorial integrity.”.

53 See Speech by the Rt. Hon. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, 12.

54 Cf. Ntoloedibe, E. K., “Concept of Pan-Africanism,” Voice of Africa (Accra, August 1961), 26.Google Scholar Cf. also Baako, Kofi, “Nkrumahism: Its Theory and Practice,” The Party: CPP Journal (April 1961), 3–4.Google Scholar

55 La Liberté: Organe du PDG (Conakry, January 15, 1957), 1–3.

56 Le Cinquième Congrès National du Parti Démocratique de Guinée, 14–19 Septembre 1959, IV (Conakry, n.d.), 218.

57 “The Party: CPP Journal (May 1961), 14.

58 Quoted in L'Année Politique, 196o (Paris 1961), 372–73.

59 See Wallerstein, Immanuel, “What Happened to the Opposition?” West Africa (November 25, 1961), 1299.Google Scholar

60 See West Africa (June 3, 1961), 603; Willcox, S., “President Ould Daddah Consolidates His Position,” Africa Report (March 1962), 7.Google Scholar

61 Ghanaian Times (October 30, 1959).

62 See Decraene, Philippe, “La République du Togo …,” Chroniques de la Communauté (May 1960), 24–26.Google Scholar

63 Quoted in West Africa (October 7, 1961), 1107; ibid. (December 9, 1961), 1359.

64 See Wallerstein, “What Happened to the Opposition?”.

65 Members of the UAS also have strong Presidential systems of government, and Nigeria, a leading member of the Monrovia States, has given consideration to such a system. (See Daily Times [Lagos, December 1, 1961], 1.) As regards the nature of the African Presidential system generally, other factors besides the political insecurity of Pan-African politics have contributed to it, among which is the desire for an easily definable focal point of government and power that can act swiftly, and within a wide range, in the many emergency situations that inevitably plague developing states.

66 Constitution de la République de la Côte d'lvoire (Law No. 60–356 of November 3, 1960), Articles 8, 12, 13, 18, 19, 21, 53.

67 See, e.g., Loi Constitutionnelle Promulgant la Constitution de la République Gabonaise (November 14, 1960). Text of this and other constitutions in French-speaking Africa are found in Revue Juridique et Politique d'Outre-mer (April–June 1961), 225–333.

68 Seurin, Jean-Louis, “Elites Sociales et Partis Politiques d'A.O.F.,” Annales Africaines, 1958 (Paris 1958), 154.Google Scholar

69 Martin L. Kilson, “Political Parties in Sierra Leone,” in James S. Coleman, ed., Political Groups in Middle Africa (forthcoming).

70 Coleman, James S., Nigeria (Berkeley 1958), 380.Google Scholar

71 See The Constitution of Northern Nigeria, 1960, Secs. 27, 28, 74. Cf. The Constitution of Western Nigeria, 1960, Sec. 27; The Constitution of Eastern Nigeria, 1960, Secs. 26, 27.

72 Quoted in West Africa (December 26, 1959), 1129.

73 Quoted in Whitaker, G. S. Jr, “Three Northern Nigerian Political Leaders” (unpublished MS., 1960), 22Google Scholar; italics added. Dr. Whitaker's paper contains an excellent analysis of political thought in Northern Nigeria.

74 Proceedings of the Eleventh Meeting of the Protectorate Assembly (Freetown 1955), 14.

75 Quoted in Daily Times (Lagos, September 27, 1960), 21.

76 Proceedings of … the Protectorate Assembly, 13–14.

77 For the political ideology of NEPU, see Whitaker, “Three Northern Nigerian Political Leaders”; and for that of KPM, see Kilson, “Political Parties in Sierra Leone.”

78 “NEPU Prepares,” West Africa (February 18, 1961), 174.

79 Quoted in Daily Times (Lagos, December 28, 1961), 7; italics added.

80 There is not space to consider the colonial context out of which this governmental system evolved, but see my forthcoming volume, Political Change in a West African State.

