Development and International Relations Aalborg University 2008 Beyond Free and Fair

Aalborg, June 2008-06-30

Master ProgramDevelopment and International Relations

10th Semester June 2008

Supervisor: Vibeke Andersson

Beyond Free and Fair -A change in standards.

The European Observer Mission at the 2004 Malawi election

Thesis made by:

Michael Bjørn Poulsen (DK) --------------------------------------

1

Abstract The world today, is a world filled with democracies dotting the landscapes on the planet. It was

not always so, despite the fact that the ancient Greeks have monopolized the origins of

democracy, the employment of democracy as a form of government is a rather new invention.

Today democracy has become a well used phrase that covers all matters of sin, and is vigorously

promoted. However, all democracies have one common trait: elections.

This present thesis attempts to scrutinize the international election observers resent change in

electoral standards, by devoting itself to answering the research question of: Why did the EU EOM

abandon the term “free and fair” in the 2004 Malawi election, instead of a broader “will of the

people and democracy progress” standard.

The research question is attempted answered by focusing on one election in Malawi where to the

European Union dispatched an election observer mission in 2004.

The analysis of the case is divided into two separate parts, one descriptive and another

exploratory. The two parts of the analysis is perceived each to provide a separate understanding of

the change in standards, by applying Robert Dahl’s conceptual framework for democracy, to both

standards, the thesis will illustrates which kind of democracy each standard is promoting. The

descriptive part of the analysis describes the free and fair standard and the exploratory investigates

the new standard. In order to bring nuances to the analysis a postcolonial perspective is applied

together with theories of Soft power and Neo-liberalism.

2

Abbreviations/ Acronyms

IR: International relations: a branch of the science, it deals with the study of foreign affairs of and relations among states within an international system

OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development DAC: Development Assistance Committee UN: United Nations CSCE: Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe DEVE: European Parliament Committee on Development and cooperation G8: "Group of Eight" or “Group of Seven + Russia” is an international forum for the

governments of Italy, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

WB: The World Bank IMF: The International Monetary Fund WTO: World Trade Organization MCP: Malawi Congress Party UDF: United Democratic Front NCD: National Congress for Democracy DPP: Democratic Progressive Party MBC: Malawi Broadcasting Cooperation ACP: African, Caribbean and Pacific states that are signatories of the Lomè convention, a

trade for Aid agreement. EU EOM: European Union Election Observation Mission RP: Republican Party NRP: New Republican Party CotRoM: Constitution of the Republic of Malawi ODIHR: Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights UDHR: Universal Declaration of Human Rights RotCOG: Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group UNDP: United Nations Development Program TI: Transparency International, a global civil society organisation that monitors corruption MEJN: Malawi Economic Justice Network IPU: Inter-Parliamentary Council EPA: Economic Partnership Agreement

3

Table of context Title page 1

Abstract 2

Abbreviations/ Acronyms 3

Table of context 4

Why Elections? 6

Methodology 10

Aim of the thesis 10Holistic case study 10The choice of case 10Reliability and Validity 12The argument for choice of theories 12Casual diagram of the thesis 15Explanation of thesis causal figure 15Structure of the thesis 15Delimitations 16

Definition of central concepts 17Good governance concept 17The Free and fair concept 18The terminology of “will of the people and democracy progress” in elections 20

Theoretical framework 21

Neo-liberalism and Soft power 21Soft Power is attractive 24A note on absolute and relative gains 26Postcolonialism 26A note on eurocentricity 29Postcolonialism and good governance 30Critique of Postcolonialism 31Robert Dahl’s conceptual framework for Democracy 32

The contextual and Historical Background of Elections in Malawi 37

The gloomy history of Malawi 37Autocracy clad in democracy 37A way in through the ACP states 38Democracy in the making the 1994 and 1999 Malawi elections 39The 2004 Elections 41The election observed 42Development in Malawi 46Manoeuvring for rent seeking in Malawi Politics 47Malawi’s electorally roundabout 48

Analysis 49

Readers guide to the analysis 49

Descriptive part of the analysis 49Into a world of free and fair 49Free and fair applied in the 2004 election 51

4

Summary of the findings 53

Exploratory part of the analysis 53Robert Dahl and the EU EOM assessment 53The new rhetoric in commenting on elections by the EU EOM 54New standards assessed 56The attraction of elections 57Post colonial? Or post independence? 57The burden of the white man 58A Neo–liberalist perspective 59Summary of the exploratory part 60Comparing the descriptive and the exploratory parts 61

Conclusion 62

Bibliography 63

Printed literature 63

Online databases 65

Appendix 68

Appendix 1 68Appendix 2 69Appendix 3 70

Figure 1 Causal correlation of the thesis 15

Table 1 Why institutions are necessary in states that are aspiring to become polyarchies. 35Table 2 Regional votes in the Malawi general election 1994. 40Table 3 regional votes in the Malawi general election 1999 40Table 4 regional votes in the Malawi general election 2004 41

5

Why Elections?

“The world must be made safe for democracy” was the words of the American President

Woodrow Wilson just before he committed America to the Allied side of World war one. And the

focus on democracy from the Western world has newer since diminished. Much speaks in favor of

the democratic form of government, it is an open forum wherein disputes can be resolved without

the desperate grasping for violent solutions and despots have a harder time avoiding being held

accountable.

Democracy has long been viewed as the most acceptable form of government for both the

international community and for the citizens of the Western nations. The promotion of democracy

has been a keystone in many Western nations’ agenda for the last couple of decades.

As stated above much hope is pinned on the notion of democracy, and it has been aggressively

promoted for almost two decades on the non democratic states of the world. To the extent, that

today 62% of the world governments are considered democracies. Furthermore older institutions,

such as monarchies, are considered antique, and institutions of communism and fascism have

been utterly discredited (Zakaria 2003: 13).

Democracies are founded on elections they are an inescapable part of the institution and cannot

survive without it. To the extend today, that if nations fail to hold a competitive multiparty

election we call them undemocratic (Zakaria 2003: 19). The growth of the acceptance of

democracies worldwide has meant a growing focus on elections, in fact it has become acceptable

that intergovernmental organizations routinely monitor elections under the clause of promoting

democracies (Bjornlund 2004: 31). This suggests a strange condition of cross-boundary

involvement in a clearly domestic affair (Santa.Cruz 2005: xi). Part of the reason for that is the

international legitimacy that elections can create. That is based on international contracts, most

notably The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that the “will of the people shall

be the basis of the authority of government” as “expressed in periodic and genuine elections”

(UDHR Article 21. 3). Other intergovernmental organizations have adopted the standard and

thereby granting even more legitimacy to the act of elections. Furthermore elections can

contribute to respect and compliance with other international rights. In addition competitive

elections can create significant changes to a struggling democratic regime without violence. And

elections can for developing nations be a catalyst in generating citizen involvement in public

6

affairs, including citizen groups that have previously been excluded. And lastly Elections create

the framework for political competiveness that would often have been more violent without

elections. In short elections generate international and internal legitimacy and domestic stability

(Bjorndlund 2004: 34).

Nonetheless, elections have not, by default, been successful in creating democracies. There are

unfortunate examples where elections have not contributed to the promotion of democracy, even

when taken into consideration that there have been a tendency for a deliberate transition from

authoritarianism towards a democratic governing system. This is due to the inherit nature of

elections, which are conflict-ridden, given that election provide the battlefield for state control, it

can work as a valve letting the people fight with arguments within rules and procedures that

otherwise would not be possible in an autocratic regime. However, elections are also an instigator

of strife especially in developing democracies. There are good examples of where elections have

been accused of exacerbate conflicts and undermining the democratic process they try to promote.

This can be argued, was the case in Rwanda where the very prospect of an election has been a

factor in the genocide there (Reilly 2008: 164) Additionally post conflict elections have had the

unfortunate effect that they have resulted in the states elite being cemented in power (Zakaria

2003: 19), effectually precluding a rule by the people.

Another critique of elections is that it has not yielded a clear success in all cases. It is true that

consolidated democracies has been less prone to large scale wars, but states, that are going

through the process of becoming democracies, are more prone to war both internally and

externally (Reilly 2008: 163). Elections in new democracies have had an unfortunately tendency

to entrench a political landscape in the favour an “us against them” atmosphere, leading to a

political zero-sum game, which can initiate a long term political exclusion of minorities. This

happens when elections create a hegemonic control over the political apparatus including the

monopoly of force (Ibid).

However, regular elections can still become a measure stone for approval of a government or a

president’s policy and thereby giving legitimacy for the continual of old policies or the legitimacy

of new policies (Geisler 1993: 613). This is deemed especially important in developing

democracies that have undergone a time of turbulence. Furthermore elections, which lead to

democracy, are increasingly seen as the silver bullet for international terrorism (Zakaria 2003:

13). What's more, elections are increasingly used as a gate keeper for aid organizations, since

elections can grant a regime a clean bill of health, which makes it legitimate for donor

7

organizations to begin funding development initiatives. As an example the EU has promised the

state of Malawi € 451 millions in the period 2008-13 in donor aid (EC 2008), provided that

Malawi continue it is dedication to development (Country Strategy Paper 2008. 1-2).

Elections have become more and more important for both the furthering of the democratic idea

and the bettering of the lives of people in developing countries. Developing nations often vowed

themselves to the idea of democracy, yet some governments have often been implicated in making

use of the state machinery in their own favor, which makes the idea of democracy seems hollow.

In that case election monitors assume the role, in elections, of a democracy police (OSCE/ODIHR

2007: 76 & Geisler 1993: 613).

Election monitors have, in the past, come from different organizations ranging from supranational

sponsors in the form of election monitors from the UN OSCE, Commonwealth nations, to local

monitors from native civil rights groups. All international observers monitor the conduct of both

state and voters at elections. Where after they pass judgment on the proceedings of the election,

based on standards and practices that they assume is strengthening the democratic institutions by

granting legitimacy to the elected government. But, most importantly, observes and monitors

register if the actions of the voters correspond with the idea of democracy.

It was with this in mind that the European Union dispatched an election monitoring mission

(EOM) to the state of Malawi in Southern Africa. The EU have through its ACP partners

committed itself to monitor elections for building capacity and legitimacy as part of an overall EU

agenda on promoting good governance in developing states (EU EOM 2004: 5-6 & EC 2008).

One of the guidelines, that was used in promoting democracy, is the notion of a free and fair

election. As Huntington proclaims: “Elections, open, free and fair, are the essence of democracy,

the inescapable sine qua non1” (Huntington Quoted in Zakaria 2003: 7). Free and fair elections

have been seen as the standard norm to enter into the society of democracies. Free and fair

elections were seen as the standard election criterion for an election result granting legitimacy

towards the new government. However, the term “free and fair” has been exposed to criticism to

the extent that the notion is now not always used by election observers. -So is the meaning of

1 Sine qua non: is a Latin legal term that translates as: "(a condition) without which it could not be" or "but for..." Huntington here

refers to democracy cannot be without elections.

8

elections diminished or is it democracy, or has something else happened that have made the

notion obsolete? Or has there simply been created a better alternative?

Election monitors and elections observers from international organizations have increasingly been

abandoning the free and fair notion, for the benefit of more vague standards that have made

statements that relate more to an intention of the voters or statements of whether an election have

been conducted along the lines in the spirit of democracy or according to the will the voters.

The European Union election observer mission to the 2004 Malawi election is an example of this,

they did not apply the free and fair standard, and in fact very strongly objected to the former

president Muluzi statement that the EU EOM had proclaimed the elections for free and fair (EU

EOM 2004: 46).

On the above puzzlement, I will, for this project operate with this research question: Why did the

EU EOM abandon the term “free and fair” in the 2004 Malawi election, instead of a broader

“will of the people and democracy progress” standard.

9

MethodologyThis methodology chapter will look at the overall structure of the thesis and pays especial

attention to some definitions of some of the major terms and concepts that are used in the thesis. I

will furthermore describe the clarification and justification of each chapter and their application in

the thesis. Thereafter the thesis’ delimitations will be assessed.

Aim of the thesisFollowing a deduction from the previous chapter, the aim of the thesis is to analyze the impact on

democracy in developing states, from the change from the free and fair standard to a broader

spectrum of progress towards democracy by election monitors. Essentially what impact does the

change in standards of evaluation elections have on the developing democracies? To cover the

field of research the thesis’s analysis is divided into two parts: a descriptive and an exploratory.

The descriptive part will try to map out the developing democracies elections and the use of the

free and fair standard, but also to situate the practice of the free and fair standard within the

context that it was/is applied. The explanatory part is the main focus of the analysis where the

focus will be placed on the case where the different standard is applied. Then a comparing of the

two standards is made.

Both the descriptive and the explanatory are considered equally important in regards to the

research question.

Holistic case studyThe thesis makes use of a case study design based on empirical data in order to try to generalize

the findings of the project into a wider debate on elections and democracy. The thesis makes use

of mutually supplementing theories which are used instrumentally to explore a greater

understanding and explanation of the descriptive background and the empirical case.

The choice of caseIn the processes of choosing a case several considerations have been taken into consideration. It

was important to choose a case that did not have special conditions, that did not allow it to use to

be generalized into a larger debate but on the other hand it were not to be a case, that falls into the

“goodness of fit category” where the case is chosen on the basis of its applicability. The choice of

Malawi as a case was made due to its history which has followed the general history of

10

developing democracies that have undergone a political liberalization and economic liberalization

in tandem. Prior to that, Malawi has felt the currents from the ending of the cold war which

created a sudden demand for multi party democracy and an open market economic. Furthermore

by the fact that the regional superpower of South Africa abolished apartheid the expectations were

high for the stability and peace in the region that would generate democratic governance and

economic development (Matlosa 2008: 119).

