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This book presents a cross-regional comparative study of the role of capital cities and urbanization in the rise of authoritarianism. It explores the multiple ways in which authoritarian regimes have been attempting to build and sustain long-term dominance, drawing on six diverse case studies from Africa and Asia.
In Zambia’s Youths and the 2021 General Election: Rescuing Democracy through Activism and Social Media, Emmanuel Matambo examines democracy in Zambia and shows how Zambia’s youth voters became the central focus during the 2021 election. Matambo analyzes the importance of social media leading up to the election, as well as the role of music, youth protests, and the youths influence on registered voters, that allowed for the end of the Patriotic Front’s (PF) decade in power. Through interviews and qualitative data, he highlights the outspokenness and activism of the youth and how they went above and beyond to ensure that the United Party for National Development (UPND) won the election. Further, this book argues that the large number of votes for the UPND during the election was not due to enthusiastic support from the voters, but rather was a rejection of the PF and was support for the party that had the most chance of ousting the PF. Matambo provides a detailed discussion of Zambia’s 2021 election and reflects on the power of the youth vote.
This book interrogates the ideology and practices of liberal constitutionalism in the Zambian postcolony. The analysis focuses on the residual political and governmental effects of an imperial form of power, embodied in the person of the republican president, termed here prerogativism. Through systematic, long-term ethnographic engagement with Zambian constitutionalist activists – lawyers, judges and civic leaders – the study examines how prerogativism has shaped the postcolonial political landscape and limited the possibilities of constitutional liberalism. This is revealed in the ways that repeated efforts to reform the constitution have sidelined popular participation and thus failed ...
Democracy and Electoral Politics in Zambia aims to comprehend the current dynamics of Zambia’s democracy and to understand what was specific about the 2015/2016 election experience. While elections have been central to understanding Zambian politics over the last decade, the coverage they have received in the academic literature has been sparse. This book aims to fill that gap and give a more holistic account of contemporary Zambian electoral dynamics, by providing innovative analysis of political parties, mobilization methods, the constitutional framework, the motivations behind voters’ choices and the adjudication of electoral disputes by the judiciary. This book draws on insights and ...
This book leaves no stone unturned in its comprehensive examination of the complex challenges surrounding academic freedom in Africa. Drawing on diverse perspectives and methodologies, it delves into the historical, philosophical, legal, and socio-political dimensions shaping academic freedom across the continent. The authors grapple with colonial legacies, tensions between Western and African notions of intellectual liberty, government authoritarianism, and institutional constraints that hinder open discourse and the pursuit of knowledge. The book highlights systemic obstacles and promising avenues for progress through case studies, comparative analysis, and empirical research, such as constitutional reforms, scholar activism, and regional networks. This thought-provoking volume offers critical insights into the state of academic freedom in Africa, emphasising the necessity of supporting African voices and agencies in the quest for meaningful intellectual autonomy. Academic Freedom in Africa is an essential read for students, scholars, policymakers, and anyone concerned with the future of higher education and democracy on the continent.
This debate style textbook allows students to explore diverse, well-founded views on controversial African issues, pushing them to go beyond superficial interpretations and complicate and ground their understanding of the continent. From the positive images in the film Black Panther, to the derogatory remarks of former American President Donald Trump, the African continent often figures prominently in the collective, global imagination. This interdisciplinary collection covers 20 enduring and contemporary debates across a broad range of subjects affecting Africa, from development and health to agriculture, climate change, and urbanization. Each chapter has a pro and con view penned by a lead...
Violence in election campaigns is common across the African continent and beyond. According to some estimations, most African elections contain some degree of violence and most of this violence happens before elections, during the campaign. While campaign violence is a common problem, it affects citizens differently across localities. When violence and intimidation become an integral part of election campaigns in a locality, they become tools of sub-national authoritarianism that may effectively dismantle local democracy. This book focuses on the political geography of election violence in Africa, building on one important observation: elections in many African countries are highly regional ...
Cobra in the Boat is a riveting account of how one of Zambia's most controversial presidents got to power and how he governed while in office. Michael Chilufya Sata was a populist with huge ambitions for his country. Few of these ambitions were actually realized because of Sata's poor health and his premature death. The political chaos that followed the president's demise was a direct consequence of Sata's failure to pay attention to constitutional detail. The book shows how this crisis could have been averted. Sata's penchant for dismissing theoretical detail as a waste of time had consequences in other areas of national life. The ill-conceived pay rise for already privileged public servant...
A radical new approach to understanding Africa's elections: explaining why politicians, bureaucrats and voters so frequently break electoral rules.
This book sheds light on structural drivers that led to the Chinese omnipresence in African infrastructure markets and offers a strategic-relational approach to the study of African agency in Sino-African infrastructure encounters. Case studies cover the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Zambia’s road sector as well as Tanzania’s Bagamoyo port and Standard Gauge Railway. It is shown that African (state) agency in the infrastructure sector is contingent upon dynamic state-society relations and distinct political-economic contexts and constraints. The book problematises contradictions related to infrastructure debt, the emergence of Sino-African public-private partnerships and the intensifying geopolitics-cum-geoeconomics of infrastructure across Africa.