81 Cf. Smith, M. G., The Economy of Hausa Communities of Zaria (London 1955), 170–71.Google Scholar In Ghana and Guinea, where mass-type parties rule, this traditional element in the modern political system has been significantly neutralized—as in Ghana—or destroyed—as in Guinea—and is thus not a factor making for authoritarian tendencies in these states. This is not the case, however, in all states where mass-type parties rule.

82 Apter, David, The Political Kingdom in Uganda (Princeton 1961), 476–77.Google Scholar

83 Cf. Smith, 92ff., 170. Cf. also Smith, M. G., Government in Zazzau (London 1960), 277–93. esp. 291–93.Google Scholar

84 Apter, 477.

85 Cf. Hill, Christopher, The Century of Revolution, 1603–1714 (London 1961), 119–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar, passim.

86 McKenzie, R. T., British Political Parties (New York 1955), 4, 6Google Scholar; see also pp. 164ff. I am indebted to a discussion of these matters with Professor Samuel H. Beer.

87 These 19 states are: Congo (ex-French), Central African Republic, Dahomey, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Northern Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika, Tchad, Togo, Tunisia, and Upper Volta.

88 See Daily Times (Lagos, October 4, 1961), 1; ibid. (January 2, 1962), 10.

89 Quoted in Hughes, Tony, “Tanganyika on the Eve,” Africa South (October-December 1861), 71.Google Scholar

90 Constitution de la République de la Côte d'lvoire, 1960, Article 6. Cf. Professor Coleman's emphasis upon ethnic and tribal pluralism as an obstacle to the rise of authoritarian African governments, in Almond, Gabriel A. and Coleman, James S., eds., The Politics of the Developing Areas (Princeton 1960), 368.Google Scholar

91 See Barbour, Neville, A Survey of Northwest Africa (Oxford 1960), 318–19.Google Scholar

92 See West Africa (March 11, 1961), 263.

93 Cf. Decraene, Philippe, “Guinée An IV: La Révolte des Intellectuels,” Le Monde (December 29, 1961), 4.Google Scholar Cf. also Afrique Nouvelle (July 27-August 2, 1962), 4, for an account of the Mali government's handling of “those who have manifested their opposition to the monetary decision [i.e., the nationalization of the Mali franc] of the party and the government.”

94 Quoted in West Africa (February 24, 1962), 215.

95 See Daily Times (Lagos, August 9, 1962), 1, 3, 9–10. See also West Africa (September 15, 1962), 1027.

96 Yace, Philippe, “Le Parti,” Fraternité (Abidjan, August 4, 1961), 8.Google Scholar

97 Evening News (January 12, 1962), 8.

98 Cf. Wallerstein, Immanuel, Africa: The Politics of Independence (New York 1961), 161–67Google Scholar, passim.

99 Cf. Schacter, Ruth, “Single-Party Systems in West Africa,” American Political Science Review, LV (June 1961), 304–7.Google Scholar

100 Ibid., 304.

101 Cf. Mayo, H. B., An Introduction to Democratic Theory (New York 1960), 220ff.Google Scholar

102 Mair, L. P., “Social Change in Africa,” International Affairs, XXXVI (October 1960), 456Google Scholar; italics added. Cf. Friedrich, Carl J., Constitutional Government and Democracy (Boston 1941), 8ff.Google Scholar; “In the evolution of our Western World … national unification had to precede constitutionalism.”

103 Wallerstein, , Africa, 163, 166.Google Scholar

104 Touré, Sékou, “Message to the Nation … on the Occasion of the New Year, January 10th, 1962,” in The International Policy of the Democratic Party of Guinea, VII (Conakry, n.d.), 219–20.Google Scholar This “Message” is not printed in the French edition of this volume; see Touré, , La Politique Internationale du Parti Démocratique de Guinée, VII (Conakry 1962).Google Scholar