Furthermore the choice of Malawi as a representative of good governance through elections has

been made on the basis of the stats inconspicuous nature, meaning it is neither a failed state,

meaning a state, which state apparatus has collapsed and are unable to the further its own

development, nor a state which shows a significant progress towards democracy. Malawi falls in

between those two categories, as many of the states in Africa do. Furthermore Malawi shares

much of the common history of most developing states, especially those found in Africa.

In additions Malawi is blessed with few ethnic and religious clashes2, although they most likely

provide a variable, but it is estimated that the impact of religion and Malawi’s ethnic diversity is

not significant enough to influence the analysis3.

In regards to the Malawi elections, its election history shows that Malawi has held elections in

1994 and 1999 where the free and fair standard has been applied, and in the 2004 election the free

and fair standard was changed to a broader terminology by some of the international observers.

The 2004 observer delegations were dispatch from the EU, the AU, EISA and the Commonwealth

of Nations. The delegations from the AU and EISA’s significance is somewhat diminish in the

thesis due to the size of their delegations and their influence on the donor community in regards to

continual good governance funding, furthermore the EU is a donor of both agencies (EISA 2008 c

& EU 2005: 9). Furthermore the EU delegation assessments is emphasise due to the large amount

of donor aid that Malawi is dependent on receiving from the EU (EU 2006: 31 & Appendix No.

1).

It is here important to note that the EU EOM mission, makes use of the same methodology and

principles that is employed by the OSCE’s ODIHR (Appendix No.2), and therefore the use of

2The worse religious fear noted was that the Christian majority would find itself in a Muslim state during Bakili Muluzi presidency however, his chosen successor Bingu wa Mutharika is a Catholic Christian. In regard to the Ethnic diversity of Malawi, one must assess that Malawi is a homogenous nation despite the fact the there a different ethnic groupings hold majority in separate regions then the recent success for political parties to broaden their voter base into other ethnic groups speak of a growing Malawi national identity (Kaspin 1995: 602) 3 Kalipeni’s article from 1997 stipulated that ethnic affiliation did not become a variable in the 1994 Malawi election (Kalipeni 1997: 154).

11

OSCE handbook for elections is applied, as well as material gathered from both the OSCE and the

ODIHR online databases used, despite the fact the they normally only operate within OSCE

states.

On the basis of the above reflections Malawi would be an ideal case, as a representative for

southern Africa’s development progress through elections.

Reliability and Validity Although the case that I make use of are, of cause, in no way representatives of the entire

developing world that make use of elections monitors, however, the case will be able to highlight

areas that need further consideration in regard to democracy promotion. As the analysis will show

there are large cultural, economic and historical differences to be taken into consideration;

however, the developing discourse that lays the foundation for the use of observers and monitors

at elections to influence the establishment of democracies is in this thesis an area of interest. Some

arguments or speculations might have more or less relevance for specific states, but in general

terms the thesis should be able to be generalized into any democratic progress considerations. The

generalization of the paper is specifically made possible through the underlying ideology of

democracy exercise by the monitoring organizations. And likewise with the practices that they, to

a large extend, make use of in promoting democracy.

The projects main focus on the role of election monitors and elections can distort the greater

picture of democracy development; however, the focus on election observers and monitors in the

thesis is there, in order to explore the research field thoroughly.

The argument for choice of theories There are many different concepts of democratic theory and how to apply it. Even within the

Western hemisphere there exists different notion’s of what democracy is and how one is to

analyze democracy. Democracy has become progressively more important since the increase of

democracy is rising after the cold war, where democratic rule have been increasingly imposed by

the Western world on the developing world. Generally the exported version of democracy has

been the European liberal model, which has been mostly unsuccessfully applied to Africa in

particular (Carew 2006:22).

The debate on democracies is a key concept in the thesis and is held up to Robert Dahl’s ideal

democracy. An ideal democracy framework is used in order to avoid grounding the thesis’

12

ontological perspective in a Western concept of what democracy is, in this I am working on the

assumption that the concept of democracy is dominated by a Western approach and an Western

kind of thinking (Hede 2004: 185 & Keane 2005: 4-5), something that could be an obstacle for the

development of the South. The Western concept of democracy is very much linked to the liberal

democracy where the focus areas are the individual’s rights, and there is much emphasis on the

competitive political system of different parties, universal suffrage and elections, the Western

concept of democracy consider any deviant from the focus areas abnormal (Rothchield 2000: 11).

By evaluating which elements are sought out by elections monitors in promoting election I will be

able to identify which elements of democracy they are foremost promoting. Therefore the concept

of democracy is not defined beforehand, but becomes conceptualized through the guidelines that

the election monitors evaluate elections. The definition will then aimed at becoming as non-

positivistic ontological as possible.

In regard to democratic theory the conceptualized framework made by Robert Dahl is used as an

ideal democracy, through his seven assumptions and minimum of institutions (Hede 2004: 186). It

is with Dahl’s assumptions and institutions in mind that we look upon the recommendations and

remarks of the monitor organizations, in order to see which assumptions and which institutions

they emphasis and if it can promote democracy and good governance. However, in the concept of

the ideal democracy lies the notion that there is an end-game evolutionary goal but it is non

achievable, how close or how far then becomes a somewhat normative judgement. Using Dahl’s

concepts on democracies helps the descriptive and the explanatory parts in trying to decipher

what, if any, kind of democracy election monitors are trying to promote.

Neo-liberalism theory is applied in the thesis to provide an understanding of how states act within

the realm of international politics. It helps to describe and understand the actions or demands of

governments and large institutions such as election observer’s organizations. It also aid’s in

describing why states cooperate and why the cooperation sometimes does not work. Neo-

liberalism is applied in the exploratory part of the analysis.

Soft power as a branch off the neo-liberal theory, applied to illustrate the actions of the monitor

organisations that generally are used by Western democracies in promoting democracy in

developing states. The choice of theory demonstrates a belief there are actors besides states as

active entities in world politics. The soft power concepts explanatory power makes it applicable to

13

the exploratory part the analysis. It is, however, important to note that it is an IR theory that is

based on a state–centric approach and thereafter has expanded into the field of non-state actors,

they are, however, still secondary to states (Keohane 1989: 8). Focuses tent to be prone to

analyzing IR from a top down perspective neglecting a bottom up perspectives (Dunne 2001:

170).

Postcolonialism theory helps providing an alternative to the state-centric and top down

perspective of soft power and neo-liberalism (Dirlik 2005: 561-563), which has been dominated

by Western scholars and thereby Western thinking. Postcolonialism is useful when we in the

descriptive and the exploratory part of the thesis challenge some of the core concepts in

development, such as democracy, good governance and free and fair. Postcolonialism will be

applied alongside Soft power Neo-liberalism in both the exploratory and descriptive part of the

analysis. Postcolonialism helps to provide a more elaborate or alternative answer to IR then state

diplomacy and threats by focusing on people, identities and resistance in connection between the

North and the South in both colonial past and present (Abrahamsen 2007:111). Postcolonial

theory is also a theory that works well with Soft Power and partly Neo-liberalism, since they all

recognize that states and their people are increasingly interconnected on several levels of culture

and economics (Abrahamsen 2003: 204).

It is here important to notice that even if postcolonialism relies on the use of feminist,

poststructuralist and postmodernist theories and perspectives, it is not the intention of this thesis to

make use of those theories.

It is important to be aware that not any one theory are perceived to be able to provide an answer in

regards to what is a right and what is a wrong assessment of democracy promotion. The theories

that are applied to election monitoring are supposed to compliment each other in exploring the

research field. It is furthermore not perceived as possible to provide one final answer to the

research question as this is seen as non-existing, due to the fact that the thesis subscribe to an anti-

foundational or post-positivistic epistemology in connection to the writer’s ontological perception

(Baylis and Smith, 2001: 227), since the research in this thesis is made with the understanding that

there is no value free research and that the writer cannot escape a eurocentric perception of the

world; only attempt to be aware of it.

14

Casual diagram of the thesis Figure 1 Causal correlation of the thesis

Explanation of thesis causal figureThe above figure is meant as an illustration of the thoughts behind the analysis. Respectively box.

2 and 4 represent the descriptive and explanatory parts of the analysis. Elections are held, box 2 is

the independent variable and democracy is the dependent variable. The effect of the free and fair

standard is then assed in regard to democracy. In the explanatory part of the analysis Elections are

held and box 4 is applied as an independent variable and then assessed on the dependent variable

of democracy.

The figure above represents the causal connection within the project, where the descriptive part is

the top tree boxes. The descriptive part looks at elections (box. 1), where the free and fair standard

has been used (box. 2) and then look at how that affected democracy in the state which held the

election (box. 3). The explanatory part is the case study where box.2 is omitted so the causal

connection becomes the boxes 1-4-3 where the change is that election monitors make use of at

will of the people rhetoric. Then if there is a different outcome it ought to be able to provide a

deeper understanding of the research field.

Structure of the thesis In the following a structure will outlined, through presenting each following chapter and what

they contain. This is done in order to provide the reader with some overview of the different

chapters in order to enhance the implied correlation between each chapter in accordance with the

causal figure.

Box 2

The Free and Fair Standard

Box 1

Elections

Box. 3

Democracy

Box. 4A Broader

Spectrum of Democracy Rhetoric

15

Chapter 1, the introduction, presents the research field of election observer’s promotion of

democracy through the use of the free and fair standard and a more cautioned rhetoric of “will of

the people”.

Chapter 2 contains methodology and concepts that are deemed important to the thesis including

the concepts of free and fair, will of the people and the concept of good governance.

Chapter 3 present the theoretical framework applied in the thesis. There is a walkthrough of the

elements of Neo-liberalism, Soft power and Postcolonialism that will be applied later in the thesis

furthermore the good governance concept is viewed through the perspectives of postcolonialism

and Neo-liberalism, then Robert Dahl’s apparatus of democracy identification is presented.

Chapter 4 deals with the history of Malawian and a special emphasis will be placed on the

Malawi elections and the observations made by the elections monitors present in addition Malawi’

s relationship with the EU through the ACP is briefly touched upon.

Chapter 5 will present the descriptive part of the analysis which includes an operation of

democracy based on how the election monitors perceive an election as a tool for the good

governance concept as a modernisation concept. Then the free and fair standard on elections is

applied in the Malawi context, for the promotion of democracy. This chapter will also present the

critical aspects of the applicability of the free and fair notion.

Chapter 6 will constitutes the exploratory part of the analysis where a judgment on the will of the

people is applied by monitors in elections instead of a standard, and how, if any, change is made

in how the election monitors perceive democracy through what they demand of an election?

Chapter 7 contains the conclusion where the conclusion on both the exploratory and the

descriptive part findings is generalized unto a wider debate on democracies in the developing

world and the significance of elections.

DelimitationsThe thesis does unfortunately have some delimitation. These are mainly do to volume and time

restriction but also due to focusing the thesis on a few variables that, of cause, do not exist

independently of the reality surrounding them, but are deemed essential enough to allocate both

reader and researcher attention towards.

One of the major delimitations is the disregard of the wider economic and politics behind the

spreading of the idea of democracy. The incorporation of democracies into the developing world

16

and the linkage of democracies into the Western world economic marked has been a heated debate

which is important for all developing stats. The debate, however essential, will not be analysed in

this thesis. One could argue that the spreading of democracies is essential an instrument of a

liberal thought that is projected by Westerns states, where one of the tools are election monitors.

However as important this discussion is, the scope of the thesis does not allow for it to be

included in its full scope. Also there are international elections monitors from states not affiliated

with the Western hemisphere, such as observers from the African Union (AU), election monitors

that seem closer linked to the notion of democracy then that of a liberal approach to economics

accomplish through the creation of an open marked, introduced via the implementation of

democracies.

Some discussion on democracy will not be given too much weight and so will only be mentioned

in the passing; this is due to a desire to focus the project on the role of elections.

Furthermore, there will be a specific focus on the European election monitoring organisation; this

is mostly due to availability of accessible material, but also based on the fact that the EU is the

largest trading partner of Malawi and that they are the larges observer mission by far at the latest

2004 Malawi election.

Definition of central concepts In the following I will try to create a common understanding of some key concepts that are use in

the thesis

Good governance concept The concept of good governance is used to situate the discussion of monitors and observers at

elections within the greater debate of democracies in the third world, and the developing of

struggling democracies, through the good governance concept. Good governance is not, in this

thesis, viewed as an –ism but more as an applicable tool for democracy promotion that can be

influenced by how elections are conducted. Good governance will be viewed as a strategy of

development wherein the conduct in elections plays a significant role.

There are no universal agreements on what the concept of good governance entails. However, the

OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) came up with one of the first assumptions that

paved the way for the concept of good development to be introduced into development literature

as: “…a vital connection between open, democratic and accountable political systems, individual

17

rights and the effective and equitable operation of economic systems” (Hede 2006: 212). Good

governance is, in this early stage, closely tied up with economic standards of dividing a nation’s

resource between its citizens. However, DAC also links the concept with four dimensions: The

Rule of Law: This demand a government to restrict its power to the limits of the law. A law that is

managed by an independent judicial system, which has the right to investigate and pass judgement

on the authorities and that all, are equal in the eyes of the law. Public sector management: This

directs the public sector to serve and protect the people and be open to scrutiny. Controlling

corruption: This dimension is included because it is seen as diametrically opposed to good

governance and by including it, it grants credence to the cause of fighting corruption. Reducing

excessive military expenditure: This dimension is, as with the previous, included due to the fact

that it is an indicator on the other dimensions. Furthermore excessive military expenditure is seen

as an instigator of conflicts, an unwise distribution of resources and a sign that the civil sector is

not in full power (Hede 2006:213-215)

It is important to notice that the OECD’s definition of the good governance concept is somewhat

general and that makes them difficult to operational into concrete guidelines for the role of the

state. This has a tendency to create an interpretation of the concept that mirrors the states own

views on the role of the state functions. (Hede 2006: 217)

The Free and fair concept

Free and fair elections have become a cornerstone in elections rhetoric on assessments of

transitional regimes through elections. Most people believe that observer’s sole task is to

determine wheatear an election have been free and fair (Bjornlund 2004: 96). Likewise, has the

press and media have focused very much on the free and fair concept. Yet, practices from

different elections have shown that the term is not applied universally. The danger in the free and

fair concept is that it suggests a dichotomy. An election can only pass or fail in meeting the terms

of a free and fair election. This focus on free and fair has lead to international monitoring

organizations creating bottom line judgements.

The term free and fair has been in use since 1978 when the United Nations Security Council

created a process that would lead Namibia to independence through resolution 435 “The early

independence of Namibia through free and fair elections under the supervisor and control of the

United Nations” (UN Resolution 435).

18

However, it was first after the end of the cold war throughout the 1990s that the term became a

household item among election observers. The Copenhagen document was one of the first to

define the terms of free and fair elections. It tried to put forward standards and practices for

determining if an election was free and fair (OSCE/ODIHR 2007: 7 & Bjornlund 2004: 97).

Although, the Copenhagen Document was aimed at the participating members of OSCE the

document cleared the way for an assumption that elections should be conducted in a free and fair

atmosphere, which the document linked together with the UN Human Rights Charter. The

document’s international standards for free and fair were in essence that states should hold regular

elections that would guarantee universal and equal suffrage and secure that votes were cast

anonymously. Further standards were that at least the seats in one ruling chamber must be

contested by an elections, that votes are counted and reported honesty, that anyone could run for

office, that the executive power ensured all political campaigns including access to media and that

those that did get elected also received office (CSCE 1990). Other papers and statements from

various sources elaborated on the topic and monitors conducted during elections most notably

Jørgen Elklit and Palle Svendsson but essentially the Copenhagen document conduct became a

blueprint (ODIHR 2003: 7). The criteria for free and fair elections are separately defined by each

organisation that dispatches the observers; however, the free and fair have generally been defined

as where “freedom refers to voters’ opportunity to participate in the election without coercion or

restrictions” (Elklit & Svensson 1996:35). Where on the other hand fairness in elections is defined

as impartiality in the sense both of regularity (that rules apply equally to all parties) and

reasonableness refers to a roughly even distribution of resources among participant in an election.

This free and fairness has by observer missions been translated into requirements that an election

must have in order to qualify as a free and fair election. Often this has been in the form of

criteria’s that must be full filled in each different phase of elections, for example the requirement

of freedom of movement (that voter are not restricted from the act of voting) has certain criteria’s

that are evaluated such as is it possible for the people of the constituency to arrive at the polling

booth free access without any obstacles (IPU 1994 & Bjornlund 2004: 118 -119). It mush here be

mentioned that although is roughly the same overall criteria’s that most election observers have

used then there are no universal standard for applying judgments on elections using the free and

fair concept, however, for the sake of conformity, the term “free and fair standard” is applied in

the thesis.

19

The terminology of “will of the people and democracy progress” in electionsToday most monitoring organisations have omitted the phrase Free and Fair. The discontinue use

of the Free and Fair standard was due to the fact that it seems definitive in its judgment, there

where no room for leverage, it is either a free and fair election or it isn’t. Likewise The European

Parliament Committee on Development and Cooperation (DEVE) concluded as early as 2001 that:

“there are inherent difficulties with the use of the words Free and Fair as a verdict on an election”

(OSCE/ODIHR 2007: 14). Furthermore there was found to be linguistic traps within the free and

fair standard. Instead the observers and monitors started using a different terminology in order to

express a result of their monitoring efforts; often this takes the form of a concept of “will of the

people”:

“We have deliberately chosen not to use or refer to the term “free and fair” for these elections because in a climate of intimidation and violence that occurred in the months prior to polling we don’t think it is an appropriate use of the term at any stage: rather, the question that we’ve asked ourselves is “does the result of the election have the legitimacy of reflecting the democratic will of the people of Zimbabwe?” (Alan Ferguson 2000)

The statement from Ferguson is by no means a single case; the EU mission to Nigeria in 1999

omitted the free and fair phrase and reflected instead on the will of the Nigerian people (Bjornlund

2004: 118) and the European handbook for election observers asks its members to focus on

genuine elections (ODIHR 2003: 11). This is a result of abandoning the free and fair standard

which the EU considers too narrow to assess an election process, the use of a genuine election

concept the EU considers their chances better at accessing the will of the electorate process

(ODIHR 2003: 3-4). The tendency is that the election observers have made use of various different

semantic compromises in trying to omit the free and fair standard, often focusing of a larger

picture i.e. focusing on the state of democracy after the election, or whether the election was the

will of the people (Bjornlund 2004: 121). The EU election handbook for example makes a case for

a standard of evaluation an election in accordance a standard of whether the election was a genuine

electoral process (OSCE/ODIHR 2007: 11). To makes maters further complicated the EU observer

mission in Malawi do not make use of the wording but assesses the election in regard to whether

the election made genuine democratic progress.

20

Theoretical framework Neo-liberalism and Soft power Neo-liberalism is included due to the fact that it one of the theories that can provide an

explanation for the driving force of democracy promotion in the third world by the West.

Additionally, it provides an understanding of what motivates Western states to promote

democracy through elections, where the individual’s choice are implement into concrete wishes.

Neo-liberalism will be situated within the context of world politics and the promotion of the

liberal democracies, but it also can provide a view on why cooperation, such as why “aid for

democracy” cooperation, between states not always works.

Neo-liberalism can present a proud pedigree within IR theory, it has branched out from the

Liberalist theory, although it has changed significantly since then, it still share some notions on

international politics. Mainly that states cannot achieve peace alone, there is need for some sort of

cooperation between other states, and in deed desired for the possibility for peace and prosperity

(Dunne, 2001: 163).

Soft power derives partly from Neo-liberalism which is one of the contemporary mainstream

approaches within IR. Neo–liberalism often focuses on foreign policies in promoting free trade or

open markets and Western democratic values and institutions that mirrors the ones found in the

West (Lamy 2001:183).

Neo-liberalism holds true to the liberal idea that states are actors in international politics which

will act in order to maximize their interests in areas of international politics which is in a state of

anarchy. However, neo-liberalism also maintains that there are more actors, then just states on the

international scene (Lamy 2001: 190 & Jackson & Sørensen 2007: 106). These are often

institutions that states delegate responsibility, states do this according to neo-liberalists, because

they maintain the liberal notion that to improve a state influence and power, within the anarchy

that all states exist in, co-operation is needed. Neo-liberalist also recognizes that other states might

cheat in international politics. Therefore Neo-liberalists are not afraid to delegate loyalties and

resources to institutions which are seen as beneficial to all participating states (ibid). Institutions

that states see as mutually beneficial, in the Neo-liberalists sense, are those where participating

states see advantages if they cooperate through participating. This has been the argument for the

21

success or compliance with international institutions that deals in economics and environment

(Ibid) such as the WTO and the Kyoto Agreement.

Neo-liberalism has furthermore, claimed responsibility for the democratic peace theory which

states that democratic states are much more inclined to uphold human right for their citizens and

that two democracies are less likely to go to war with each others (Lamy 2001: 188). This

assumption is based on the idea that democracies promote free societies. A notion that is

entertained by the European Union (EU) in promoting democracies: “Inevitable because the EU

was formed partly to protect liberal values, so it is hardly surprising that we should think it

appropriate to speak out. But it is also sensible for strategic reasons. Free societies tend not to

fight one another or to be bad neighbors” (Patten 1999).

The alignment between elections and democracy promotion from the Western world can credit its

origin in the “democratic peace” thesis that laid the ground work for much of Bill Clinton’s policy

and lately George Bush Jr.’s foreign policy. Essentially it stated that if you spread democracy

there would be less interstate wars since two democracies were very unlikely to go to war against

each other and that democracies where internally peaceful due to democratic institutions kept

conflicts non-violent (Reilly 2008: 162). This argument has been adopted into a wider US policy

comprising of liberalism, security and democracy (di Zerega 2001: 755).

It is thought that if democracy is introduced then democratic governance will inevitably lead to a

non-violent internal status and a lessen divide along religious, ethnic and cultural lines within the

nation. And, most importantly democratic elections are the best way to generate governments,

which does not pose a threat to others (Reilly 2008: 163).

Neo-liberalistic thoughts on both economic institutions and democratic promotion has been the

applied policy of much of the Western world especially in regards to international trade, donor aid

and Western world security policies (Ibid). One of the branches of neo-liberalist theories, that call

themselves Neo-liberal institutionalism, concerns itself with a term they call Complex

interdependence, where they argue that the world has many more actors then just large institutions

and states. All actors, both large and small, have become more dependent on each others. The

complex interdependence concept picture an international world with four characteristics:

1. Increasing linkage among states and non states actors.

22

2. A new agenda of international issues with no distinction between low and high politics4.

3. Recognition of multiple channels for interaction among actors across national boundaries.

4. The decline of the efficacy of military force as a tool of statecraft.” (Lamy 2001: 189).

For instance the increased focus on environment, which has grassroots supporters in many

different states, has forced the issue to such a degree that it seem to surpassed in urgency over

matters that fall into the high politics category. Essentially complex interdependence implies

more cooperation between states and a friendlier attitude the states in-between (Jackson &

Sørensen 2007: 106). Complex interdependence however, does cost states autonomy and the

relations between two states are both beneficial but not necessarily symmetric in both gains and

costs (Andersen 1991: 78). In total the neo-liberalists institutionalisms assumptions can be

summed up as: States are important actors in international politics but not the only ones, but all

actors seek to better their interests. States will always seek to maximize absolute gains through co-

operation and states are less concerned with the gains of other states when states work together.

The biggest problem when states work together on different issues is the cheating of other states

or non-compliance of some of the other states. And, finally, when states work together they will

shift resources and loyalties to institutions if the states see a benefit in doing so in regards to

increase their international position and to secure their international interests (Lamy 2001: 190),

these include organizations that tries to minimize the cheating of other states in the international

sphere, for instance argue that election monitoring organizations in fact monitor the state

compliance with the democracy, so that the state do not cheat itself into a status that it did not

attain through free and fair elections.

Neo-liberalism has in the last couple of years been exposed to an increasing amount of criticism,

mainly due to its merger of democracy and economics and the inadequacy of the combination of

the two in producing a viable governance solutions and viable growth in the third world (De

Angelis 2003: 16).

4 High and low politics is a term invented by Thomas Hobbs to describe a separations of issues in international politics, all that matters, in which the survival of the stat is at stake, is called High politics and all others is called low politics.

23

Soft Power is attractive Soft Power is in this thesis applied in order to understand the organizations that are trying to

promote democracies, but also as a tool to explain why democracy is desired in states without.

Soft Power will also be use in order to explain if the strategy of democracy promotion is working.

Soft Power was a term that was coined in the late 1980s by Joseph Nye in his attempt to describe

what was happening in the last period of the cold war. His general argument was that USA in its

conflict with the USSR was doing better because it was superior at convincing other to want the

same as the USA (Smith 2003: 181). Nye’s argument was that the USA was in a dominant

position due to its capability in Soft Power and the more traditional Hard Power (the measure of

ones military against another). The Soft and Hard power meant that the USA would keep its

dominant position in international politics (Ibid).

“The basic concept of power is the ability to influence others to get them to do what you want. There are three major ways to do that: one is to threaten them with sticks; the second is to pay them with carrots; the third is to attract them or co-opt them, so that they want what you want. If you can get others to be attracted to want what you want, it costs you much less in carrots and sticks” (Nye 2004: 16)

The third way is the essence of Soft Power a concept created by Joseph Nye, one of the most

influential authors within the neo-liberalist theory. Like neo-liberalist theory was an answer to

Realism and Neo-Realism then Soft Power is an answer to the Realists Hard Power which

concerns itself with IR in the measures of military might, population, absolute and relative gains

(Lamy 2001:186).

Joseph Nye dictated that a state’ Soft Power can derive from three sources: the first is the state’

culture (in regards to having a culture that others want to emulate). Secondly, soft power can

come from the state’s political values. However, this is only a factor when the state liver up its

own proclaimed values at home and aboard. A good example of this is in human rights, where the

USA promotes human rights, but is increasingly seen as having less impact on human rights after

the issues concerning the Guantanamo prison camp. However much of democracy promotion

have rested on the fact that the American democracy have been seen as a form of government that

other states desire. Thirdly, Soft Power can be accumulated from a state’ foreign policies.

However, this can only happen if the policies are seen by others as legitimate and having moral

authority (Nye 2006: 51). For instance, the American plan to spend 10 billion in Africa fighting

24

aids is a policy that generates Soft Power as well as being the right thing to do in regards to

humanitarian reasons (Nye 2003: 75).

It is important to notice that state’s strong economy, in it self, are not to be seen as Soft Power,

but more as a generator of both Hard and Soft Power (Nye: 2006: 51).

Soft power works on the belief that power in IR is the ability to make other states do what you

want them to do (Nye 2003: 74). The distinction between Hard and Soft Power is that where Hard

Power makes entities do what they want, they do it through the use of military forces or the threat

thereof. Soft Power concerns itself with getting other to do what you want through attraction

rather then coercion. Or being able to dictate what other entities do through influencing what they

want to do themselves (Nye 2003: 74). The Soft Power notion is centred on being able to push

ones ideologies and culture onto other states5, but Soft Power also rests on the states policies and

political ideas such as democracy and human rights (Smith 2002: 183 & Nye 2003: 75). However,

it is important to note that Soft Power cannot be accumulated if ones policies culture and ideals

are an attractive alternative to the opposing states culture, policies and ideals. Furthermore in the

case of USA it has been noticed that a certain amount of attention and dialog with other states has

historically been the most successful approach and that if the exports of ideals and culture do not

happen under a somewhat benign way and where cooperation is perceived to be beneficial to all

parties then, Soft Power can backfire and diminish the absolute gains of the state (Smith 2002:

179).

Hard and soft power are not exclusive they are often found working together in union, however

Soft Power is viewed, when working alone, as the not only the more creditable solution but also

by far the cheapest solution (Nye 2004: 16).

Soft power have often been critiqued that it is in fact not at power a government can fully control.

Furthermore Soft Power often only helps to create an environment for policy chance, without

having control of any details and often Soft Power can take years to produce a desired result (Nye

2004).

5 Culture as an ideology is in the case of the USA, something they exported through popcultuel institutions such as Hollywood, American music, CNN and the Internet to other states (Smith 2002: 181).

25

A note on absolute and relative gains It is important to know the concepts of absolute and relative gains in order to understand what

matters to states when they interact with each other.

Absolute and relative gains are a term that is well used in IR theory. It describes what states want

from of international dealings. The term is often used by both Realist and Liberalist theorists.

Absolute gains are the advantages a nation gains through power and influence through interstate

cooperation. This is why states decide to cooperate with actors in the international system in order

to increase their absolute gains. However, states will continuously keep an eye on other states to

make sure that they do not gain too much influence and power (the relative gains) (Lamy 2001:

186). However, both the realist and liberalist branches of theorists acknowledge that states can

(and will) cheat if cheating will generate them greater gains, this creates a situation of mistrust

that international agencies and institutes moderate in order to minimize mistrust between nations.

In regards to elections one can see that there is an advantage for states to become democracies6,

their absolute gains would increase, but for the international society to recognise the state as

democratic they make sure that the states do not cheat through the use of election monitors from

international organisations. Neo-liberalist believes that if cheating does occur and “fail to follow

the rules… to secure their national interests” (Lamy 2001: 186), then cooperation becomes

impossible.

PostcolonialismPostcolonialism is employed in the thesis in order to create a more nuanced picture of elections,

election monitors, democracy and good governance. Postcolonialism will enable the exploratory

part of the analysis to challenge core concepts within the development paradigm. This is done to

create a more nuance picture of democracy promotion and the standards they are judged by.

The theory is an alternative to the top down perspective that Soft Power and Neo-liberalism

represent. In addition, it provides an alternative perspective to the more Western orientated

theories that dominate the IR theories and have grounded the discipline’s interpretation in

“Western experiences and discursive practices” (Abrahamsen 2007: 111). The Postcolonialism

take as opposed to Neo-liberalism not a state-centric view on IR, but attempts to focus on the:

interconnectedness of the North and the South (Abrahamsen 2007: 122), thereby introducing new

elements into IR.

6 An advantage for new democracies could be the access to foreign donor aid if elections are held.

26

Essentially Postcolonialism can be seen as: “…a critique of the spatial metaphors deployed by

western institutions as well as a concern for the ‘experiences of speaking and writing by which

dominant discourses come into being” (McEvan 2001: 95).

One of the main focuses of postcolonialism is that it provides an opportunity to shift the IR focus

towards resistance, people and identity away from the state-centric areas of foreign policy and

military (Ibid). The historical background of postcolonialism theory is found in colonial literature

analysis and stretches across as diverse fields as: cultural studies, development studies,

anthropology, geography, history and politics (Abrahamsen 2007:112). The various different

study areas included make the theory very flexible and present a new approach to IR (ibid.)

One of the big benefits of applying postcolonialism is the fact that it often suggests a link between

identity, culture, race or gender with the relationship of Western powers, most notably those that

have had a history of colonialism (ibid.). Often the main intend of theorist of the discipline is to

challenge or expose the Western perception created by the mainstream theories in IR or as Rita

Abrahamsen frames it:

“A key aim of much postcolonial writhing is to expose the extent to which mainstream scholarship and also frequently our `common sense´ understandings of the social world are firmly grounded in a particularly Western perspective, and thus to draw attention to the epistemological bases of Western power” (Abrahamsen 2007: 112).

Postcolonial theory have often centred itself on power, but whereas mainstream IR theory,

including neo-liberalism, have placed power as deriving from the state, then Postcolonial theory

makes use the concept of power of a much wider definition then the mainstream IR theories

(Abrahamsen 2007: 115). The theory draws mainly on the Foucauldian understanding of

discourses, where truth is produced through various discourses that: …establish dominant or

hegemonic ways of understanding and representing social reality (Abrahamsen 2007: 115). In

this approach discourses then become something that is not only describes the reality in which

they function, they “shape the manner in which it is perceived and understood” (Ibid). Using

these insights the theory then tries to explain how a certain way of comprehension has become

dominant in IR7 (Ibid).

For instance a postcolonialist approach to the idea of good governance, one would forego the

intent of good governance, but instead postcolonialism would focus on the effects of good

7 An example of this is found in the Edward Said’ book Orientalism, when he attempts to explain how the east is represented in western literature, where after the epistemological perception is reproduced in eastern literature.

27

governance and explore the key concepts that are assumed to be implied as something we all take

for granted (Abrahamsen 2007: 116). Furthermore the concepts that Postcolonialism often work

with is scrutinize in their capability as uneven tools of power between the former colonies and the

former colonizers (ibid.)

One of the key interest areas of Postcolonial theory is identity. Postcolonialism often works with

identity from a power perspective, where the former colonized has to a large extend been

influenced and their own imaged of themselves have shaped by the white man in his quest for

colonization (Abrahamsen 2007: 117). This makes the search for the authentic identity of the

colonized a mode of resistance.

This identity that former colonized has acquired have had such an impact that it to some degree is

still reproduced today: “in a multiplicity of practices, philosophies, and cultures imparted to and

adopted by the colonized in more or less hybrid, or mixed, forms” (Ibid.)8. Here shines through

the postcolonialism theorist because, the hybrid identity is not vied as a failure but as an example

of the colonised in resistance since they managed to maintain some of their own identity and

thereby showed the ability to defy foreign control (Ibid.).

In the postcolonialism focus on identity lays also a critique since it seems one-sided in its critique

of the West, where in fact an argument is that the colonized were not passive victims, and have

become stronger actors in the face of oppression by the West (Abrahamsen 2003: 205).

Furthermore it has been argued that the search for a strengthening of the self-identity in the

pursuit of authenticity can be dangerous, since therein lies a danger of justifying ethnic violence

or as Salman Rushdie phrase it: “Doesn’t the idea of pure cultures, in urgent need of being kept

free from alien contamination lead us to inexorably towards apartheid, towards ethnic cleansing,

towards the gas chamber?” (Abrahamsen 2007: 118).

Another focus area of postcononialism theory is resistance. In the above we deduced that the

hybrid identity is linked to resistance. Postcolonialism theory often tries to turn hegemony9 upside

down and look at how resistance is voiced out against the dominant power(s) (Abrahamsen

2007:119). However, where hybrid identity could be seen as resistance, postcolonial theorist also

looks upon power and resistance within the system from a new perspective: “…postcolonial

8 When Abrahamsen speaks of “hybrid” she refers to the identity of the colonized as being mixed up with the cultures that have been imposed on them.9 In IR studies Hegemony most often refers to one group is able to dictate policies upon other groups; hegemony is the description of how a dominant group can maintain domination.

28

theory illustrates the inadequacy of conventional binary oppositions between domination and

resistance… but operates instead inside a structure of power that it both challenges and helps

sustain” (Abrahamsen 2007: 120). This approach blurs the lines between the power ratio between

the colonizer and the colonized and black vs. white (ibid.). The fact that power is blurred within a

system or institution creates a new understanding of the system or institution since it is both

enforced and challenged at the same time (Ibid.). Achille Mbembe makes use of the African

states struggle for independence as an example:

While the demand for national struggles for independence effectively utilized Western discourses against Empire, the endorsement of the nation-state simultaneously ensured the survival of the colonial redrawing of the world map and enshrined the importance of the nation-state in the international system. (Mbembe 2001 Quoted in Abrahamsen 2007: 120).

The example illustrates that resistance helps bring down empires, but also helped maintain

a artificial colonial divide of the developing world.

A note on eurocentricityZiauddin Sarda, a London based professor of postcolonialism, describe the power of the West in

its ability or power to define the world: “The real power of the West is not located in its economic

muscle and technological might. Rather it resides in its power to define” (Sardar 1999: 44). Sarda

believes that the West promotes a eurocentric “…dominant outlook of the planet” (Ibid.), that in

turn dictates the use of the Western yardstick for measuring all social and political advances or

lack thereof in all societies around the world, all10 the involved in the non-West sphere then

actually reproduces the eurocentrism creating an inferior picture of themselves. That aids in

maintaining a distort picture of the world or as Sardar phrases it: The non-West thus promotes

Eurocentrism, …, and colludes in its own victimization as well as in maintaining the global

system of inequality” (Sadar 1999: 44). This is done on because the West is dominating

knowledge and thereby dominating the past, present and future of the non-West (Sadar 1999: 45,

47 & McEvan 2001: 95).

10 Sadar includes all those involved in the shaping of social and political progress in the non-west, that being: Intellectuals, academics, writers, thinkers, novelists, politicians and general decision makers (Sadar 1999: 44).

29

Eurocentricity is as an important concept to postcolonialism due to the fact that the

epistemological perception continues eurocentrict practices that are viewed as oppressive to the

people of the south.

Postcolonial theorist identifies five different forms of eurocentricity (Harding 1998: 13), which

can serve to distinguish the where the postcolonial writer can direct his analysis. The first two

forms of eurocentricity are: “…overt and covet eurocentric beliefs and practices, are intentionally

enacted by individuals” (Hastings 1998: 13), moral where the West argue from what they

perceive to be a moral high ground. The third is institutional eurocentrism which even

intentionally reproduces an eurocentric practices (Ibid.). The fourth form societal eurocentrism, is

when institutional eurocentrism is held by a larger culture, that helps maintain the practices

(ibid.). The fifth eurocentristic form is the civilizational or philosophic eurocentricism, it happens

when societal eurocentrism becomes the norm for an entire civilization over a prolonged period of

time (Hastings 1998: 14). The fifth form of eurocentricity is also the hardest to escape because

one is trapped within ones own cultures understanding that has existence long enough to shape the

meaning and understanding of concepts, of everyday life and common sense (Ibid.).

Postcolonialism and good governance Good governance is viewed by postcolonialist theorists as the continuation of the development

discourse that the West has tried implemented in the third world since the 1950s. By articulating

the third world as underdeveloped it managed to chance social reality so that the third world

became framed as underdeveloped, illiterate and poorly managed (Abrahamsen 2003: 202 &

McEvan 2001: 95). The discourse then justified the intervention of the West in the third world on

the basis of trying to reshape and restructure practices in third world states; based on a moral

superiority (red. the West had a duty to develop the third world).

The West then began developing the third world according to Western practices, that then became

emulated by the (re)colonized. However, after then end of the cold war a new intervention reason

was needed, because underdevelopment had been too much associated with the payoffs to despots

and authoritarian for support during the cold war. Western organizations began promoting good

governance; however, a prerequisite for good governance’ aid was the introduction of the

democracy requirement (Abrahamsen 2000: 43). The argument for democracy being a

prerequisite for good governance was: “history suggests that political legitimacy and consensus

are a precondition for sustainable development” (Abrahamsen 2003: 202). However, democracy

30

promotion and good governance have the same task at the development discourse, in the sense

that it calls for intervention by the West to come to the rescue of the third world through

restructure and reshape the third world. This is seen by postcolonial theorists’ writer as a continual

of Western practices so that the West can maintain their present in the third world and the West

can: Retain the moral high ground, the right to administer development to the south (Abrahamsen

2003: 203 & McEvean 2001: 95).

The way that good governance is viewed as an integrated part of democracy discourse has meant

that the democracy that is being promoted is coupled to liberal economics policies of Western

institutions. This has meant that: “…alternative conceptions of democracy are marginalized and

silenced (Abrahamsen 2003: 203). Furthermore the West’ moral basis for intervening in

developing states has effectuality protected the West from democratic scrutiny, in such a way that

the Western states have been able to monopolize the concept of democracy only to include the

liberal version (ibid.), the lace of focus on the Western states democracy have created an approach

to good governance and democracy promotion as something that only takes place in developing

states, in addition to the West being seen as democratic the institutions that have been created by

the West11 have been overlooked in terms of democratic norms (Ibid.). This essentially means that

the West is advocating domestic democracy but not international democracy. In this scenario the

good governance discourse grants the West a right to intervene in developing states internal

affairs, just as it was the case during the cold war, the good governance discourse can be seen as a

way for the West to maintain and reproduce the international power balance in their favour

(Abrahamsen 2003: 203). In this way then democracy can be viewed as a development tool that is

everything but democratic, basically the “good governance agenda works materially to produce

processes and forms of political subjugation that help maintain Western hegemony” (Abrahamsen

2003: 203).

Critique of Postcolonialism Postcolonialism has been severely critiqued as a theory; even to the point where it is debated

whether it is can call itself a theory. The root of the dispute is that postcolonialism leaves out

important issues within poverty and development. The understanding postcolonialist writers

11 Examples of international institutions that the West has created includes: the G8, WTO, IMF, WB and the Commonwealth.

31

generate are not providing a deeper understanding of how inequality fits into the equation

(Abrahamsen 2003: 190).

Postcolonialism is very applicable in illustrating an alternative perception of both power and

history, but as a concept it has yet to change or suggest significant change in former colonials

policies regarding resource distribution both on state level and at global level (Abrahamsen 2007:

120-121). Additionally, postcolonialism has been critiqued on the basis that it through the use of

discourses which enables it to say something about general tendencies and overall policies but the

theory has difficulties in addressing specific project and events: “…if it [Postcolonial studies] can

overcome a tendency to lock into intellectual rather than practical projects” (Sylvester 1999:

703).

Furthermore it has been critique that in the attempt to escape the Western stereotypes they often

themselves fall into that category, since most of them are Western educated and works in the

West. They have a poor claim of speaking for those who have no voice since they have little in

common with, the uneducated, poor rural population of the non-West (Harding 1998: 191-192). In

essences Postcolonial theory has had difficulties in coming up with alternative solutions to

development issues and one can question if it really speaks for the non-West.

Robert Dahl’s conceptual framework for Democracy Robert Dahl’s framework of institutions and requirements is presented in order to have an

apparatus to hold up the recommendations and comments that the election monitors organization

describe, in order to determine whether an election has been free and fair or whether an election

has been conducted so the result is the will of the people. The arguments the election observes

make is held up against the standards of Dahl’s institutions and requirements to see if there are

any correlation or lack there off. That should in turn enable us to understand, which kind of

democracy is being promoted and if the change in standard (from free and fair to will of the

people) has made a difference.

Democracy as a concept is continual being defined today and have been defined very broadly in

the past12. There is no set definition on democracy, however, democracy can be seen as a set of

practices and principles that has become institutionalize and thereby protect the individual’s

freedom (Economist 2006).

12 Most states wherein “democratic” is part of the state’ name would not be deemed democratic by Western states (die Deutsche Demokratische Republik, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and The Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

32

The word democracy derives from the Greek words of “demos” and “kratos” meaning people and

rule (Hede 2006: 170). Together the words would mean rule by the people (Dahl 2006: 8).

Democracy refers to a form of government where the people rule either through direct control or

through their elected representatives (Hede 2006: 176).

Robert Dahl a noted theorist of democracy which conceptual framework, of what the modern

democracy is. Dahl’s democracy framework is very closely related to the liberal democracy (Hede

2006: 182) that election monitor organizations might be are promoting.

Dahl believes that if the equality is desired then democracy is the only form of government. In

trying to conceptualise the modern democracy Dahl has advanced six requirements that a state and

its people should strive to live up to, in order to achieve a democratic state (Dahl 2006: 8).

The first requirement is the assumption that there must be effective participation where Dahl

stipulates that before a policy is effectuated then all members of the demos must have had the

chance to make their opinion known.

The second requirement is equality in voting this is a condition that is required when a decision

must be made, then every member of the demos must have equal opportunity to vote and all votes

must be of equal value (one man one vote).

The third requirement is gaining enlightened understanding where members of the demos must

have equal opportunity to learning of alternatives to policies that are proposed for being debated

for implementation.

The fourth requirement is control of the agenda where the demos holding absolute control over

which items are to be decides and which isn’t. This effectively means that items that have already

been voted on can be reassessed if so the demos desires.

The fifth requirement is inclusion which stipulates that all members of the demos would

participate in the above requirements.

The sixth requirement is fundamental rights which are an understanding that there are present

fundamental rights installed, so the demos can participate in the above requirements. That all the

people have undenialable rights to participate (Dahl 2006: 9-10).

Dahl is aware that this is an ideal constellation that he proposes through his requirements, since no

system or society can fulfil all these requirements. However, the process that state goes through in

order to try and fulfil these is what Dahl calls polyarchies’ (Hede 2006: 185).

33

The Polyarchy are essentially states that pay attention to their citizens and have institutional

practices in place for the demos to participate in the democratic process (Hede 2006: 186). Dahl

has put forward seven institutions which all need to be functional and in place before a nation can

qualify to be a polyarchy (Dahl 1998: 84).

The first institution need for a polyarchy to work is elected officials. Elected officials become

necessary when the affairs become to large for direct demos rule, they (demos) then transfer their

mandate to a elected official, in that way the demos can still maintain their “effective

participation” and still, after having delegated power into an elected official, have their say on

“control of the agenda”.

The second institution needed is free, fair and frequent elections. The need for free, fair and

frequent elections is based on the premises of equality which is stipulate in the second

requirement where there is “equality in voting” this means that every member of the demos has

equal opportunity to vote and that their vote carries the same value. This implies that the election

must be free and fair. Dahl defines a free and fair election as: “To be free means that citizens can

go to the polls without fear or reprisals; if they are to be fair, then all votes must be counted as

equal” (Dahl 1998: 95). Dahl furthermore adds the concept of frequent elections due to the fact

that it otherwise might be difficult for the demos to maintain control of the agenda through their

representatives.

The third institution is inclusive suffrage which stipulates that all members of the demos are

allowed to participate in the voting process, this is mainly based on Dahl’s equality principle

among humans, Dahl includes all people in his demos demographics. The exceptions being those

that are deemed mentally unfit and those that are not residents but passing through the area where

the decisions are makes by the demos, also there is included a minimum age of participation

(Hede 2006: 185).

The fourth institution Dahl proposes is that all citizens are entitled to run for and serve in elective

office. Dahl’s all citizens are his demos although Dahl does make concessions in regard to age,

where some office might require a higher age, then the one allowed in “inclusive suffrage”. Dahl

justifies this institution because

The fifth institution is the freedom of expression Dahl includes this institution on the basis that it

would be impossible to participate in the political life if one did not have the opportunity to

address issues without the fear of reprisals. Furthermore Dahl’ concept of freeness not only

34

include the right to speak out but also the right to hear which is essential to “gaining enlightened

understanding”.

The sixth institution is alternative information which is deemed necessary for “gaining

enlightened understanding” the institution relies on the fact that the demos have a need for more

then one source of information especially if the one source present is controlled by one fraction.

The seventh institution is independent associations which become important for members of the

demos in order to pursue their special interest in between elections they become the source of

gaining enlightened understanding through debating policies. These demos must then have the

right to form interest groups (political parties, interest groups and organizations) (Dahl 1998: 98

& Dahl 2006: 10-14 & Hede 2006: 185).

Table 1 Why institutions are necessary in states that are aspiring to become polyarchies.

In a unit as large as a country, these political institutions of polyarchal democracy…

are necessary to satisfy the following democratic criteria:

1. Elected representatives … Effective participationControl of the agenda

2. Free, fair, and frequent elections … Voting equalityControl of the agenda

3. Freedom of expression … Effective participationEnlightened understandingControl of the agenda

4. Alternative information … Effective participationEnlightened understandingControl of the agenda

5. Associational autonomy … Effective participationEnlightened understandingControl of the agenda

6. Inclusive citizenship … Full inclusion

(Adapted from Nye, 1998 p. 92)

The above table shows the correlation between Dahl’s six assumptions and his seven institutions

that are necessary for a polyarchy.

35

Dahl’s conceptual framework of assumptions or standards and those institutions that he deems

necessary for a polyarchy to thrive are very much connected to the act of elections. However,

Dahl emphasis that institutions alone are not what make a democracy there has to be a continual

democratic process, not only in time of elections (Dahl 1998: 105).

36

The contextual and Historical Background of Elections in MalawiThis chapter seeks to situate Malawi as a developing state that have first been exposed to the

process of democratization through several elections, first in the name of development then

according to the concept of good governance.

We begin with an outline of Malawi’s challenging path towards a democratic statehood, with

special emphasise on Malawi’s elections. Then the international observer’s assessment on the

Malawi elections of 1994 1999 and the 2004 elections is presented. Then we chart some of the

progress, or lack thereof, of development in Malawi.

The gloomy history of Malawi Malawi has a gloomy entrance into the international society. The area where present day Malawi

is located was discovered and opened up by the Europeans through David Livingstone, and soon

thereafter the area draw attention through the large scale slave trade. Through fear of increasingly

Portuguese annexation, the British proclaimed the Shire Highlands Protectorate in 1889 and in

1891 created the British Central African Protectorate known as Nyasaland until 1964 when it

became known as Malawi, the Nyasaland protectorate formed the boarders of present-day Malawi

(EU EOM 2004: 7).

British rule was somewhat trouble free (seen from point of view of the Europeans) until a small

rebellion in 1915 took place. The rebellion was easily suppressed, but it did ignite a liberation

aspiration among the native Malawians (Ibid.). The British proclaim Nyasaland a state within the

federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 195313 under strong protests, which would eventually

lead to the independence from British rule 1964.

Autocracy clad in democracyMalawi created its first political party, the Nyasaland African Congress, in 1944. The party

became active in the liberation movement and with Kamuzu Banda taking over the party

leadership in 1958 the party took on a more radical approach in their demands. Banda pushed the

British to declare a state of emergency in 1960 where he was arrested until independences (EU

EOM 2004: 7).

13 The Federation split up in 1964 and became tree separate states, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

37

Banda quickly gained power through, the renamed Nyasaland African Congress, Malawi

Congress Party (MCP). And subsequently won Malawi’s first national elections in 1961, and

although the election was held as multi party elections only the MCP was elected into parliament

and Banda became president. Banda soon began to consolidate his power –first by chancing the

Malawi constitution, making him President for life, then by prohibiting the multi party elections,

making Malawi into a de facto one party state until the election in 1994, until then the MCP

dominated the political scene (EU EOM 2004: 7).

A way in through the ACP statesMalawi is a member of the ACP states and through beneficial trade agreement with the EU.

Malawi receives aid in form of good governance advocacy aid, and the EU is the single most

important trading partner that Maalwi has, in 2007 it was estimated that the EU absorbs 40% of

Malawi’s export, and the Director of Trade in the Minister of Industry H. Maindindi said that:

“… European countries through the European Union and bilaterally had been central to the country’s progress on a number of fronts. But worth mentioning for this meeting [Meeting on the re-negotiating of Malawi trade relationship within the ACP] is the development and technical assistance, not withstanding that they are the number one destination for Malawi exports.”(MEJN 2007: 4)

The EU focuses on capacity building in its ACP partner states, this very much includes political

legitimacy through free elections (EU COM 2006: 8 & EC 2008), therefore is it naturally to find

EU representatives to an election in Malawi. The EU creates criteria’s for each stat to be made by

the state, as a condition for ACP trade (EU COM 2006: 5) however, the EU do point out that: “the

process of democratic governance … cannot be imposed from outside. In relations between the

partner countries and donors it is vital that the ownership of the reform [such as elections]

processes be respected”. The EU however, does point out that: “The donors do however have an

important role to play by developing incentives-based approaches” (Ibid).

The EU and representatives from the Commonwealth Nations were invited, by the MEC, to the

last tree elections in Malawi in order to provide monitors and observers (AfriMAP 2005: 3).

The European Union send off a European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) in

response to the MEC request for the 2004 election, its mission was to assess the election process

according to international standards, to do so the EU EOM fielded both a long and short term

observer teams to observe the 2004 election (EU EOM). Within both the long and the short term

38

observers groups were there members from other ACP states as a part of the EU delegation (EU

EOM 2004: 45).

The EU has been sending EOM’s to elections all over the world under their good neighbours

program they has since 2000 deployed over 60 EOM’s to all continents. In order to:

“Election observation is a vital component of European Union activities to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law worldwide. Election observation can contribute to strengthening democratic institutions, build public confidence in electoral processes and help deter fraud, intimidation and violence. Election observation also serves to reinforce other key European Union foreign policy objectives, notably peace-building.” (EC 2008 a)

Furthermore it is customary to present a rapport of a observer missions findings after the

election, where recommendations and a assessment is made on the observed election

(Bjornlund 2004: 131 & Carothers 2004: 83).

Democracy in the making the 1994 and 1999 Malawi electionsBanda was eventually forced to hold a referendum on introducing multiparty elections again,14 by

pressure from donor states, the church and two revival political parties, the United Democratic

Front (UDF) and the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), such a referendum was held in 1993

which fell out in favour of UDF and the AFORD. In 1994 elections were held, it is important to

notice the international community actively advocated a change towards a more democratic rule

through the use of withholding aid: “The democratic process was encourage by the international

donor community which demanded democratic reforms in return for aid” (EU EOM 2004: 7).

This was an abrupt turn in attitude from the donor community, since it had been a stout supporter

of Banda during the cold war (Van Donge 1995: 231).

The 1994 elections were essentially an election between UDF, MCP and the AFORD. The tree

parties were completely dominant in the election, leaving no room for other candidates or

alternative political parties. It was quickly realized that the different parties had each their own

power bastions UDF controlled the south, MCP the centre and the AFORD controlled totally the

northern part of Malawi.

Table 2 Regional votes in the Malawi general election 1994. 14 Elections were held in 1983, 1987 and again in 1992. However, these elections were not multiparty elections, and all candidates had to be a member of the MCP in order to run for office.

39

(Copied from EU OEM 2004: 8)

As seen in figure 3. There is a strong consistency between regions and the different political

parties would indicate that each political party holds its own heartland.

The UDF won both the presidential post for Bakili Muluzi and became the biggest party in the

Malawi congress. Muluzi created a coalition government with the other former opposition party

AFORD. However, AFORD was forced out of the government in 1996 by Muluzi who managed

to persuade several individuals, through the offers of patronage, into backing his government so

that he could maintain his majority rule in the parliament (Wiseman 2000: 638). The AFORD and

the MCP hoped to win the election in 1999. Nevertheless, Muluzi was re-elected, and the AFORD

joined forces with the MCP party in an unsuccessful attempt to have the election judged invalid

(CEE 2007). After the election it came out that the UDF had made extensive use of government

finance and property during the election –this ranged from using ministerial cars, to dominating

the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) by ignoring the AFORD and MCP’ messages

throughout the campaign. Furthermore the UDF was able to present local dignitaries with cash

and community projects (Wiseman 2000: 642).

Table 3 regional votes in the Malawi general election 1999

(Copied from EU OEM 2004: 9)

The time between the first multi-party election in 1994 and in 1999 the ruling party worked hard

at changing the electorate laws in their favour. The attempts were mostly resisted in parliament by

40

the opposition parties or by local NGO or the donor community which was paid a significant part

of the election budget (Wiseman 2000: 638). However the UDF succeeded in appointing its

supporters in the election committee and most successfully they managed to create more electoral

districts in the UDF heartland (Wiseman 2000: 639).

The 2004 Elections Prior to the 2004 elections there were several irregularities, for example the then presiding

president Muluzi tried in vain to sway public opinion towards a referendum on extending his term

of office that proved unsuccessful, the UDF then tried to pass a bill in the Malawi parliament that

would allow Muluzi to run for a third term, the motion was turned down with only a tree vote

majority (EU EOM 2004: 7). Even before Election Day the leader of a seven party coalition

Gwanda Chakuamba petitioned the MEC to postpone the election since they questioned the

reason for printing 1,3 more ballots’ then there was registered voters (Maroleng 2004: 77), the

election was thereafter postponed a week and the extra ballots were confiscated (ibid.).

President Muluzi chose the 70-year old wa Mutharika as the UDF presidential candidate, since he

was unable to run himself hawing lost the referendum of extending the presidential term to tree. In

stead he continued as head of UDF and it is widely believed that Muluzi thought that he could,

through wa Mutharika, rule from behind the throne and at the same time avoid corruption charges

(Maroleng 2004: 79).

Table 4 regional votes in the Malawi general election 2004

(Copied from EU OEM 2004: 9)

The winner of the 2004 election was the chosen UDF candidate Bingu wa Mutharika, however,

the UDF was forced to create a correlation government with the National Democratic Party in

order to achieve majority in the parliament.

President Mutharika introduced an anticorruption campaign that succeeded in alienated his own

party UDF and Mutharika created his own party the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and has

41

since then faced numerous allegations of corruption and lack of cooperation from his vice

president whom Mutharika unsuccessful tried to fire and in 2006 has accused the vice president of

treason (CEE 2007).

The election observed During the 2004 elections there were some points of concern form international monitoring

organizations15. Most of the observers sent the 2004 Malawi election was short term observers,

only the EU OEM fielded observers for long term observation prior to the election16 (EISA 2004b

& RotCOG 2004: 6 & AU 2004: 3). The largest delegations of international observers were from

the EU who fielded 22 long term observers and 53 short term observers. The distinction of long

and short term observer is made in recognition of the fact that to observe an election, there is more

to be observed in an election then just the Election Day (OSCE/ODIHR 2007: 16), it is equally

important to monitor the election campaign in order to assess the election according to election

standards, however, the practice of long term observers is a resent addition to international

election monitoring (Carothers 1997: 21).

The EU EOM makes use of eight principles that needs to be fulfilled in order to be able to declare

an election as a “genuine election process” (OSCE/ODIHR 2007:15), this is judged from

principles taken from both the Copenhagen document, but also from the Universal declaration on

human rights, which the EU election handbook summarise in eight principles (OSCE/ODIHR

2007: 82-85 & Bjornlund 2004: 118). However, the EU do acknowledge that the election that they

are passing judgment on need to be judged in the context that is held (Bjornlund 2004: 98-99).

The EU EOM had some reservations after the election. They found that the MEC had not handled

the voter registration segment of the election acceptable. This was mainly due to insufficient

resources available, for example in the form of standardise voter application forms. Furthermore

the entire voter registration process was hampered by the political turmoil of the leaving president

in trying to secure a tried term (EU EOM 2004: 15). In addition, there were some areas in which

the EU EOM found that the training of the local MEC staff was in some cases not adequate to

handle invalid ballots and flawed voter registration (ibid.), furthermore the above mentioned

15 International observers were sent from: The EU (through the agencies of ODIHR and OSCE), the electoral institute of southern Africa EISA, the African Union AU and the Commonwealth Nations. 16 Both the AU and the EISA delegation arrived few days before the election, the Commonwealth Nations delegation had an advanced team of two the came two weeks prior to the Election Day (RotCOG 2004: 5)

42

surplus of ballots was for the EU EOM, an indicator that the MEC was not prepared to hold an

election.

On Election Day, EU EOM noted that the present of the National Intelligence Bureau and the

Criminal Investigation Department could bring doubt on the independence of the election officials

(EU EOM 2004: 15). The EU EOM noted the trust in the police was low since very few

complaints reached the local police forces. It is speculated that the police is viewed as close linked

to the ruling party so that the police would act in accordance to the wishes of the UDF (EU EOM

2004: 21).

In regards to the presidential candidates the EU EOM noted that all had spend many years in

Malawi politics and that many of the candidates had been leaders of several different political

parties: “the political diversity was questionable. There was no untainted fresh face that might

bring a change of direction for the electorate to consider” (EU EOM 2004: 18).

During the campaign the EU EOM noted with concern that the UDF had a tendency to provide

money or material goods to dignitaries from areas where large UDF rallies were held, also it was

noted that state resources were applied for the UDF in their re-election campaign: “EU observers

reported widespread abuse of state resources by the ruling party during the campaign period,

including the use of governmental parastatal vehicles and human resources” (EU EOM 2004:

20), the opposition parties restricted themselves to thanking their supporters verbally (Ibid.).

Some candidates rallies were meet with violence from other parties’ youth groups that wanted to

prevent the rallies and in other cases, candidates were refused permits to hold rallies by local

officials that were under threat of loosing their job, should they grant the permission to an

opposition candidate (ibid.).

In regards to the media, it was found that the MBC had favoured the ruling coalition with 97.7 of

its electoral range of programs. The MBC it the most widely used media; it is able to reach 80%

of the population and especially in the rural areas where illiteracy makes written media

ineffective, is radio the only source of information. The only TV channel, Television of Malawi

(TVM), is completely owned by the state and used 79.5 of its electoral airtime reporting from the

UDF campaign. Both the MBC and the TVM where thought to be under order from the minister

of information, a post held by a UDF party member, to allocate attention to the ruling coalition

and especially the president on the basis that. “…because he is the president of the country, the

president has to be followed and all his activities broadcast in the national news” (EU EOM

2004: 23-24). EU EOM noted that this was in violation of the Presidential and Parliamentary

43

election act of Malawi. The private radio stations were reported to allocate an even amount of

resources to the different candidates and parties, however, the two national newspapers, which are

owned by opposition leaders or their family members, appeared on many accounts to be biased

against the ruling party and its coalition partners (Ibid.).

The EU EOM has addressed the issue of gender in the 2004 election, and noted the number of

women candidates had increased in the 2004 election and in fact there were more women elected

in the 2004 election, However, women seem to have great difficulties in attaining high positions

within the political parties (EU EOM 2004: 27).

Civil society organizations were praised for their voter educational programs and advocated an

increasing in funding to create confidence in the electoral process (Ibid.)

Election Day was in the EU EOM opinion a well executed election without major faults, there

were irregularities observed but not any that have raised serious concern with the EU EOM, the

voting process was seen as a success out of a total of 540 voting stations visited by the EU EOM

85% of the voting stations were deemed very good/good and in 15% bad or very bad (EU EOM

2004: 29).

In regards to the counting of the votes the EU EOM found that: “…the counting was bureaucratic

and slow in most places” (EU EOM 2004: 30). Furthermore it was noted that if a recount was to

be made, then the ballots could not be traced back to their constituency since many boxes lacked

the county labels (Ibid.), and that the publication of the result of the parliamentary election was

not broken down into constituencies, therefore lacking transparency.

The EU EOM noted that after and during Election Day there lacked knowledge in the

constituencies on how to file complains –and the MEC did not a local level have sufficient

knowledge in how to process them (EU EOM 2004: 34-36).

The final assessment of the EU EOM was, as according with the EU handbook for election

monitoring (OSCE/ODIHR 2007: 66-67), filled with both praise of what went well, and

recommendations of what need to be changed.

The EU EOM final statement was:

“The May 2004 elections were the third multiparty elections in Malawi since the introduction of multiparty elections in 1994, the political environment has somewhat improved since the 1994 elections and there is reasons for optimism in the political development of the country. […] there were however, many problems with the electoral process, some of which were so serious the confidence in the accuracy in the results

44

were undermined. It is therefore vital that stakeholders continue developing democratic practises in Malawi. […]” (EU EOM 2004: 39)

The result of the election that elected president Mutharika, was not disputed by the EU EOM, they

did, however, note that there were serious faults in the election process, and the EU EOM

refrained from mentioning or applying the wording of Free and Fair anywhere in their rapport.

The EU EOM did however respond to the former president Muluzi announcement, that the EU

delegation had pronounced the election for free and fair: “This statement [president Muluzi’s] is

factually incorrect. “I no place in our preliminary statement, … did we use either the word free or

the word fair” (EU EOM 2004: 46 & Appendix 3).

The other observers delegations at the Malawi 2004 election, shared many of the observations that

the EU EOM made, they however emphasised different aspects. The Commonwealth of Nations

delegation17 was the second largest and the only other to field long term observers (two people).

They emphasised like the EU EOM mission that the media coverage was very bias especially in

regard to the state owned media (RotCOG 2004: 56). However the Commonwealth group made

significant use of the standard of free and fair at all level of observers. Each observer filled out an

application form answering questions relating to the campaign, the poll and the count. In addition

for each ballot station they attended, they describing abnormalities, the conduct of the MEC

officials and if they felt about the: “Fairness overall: Good? Acceptable? Questionable?”

(RotCOG 2004: 6). In the end the Commonwealth group proclaimed the 2004 Malawi election

for: “Our conclusion is that the voters were free to express their wishes on the day itself, but

because of the problems with the register, the bias of the state media and the abuse of

incumbency, the process prior to the election day was unfair” (RotCOG 2004: 56).

The AU also determined the election in terms of free and fair, they did note several serious lack in

the election process: “The conduct of the election was free and peaceful” (AU 2004: 19), however

the AU delegation also stated that: “the overall performance of the Malawi Electoral Commission

did not meet the expectations of the stakeholders in respect to the management of the of Voters’

roll, Media coverage, voter and civil education and the use of public resources by the ruling

party” and go further to critique the election campaign: “…the campaign did not focus on the

issues as such but on personalities and character assassination … the practice of handouts was a

disturbing feature” (Ibid.).17 The Commonwealth group composition was from 14 different states all but tree (Canada, Australia and the UK) was from developing states (RotCOG 2004: 62-65).

45

The EISA delegation also deemed the election in regard to free and fair: “[EISA mission]

concludes that the elections in Malawi were substantially free. The mission notes however that the

playing field was not levelled, which made it difficult for opposition parties and candidates to

have equitable access to public resources including the state media” (EISA 2004 b).

Generally the delegations that made use of the free and fair standard in the Malawi 2004 election

saw the election as free but not fair.

Development in Malawi Both the 1994 an the 1999 election secured Muluzi the presidential post and since the Banda years

there has been significant progress of human rights in Malawi, to the point where the safeguard of

the freedom of speech and the right to assembly is generally protected (Fenger 2005).

Nevertheless Malawi is still ranking at 163 out of 173 on United Nation Development Program

(UNDP) human development index and 65% of the population was living below the poverty line 18 (UNDP 2005). By the 2004 elections Malawi was facing huge problems in regards to corruption

it came to a point, where Malawi was going to face a significant drop in donor aid, due to the level

of corruption in all layers of society (Fenger 2005). And especially in the latter years of president

Muluzi’s term in office where Malawi fell 43 places on the Transparency International index (TI

2004). In 2002 Malawi lost 75 million dollars worth donor aid, due to overspending in the Malawi

administration (24NEWS). President Mutharika introduces an ambitious anti-corruption program

on the basis that the American donor aid required a increase focus on corruption, only months

after his inauguration he arrested former ministers of the UDF for corruption (Fenger 2005).

However, president did not gain support from his own party and instead created his own party the

DPP. However he has not been able to accuse the former president for neglecting to handle the

corruption, he is however facing the former president in 2009 since Muluzi has announced that he

will be running for president.

Furthermore Malawi has not been able to combat the spreading of HIV19 something that has

brought the life expediency in Malawi down to 36. Malawi is still very much today an

underdeveloped state (CEE 2007). 18 These Numbers might be slightly inaccurate in describing Malawi Development index ranking, since the numbers are from 2005 the same year that Malawi was hit by severe drought. Incidentally president wa Mutharika ignored the advice from foreign organizations, in trying to become self sufficient in agriculture products and now provides government funded fertilizer to farmers. So successful that Malawi in 2008 is exporting food (findingDulcinea 2008). 19 Malawi suffers form a staggering high Aids Infection rate, it is estimated that roughly one seventh of the population is affected with Aids. The Aids issue was high on the agenda of all the candidates of the 2004 election, where all promised the to supply all affected with medicine (RotCOG 2004: 15)

46

Manoeuvring for rent seeking in Malawi PoliticsOne of the problems that affect Malawi, and large parts of Africa, is rent seeking. Rent seeking is

often compared to corruption, but where corruption is: “the misuse of public power for private

gain” then rent seeking is “then the effort to acquire access to or control over opportunities for

earning rent” (Coolidge 1996: 2) that in itself is not illegal, however, it becomes morally

questionable when politicians occupier an bureaucratic position, wherein their position grants

them the legal power to award legitimacy to others for what can be viewed as rent or bribes, that

is especially concerning because it can damage a third party (Coolidge 1996: 3), for example the

population in general because of loss of tax revenues.

After the 2004 election it has been noted that a significant part of Malawi politics is based on the

personalities of a few leaders instead of a focus on party ideology or their policies (Maroleng

2004: 80 & EU EOM b 2004: 2). In both before and after the 2004 election there have been

significant leadership changes in all the main Malawi political parties. The parties have each faced

internal dissension. Banda’s old party, the MCP, had for example seen their party’s vice-president

and president have a bitter in-fight for the party nomination for presidential candidate, which

resulted in the MCP president Gwanda Chakuamba, wining the nomination, but the subsequent

High court battle left the nomination with the vice-president John Tembo. Gwanda Chakuamba

then created his own political party the Republican Party (RP) (Ibid.).

Gwanda Chakuamba, together with his RP, created a coalition of six other opposition parties in

order to counter a UDF majority in the parliament, however, when the UDF majority was in

danger, the RP joined the government in exchange for government posts, effectively killing the

coalition (Ibid.). Gwanda Chakuamba then later left his own party and became the member of

president Mutharika new DPP and was at that time promoted to minister of Agriculture. Gwanda

Chakuamba, however, soon fell out with president Mutharika and changed horse again and

created a new political party, the New Republican Party (NRP), and is now supporting the former

president Muluzi for the presidential election in 2009 (Maroleng 2004: 82-83). Gwanda

Chakuamba’s manoeuvring in the Malawi political sphere is extreme but not unusual. First

president Muluzi and then later president Mutharika have on several occasions, managed to

persuade several members of the opposition to switch sides in favour of government posts (EISA

47

2004a: 10 & EUOEM 2004: 17-19), and party loyalties seems mean little in regard to personal

gain especially it seems when there are opportunities for rent seeking (Ibid.).

Malawi’s electorally roundabout Malawi is a republic, with an electoral system modelled on the British Westminster electoral

system, with elections every five years. One election determines the president which is elected by

a majority vote. The other election is for seats in the parliament thought single member, first past

the pole concept, the election is a multiparty election. Both these elections take place at the same

time and work on the principle of plurality (CotRoM 1994 & EISA 2006). Furthermore Malawi

has an election commission (MEC). The leader of the election committee is appointed by the

president in cooperation with the parliament (EISA 2006).

48

Analysis Readers guide to the analysisIn this first section of the analysis the descriptive part is found. It outlines some of the difficulties

the free and fair standard has had previously. The use of the free and fair standard is then

displayed within the context of the 1994, 1999, and most importantly, the 2004 Malawi elections

in order to situate the standard and to enable the theoretical tools of the thesis to provide us with a

theoretical outlook on the context wherein the free and fair standard is applied. The section also

includes an operation of democracy, based on how the election monitors perceive an election as a

tool for the good governance concept as a modernisation concept, through the free and fair

standard. The descriptive part of the analysis ends with concluding observations on what kind of

democracy the free and fair standard is promoting.

In the exploratory section of the analysis we take a look at what happened when the free and fair

standard is omitted in favour of a progress of democracy and will of the people standard, when

concluding on an election by the EU EOM. Then we apply a theoretical approach on the

proceedings in order to see if there is a different kind of promotion or focus on different aspects of

democracy, which can explain the change in rhetoric applied to the 2004 Malawi election overall

assessments from the EU EOM. Furthermore the section also includes an operation of democracy

based on how the election monitors perceive an election as a tool for the good governance concept

as a modernisation concept, through the progress for democracy standard.

The exploratory part of the analysis will present a summary of its findings, which will then be

compared to the concluding observations from the descriptive part.

Descriptive part of the analysis

Into a world of free and fair“While democracy must be more than free elections it is also true… that it cannot be less”

-UN secretary general Kofi Annam.

The free and fair standard has been accused of having some shortcomings, as described in the

method chapter, that will be elaborated further on here.

Essentially free and fair elections are those elections, where the balloting and the counting of the

votes are conducted in a fair manner, in addition the there must have been a fair competition the

49

political parties in between, prior to the election. A fair competition includes reasonable access to

media, fair rules that uphold a political environment free of intimidation and lastly an impartial

and quick authority for handling election disputes (Bjornlund 2004: 94). Elections requirements

based on the free and fair standard that have been set into criteria’s have been questioned.

One of the main issues with the free and fair standard is that there are no universal criteria’s for

defining what is free and fair and the methodical approach to determining an free and fair

elections has been questioned (Elklit & Svensson 1997: 33). For example should one have

criteria’s that you would grade according to fulfillment of free and fair and then combine the

overall score to reach a passable lever to be judge a free and fair election? Generally, the idea is

that observers should judge or evaluate imperfections in a process that is meant to reflect the UN’s

charter on human rights: “will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government”

(UDHR Article 21. 3). But for example how can the observers assess where the cut-off point is in

regards to voter registration if there do not exist any reliable demographics. This is a special

problem in Malawi, where they employ the Westminster of “first past the post” election model,

modelled after the British electoral system, where the population in a given area reflects on how

many votes are needed to get elected into parliament and the majority are the only ones that

achieve representation (EISA 2006). This was the reason that there was an outcry against the

Malawi UDF government in 1998 when the UDF managed to bargain their way into extra

electoral seats where the UDF had the strongest supporters, thereby gaining more UDF elected

into parliament in the 1999 election.

Another issue with the free and fair standards is that in a state as Malawi where the illiteracy rate

is very high20 how, can one fault an election for not complying with the criteria for anonymous

voting if voters: “have to ask for assistance to mark their ballot papers?” (Geisler 1993: 618). It

has been an issue that has not been solved for the free and fair standard; it remains a concept that

has faces serious problems as an assessment tool for real life situations during elections

(Bjornlund 2004: 98).

The general problem with the free and fair standard is that it is a subjective judgment. The

observers will have to decide if a flawed part of an election is sufficient reason for determining if

the election is not free or fair? As Gisela Geisler, a noted electoral debater, have noted “…Who

decides what cumulation of flaws is still permissible for free and fair elections, and what is not?”

20 Illiteracy rate is a significant part of the UNDP’s human development index, where Malawi ranks 163 out of 177.

50

(Geisler 1993: 618). However, the standard is still used by election observer teams when they

assess the overall results of an election.

Free and fair applied in the 2004 election It is here that the applicability of both Robert Dahl’s requirements and functioning institutions is

useful. Both the Institutions and the requirements can be evaluated according to the assessments

the international observer missions are making in regards to the 2004 election.

In order to scrutinize the termination of the appliance of the free and fair standard by the EU OEM

in the 2004 Malawi election, it is necessary to describe what the standard means for the election in

Malawi, in respect to what kind of democracy it is trying to promote.

Even with the troublesome issues with the free and fair standard, the standard has to some degree

been institutionalized so that the population, aid donors and politicians and especially the media

still use the standard (Carothers 2004: 90). In the 2004 elections tree delegations made use of the

standard in assessing the election.

The Commonwealth of Nations concluded the election as: “Our conclusion is that the voters were

free to express their wishes on the day itself, but because of the problems with the register, the

bias of the state media and the abuse of incumbency, the process prior to the election day was

unfair” (RotCOG 2004: 56). In a Robert Dahl terminology what they actually is saying is the first

two requirements (effective participation and equality in voting) is fulfilled but that gaining

enlightened understanding is not, due to the delegations notice that the media is bias, thereby the

is Dahl’s requirements of the control of the agenda, inclusion and fundamental rights not fulfilled.

The AU’s evaluation on the election was: “The conduct of the election was free and peaceful”

(AU 2004: 19), however the AU delegation also stated that: “the overall performance of the

Malawi Electoral Commission did not meet the expectations of the stakeholders in respect to the

management of the of Voters’ roll, Media coverage, voter and civil education and the use of

public resources by the ruling party” and go’s further to critique the election campaign: “…the

campaign did not focus on the issues as such but on personalities and character assassination …

the practice of handouts was a disturbing feature” (Ibid.). Like the Commonwealth of Nations

team the AU delegation also deemed the election fulfilling in respect to the effective participation

but in fact the AU delegation also critiqued the second requirement of equality in voting, because

they emphasise the UDF practice of handouts which violates the equality in voting requirement,

because by bribing some and not all, it disrupts Dahl’s equality principle. Like the

51

Commonwealth of Nations delegation the AU delegation do not in Dahl terminology see control

of the agenda, inclusion and fundamental rights fulfilled.

The EISA electoral mission “concludes that the elections in Malawi were substantially free. The

mission notes however that the playing field was not levelled, which made it difficult for

opposition parties and candidates to have equitable access to public resources including the state

media” (EISA 2004 b). EISA thereby concludes that there have been an effective participating

and equality in voting, but the requirement of gaining an enlightened understanding is not fulfilled

because of an uneven playing field, control of the agenda and the inclusion requirements suffers

likewise because Dahl’s demos do not have a full understanding of the elections candidates and

their policies to make an informed decision. Likewise with the inclusion and fundamental rights

were not fulfilled since they relies on the control of the agenda and gaining enlightened

understanding requirements, to be fulfilled. Generally the delegations that made use of the free

and fair standard in the Malawi 2004 election saw the election as free but not fair.

Interesting many of the institutions that Robert Dahl suggests for at state to become a Polyarchy

are actually deemed in place in Malawi. Most notably is the free and fair election that are held at

regular intervals fulfilled because the general consent from all observer missions is that all voters

could go freely to the pooling booths without fear or reprisals, and all votes count the same.

Besides the fact the secret police was reported to be present near pooling stations then the Malawi

state shows that it has created a functional free and fair election institution. Furthermore, Dahl’s

institution of inclusive suffrage is also effectuated, since all have been allowed to participate in

the actually process of voting, furthermore, the election was made to determine which candidate

would win the election thereby fulfilling the needs for both the institution of elected officials, and

the fact that so many independent candidates ran for parliament and got voted into parliament

signifies that all citizens, including the ones without party affiliations, were entitled to run for

office. Likewise the disintegration of the AFORD party and the creation of multiple smaller

parties illustrates that it is possible to pursue ones own interests and thereby effectuating the

institution of independent associations. However, the election lacked proper institutions of

freedom of expressions, due to restriction to the media and the restrictions on public rallies, which

also hindered the institution of alternative information.

52

Summary of the findings The AU, EISA and the Commonwealth of Nations election delegations generally shared the same

notion on the 2004 election. The tree delegations deployed by the AU, EISA and the

Commonwealth of Nations acquit the “free” part of the election effectually thereby, in a Dahl

terminology, saying that the election had equality in voting and in Dahl’s terminology an institute

of free and fair elections. However, there was a lack in almost all other areas raging from control

of the agenda to gaining an enlighten understanding –and besides the free and fair elections most

of the institutions needed for a polyarchy was not functional in the Malawi elections. But the

general understanding is that the election was free but not fair –it is still a 50 % success rate and

only the Commonwealth mission actually makes use of the word unfair. Therefore it must be

assumed that the observers is lending credibility the election, despite its shortcomings. Most

serious is the AU and EISA comments regarding the media bias and an uneven playing field,

effectuating that the voters did not have the possibility to make an informed decision, because

they did not have access to freedom of expression and an alternative source of information.

Essentially the delegations comments Malawi on a good Election Day but severely critique the

methods used in the electoral campaign and the role of the media.

Exploratory part of the analysis "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it

good and hard."

- H.L. Mencken,

Robert Dahl and the EU EOM assessment In this part of the exploratory the EU EOMs assessments will assessed using Robert Dahl’s

concept framework.

In the assessment and recommendation the EU EOM mission noted that there was an undesired

presents of both police and secret service, however, in regards to the presents of police at pooling

stations if must be assumed that is acceptable for police to be present at lager gatherings. But in

essence the EU EOM questions the effective participation since some might be afraid to vote, or

afraid to vote for the opposition party. The EU EOM also noted that there were handouts during

the election campaign which suggest that there is not equality in voting, because some votes are

more worth then others i.e. some votes are important enough to pay bribes for. In addition the act

53

prevents inclusion since not all are bribed, thereby making some want to participate more in the

election more then others. The EU EOM also noted during the campaign process that some were

not allowed to hold election rallies, thus preventing both the possibility for gaining an enlightened

understanding and deceiving the voters control over the agenda because voters are not allowed

near their candidates for influencing them and being influenced by them. In regards to the media

the EU EOM found that the state and two privately owned newspapers (by the opposition) were

very bias in their reporting of the election, thus the EU EOM critique the election for preventing

the people from gaining an enlightened understanding. Furthermore the EU EOM found the MEC

´s handling of complains concerning. Thereby critiquing the control of the agenda because it

questioned whether the people can reassess former actions. However, the EU EOM also praised

the election for its inclusion of civil society thereby saying the voters had some control of the

agenda. In addition the EU EOM praised the conduct of all during Election Day and noted only

small irregularities connected with the counting process suggesting some equality in voting. More

praises commends the Malawi institution of free and fair elections, and the institution that all

citizens are entitled to run for and serve in elective offices, likewise was the independent

associations institution praised due to the fact that many independent ran for office. Interestingly

the EU EOM has no mentions of the fact that many independent parliament members became

party members in the new government, in exchange for positions in the government as it was the

case with Gwanda Chakuamba, it suggest that the EU EOM did not consider it a part of the

election process or ignored it.

Generally the EU EOM considered the campaign progress, and the complain process flawed, but

the actions on the Election Day was considered acceptable. However, if the people do not have

control of the Agenda then there is no democracy, as the last tree elections have granted a victory

to the UDF a party that the majority of the population has not voted for in the last two elections. It

then can be argued that democracy conflicted with the Universal declaration of human rights

wherein the government is suppose to be in office by the will of the people, and furthermore the

election day might be in order but the people do not have the opportunity to a gain alternative

information’s then the will of the people is not present.

The new rhetoric in commenting on elections by the EU EOM The EU EOM elided using the free and fair wording, they did however, make concluding remarks

on the 2004 Malawi election:

54

“The May 2004 elections were the third multiparty elections in Malawi since the introduction of multiparty elections in 1994, the political environment has somewhat improved since the 1994 elections and there is reasons for optimism in the political development of the country. […] there were however, many problems with the electoral process, some of which were so serious the confidence in the accuracy in the results were undermined. It is therefore vital that stakeholders continue developing democratic practises in Malawi. […]” (EU EOM 2004: 39)

The omitting of the free and fair wording was supposed to make the judgement of an election less

subjective. However, when the EU EOM makes use of sentences like “the political environment

has somewhat improved since the 1994 elections” and “there is reasons for optimism in the

political development of the country” and most notably “the electoral process” then there is a lack

of a positivistic approach, which suggest that the assessment has traits of subjectivity.

In addition when the EU EOM mention the for elections of 1994 and 1999, and further make an

assessment on the fact the democracy has improved, “the political environment has somewhat

improved since the 1994 elections and there is reasons for optimism” it is in essence an judgment

on the same level as the free and fair, furthermore, by evaluating the election on the basis of an

(genuine) “electoral process”, as a new standard, they are in fact just replacing one subjective

standard with another. One would however, see on the different aspects of evaluating by the

observes, but when one evaluate the assessment sheets of the EU EOM and the assessment sheet

from the Commonwealth delegation in regards to polling stations assessments, then we can see we

can see that the wording of the two sheets are different but they essentially assess the same:

conditions at the station?, the voting procedures?, political party members presents? And many of

the points on the checklist are very subjective. For example if there is a “general agitation”

(RotCOG 2004: 52) or “Atmosphere at the station” (EU EOM: 71). It is, however, important to

notice that the phases “process” is better at describing the 2004 election in the context of previous

elections.

In regards to good governance and the DAC standards there are especially two areas where the

new standard could have a new effect. In regards to the rule of law it can be questioned whether

the new standard provides a better argument for governance, when it appears as a weaker version

in it approval or especially in it disapproval, in regards to if any had broken the electoral law, then

the free and fair standard that determined either a right or a wrong seems better. Furthermore one

can debate whether introducing a standard that do not take into account the blatant rent-seeking

done by politicians post elections is not mentioned, which not only creates uncertainty for voters

in the future but also, makes the democratic institution loose legitimacy. Furthermore it goes

55

against EU EOM principles for election monitoring: “Election observation can contribute to

strengthening democratic institutions, build public confidence in electoral processes and help

deter fraud” (EC 2008).

Elections are supposed grant legitimacy to its government, but when the principles and ideologies

the votes vote for are sat aside for personal gain then elections lose their legitimacy.

New standards assessed One of the first things that can be questioned in the appliance of the free and fair standard, is the

fact that through the new standard the EU EOM don’t really make a assessment on the 2004

election, certainly not one that the people of Malawi wants from the EU delegation; “Often the

population in African states have high expectations of international observers and they most often

expect a declaration on whether the election was free and fair” (Abbink & Hesseling 2000: 261).

This is partly du to the fact that the EU apply a standard that is not well defined “process towards

democracy” is not articulated in a way that explains if the 2004 was a democratic election or not.

This could suggest that the observers are present for the sake of controlling an institution, the

MEC, rather then helping the institution achieve its goal of promoting democracy.

It is true that the standard is less of a dichotomy which makes it better at making an assessment

not either one ting or another, but a process standard is still a very subjective and like the free and

fair standard the new standard is just as flawed, cause who or what decides how many flaws it

takes in an election for there not to be progress?

In addition, less of a dichotomy is concerning because the process of democracy seem to suggest

that the process of democracy leaves room for interpretation and further considerations, that can

be seen to be a function that can only go one way: towards lowering the bar of what is acceptable

in elections, where in fact one ought to set the standard as high as possible, so that leaders would

have something to strive towards.

Instead when the EU EOM suggests that there is a process going on, were Malawi has made steps

towards democracy, the EU EOM are lending credibility to the election process, which they

incidentally has found flawed.

56

The attraction of electionsOne could argue that elections often brings much more then the right to choose you own

government, according to Soft Power it is a desirable institution that has a lot of attraction. Soft

Power is mainly the attraction of ideology, or cooperating with other states in order to get the

states to do what you want. In regards to Malawi it is clear that there has been created a norm

concerning elections that is imported from the West. The participation in the Malawi 2004

election was reasonably (54.7%) suggesting an overall desire for democracy among the Malawi

people (MEC 2004). On the basis of Soft Power one can see the West, represented by the EU, is

using two methods to introduce democracy, the carrot and attraction. The carrot is a synonym for

bribe or a payoff in order to get someone to do what you want them to do. Malawi has through

their ACP membership been paid off through the EPA’s they have signed, this has granted them

trade agreements but the EU have in turn, among other things, demanded that Malawi committed

itself to promoting good governance. Attraction on the other hand is much more difficult to

recognise, because it is difficult to measure (Nye 2004 a: 62), however, we can see the effect.

Malawi has since the Banda years invited international observers to judge their elections in

accordance with Western standards, this show a desire to emulate the Western world’s

democracy.

Soft Power is of cause a dissuasion what, if anything, the EU wants to use their attraction power

to, this is mainly due to the fact that Soft Power is so difficult to use and control effectively, as the

critique of the theory has commented, however, Soft Power do make it more difficult for Malawi

to argue against the appliance of Western election observers, or for that matter the kind of

democracy they are trying to promote.

Post colonial? Or post independence? If we look at the international observers assessments of the 2004 Malawi elections through the

lens of a postcolonial perspective then we need to reassert certain definitions used by the election

observers.

In regards to free and fair, postcolonialism poses an explanation in regards to Malawi’s

contradictory relationship to the standard. On the one hand Malawi expects the standard to be

used, but on the other hand they clearly don’t live up to the full extend of the meaning of the

concept. The explanation of the conflicting approach has to be found in resistance to the West.

57

Malawi operates within a states system that is not of their own making, but on the other hand still

wants to be a part of, (Soft power’s attraction concept offers and explanation for this). The

interesting issue here is that Malawi has fully accept the concept and operates with it, however,

they offer resistance towards the concept while still applying it, in that way they both challenges

the concept that is not their own but also helps sustain the concept by using it.

Likewise postcolonialism aid in illustrating connections and relations taken for granted, like for

instance the electoral system applied in Malawi, is adopted from the British Westminster system

suggesting an adoption of the system without considering alternatives, yet it seems to be an

unnecessary instigator of conflict because of its “first past the pole” concept, that opens up for

electoral speculation of how many constituencies a party can get within its heartland.

One can also argue that the fact that the Malawi people have accepted the fact that they need

international observers with Western standards is an illustration of a dominant discourse that

represents the social reality in Malawi as an underdeveloped state in need of Western guidance,

which in turn enables the West (EU) to help structure the state through the institutions they

promote, in fact democracy guided by the West can be seen as a new form of control of the South

by the West to replace colonialism

The burden of the white man21 In regards to the new “progress of democracy / will of the people” standard postcolonialism

would argue that it serves as continuation of a long line of concepts that serves to dominate the

South, through the West’s power to define. It can be argued that the new election standards are

just new fads in a long line of buzz words and focus areas, that the West employs to dazzle the

developing states in order to maintain an understanding (both in the West and in the South) that

the South needs intervention. And it is implied that the intervention is done by the West based on

moral superiority, based on the fact that the West has claimed ownership over concepts such as

democracy and freedom and fairness. Ownership of free and fair has, however, come under severe

scrutiny after the Bush/Gore elections in 2000. Nonetheless the new standard becomes the West

latest measuring tool based on moral superiority. This is a clear example of a eurocentric approach

that exhibits at least two characteristic of clear euro centricity: the standards a based on a moral

21 Title is a reference to a Rudyard Kipling poem that was interpreted as a characterization for colonialism that justified the policy as a noble enterprise.

58

approach of what the West considers progress, and institutions (EISA, AU and the MEC) are

reproducing that standard.

Furthermore the new standard is based on the fact that the circumstances, surrounding the 2004

election, were not easy defined. This suggest that the new standard has been adapted to conditions

in Malawi, which only can be described as a paternalistic or as morally superior act by the West.

A Neo–liberalist perspective

However one might see the developing world, they can still be seen to act, as states within a realm

of anarchy, for instance the Malawi government received large donations of rice from Taiwan

during their 2005 drought, but later switch sides and recognized mainland China (Lameck 2008),

this illustrates that Malawi is a state that is trying to take action accordingly to maximise its

absolute gains, in world politics, same thing can be assessed from Malawi’s handling of the 2005

drought where president Mutharika ignored the WB’s advice and introduced a government funded

fertilizer program (Ibid.).

Likewise one can argue that in respect to elections and donor aid then Malawi is a very rational

actor. They first transcended to democratic rule after the Banda years and the one party rule

period, when they lost international support and donors where treating to withhold aid. And

likewise one can view the introduction of democracy and elections as institutions that were

demanded by the international society. And as a rational actor Malawi has complied and have

been introduced into the democratic assembly of state, however, as Neo-liberalists would argue

the biggest problem to interstate cooperation is cheating, which states will do if they see a benefit

in doing so. One can argue that it is exactly what Malawi has done in regards the democracy for

aid agreement. Malawi has introduced democracy and free elections but not fair elections and

thereby not actually introducing democracy. However, even if there is not introduced fair

elections, it seems to satisfy the EU on the basis that in 2007 Malawi reconfirmed its Economic

Partnership Agreement (EPA) through the preliminary ACP contract (MEJN 2007). This is also

an example of the fact that there is a new agenda on international issues, where there is no

distinctions between high and low politics, we can observe that donor aid in the form of election

Observer Missions (low politics) and economics (high politics), are connected and influence each

other.

However, one can also argue that Malawi has in fact played a zero sum game, because they might

on the one hand have gotten away with granting the people a lesser degree of democracy and has

59

cheated its way into being recognized as a democracy, but on the other hand they have been

forced to accept a increase in complex interdependence. The increase in interdependence can be

argued has created a demand for international observers to pass judgment on Malawi elections,

and as dependence works both ways, the EU has been able to created standards for trade

agreements that relies on democratic improvement. However, as complex interdependence do not

need to be a zero sum game, then the EU can afford to overlook standards for democratic

improvement, as long as their trade agreement is upheld: “For Africa’s donors and creditors,

good governance may therefore have more to do with accepting and enforcing the “right

economic policies than adhering to widely recognized democratic principles. If so, this might give

African Leaders the option to substitute economic adjustments for democracy” (Geisler 1993:

631). This explains why Malawi is allowed to cheat in regards to fair elections, and perhaps

explains why the EU has adopted a new rhetoric that do not suggest a dichotomy, but allows room

for interpretation, which then allows for continual aid and thereby trade.

This suggests a flaw in the plan to have democracy operate as the silver bullet to terrorism, when

the democracy that is promoted is not necessarily a fair democracy, but one that can end up as

authoritarian. However, this corresponds with the critique the neo-liberalistic approach has

received, and the issues the EU is faces in its promotion of democracy: a linkage between

democracy and economics has had problems in producing viable governance in the third world.

Summary of the exploratory partThe EU EOM recognized several flaws in the election process and provided a critical review of

the process prior to and after the election, critiquing control of the agenda, equality in voting,

voter’s inclusion and lack of possibility for voters to gain an enlightened understanding of the

options they had to choose from. However, there was also praises for having functional

institutions of free and fair elections and that all citizens were entitled to run for office, likewise

was the independent associations institution praised due to the fact that many independent ran and

got elected for office.

The new standard the EU EOM assessed the election with, was if, there had been a genuine

democratic that had moved Malawi forward? Despite the fact that the new standard can create a

more nuanced image of the 2004 election it still have flaws. Most notably that the standard is just

as subjective as any other and the standard do not deliver what the people of Malawi want from

international observers namely a verdict –suggesting that the observers are present for the sake of

60

controlling an institution, rather then helping the institution achieve its goal of promoting

democracy. Furthermore the new standards do not seem to provide any improvement in helping

the DAC standards, in fact the opposite can be argued, because the less definitive standard creates

doubt on how wrong or how right things are, furthermore the fact that new standard has not been

used to address corruption and rent seeking do the standard not prevent the loss of state

legitimacy.

In regards to neo-liberalism the one can say the political leaders of Malawi have accepted

democracy but through electoral manipulation have affected the outcome in a way they find

beneficial. Something they can get away with, because they have accepted closer ties with the

West, which in turn uses that to impose judgment on elections –and can perhaps change standards

to suit their trade interest.

Soft power has illustrated that the lure of the West can not only promote democracy but a

democracy that is being judged by Western standards without being seen as intrusive.

An alternative point of view on election observers has been presented by the postcolonialist

perspective. It presents a social reality where the Malawi state and people sees itself as

underdeveloped and in need of Western interference and that the new assessment standards that

the EU EOM makes use of is just a new tool to have an excuse to intervene in the internal affairs

of Malawi.

Comparing the descriptive and the exploratory parts

Essentially the difference between the observer delegations that applied the free and fair standard

and the EU EOM new standard of assessing if there had been progress towards genuine elections

is difficult to spot. Both of the standards did not seem to significantly affect the monitoring task of

the different delegation, which arrived at roughly the same critique and praises of the 2004

election. And the new standard of progress evaluation seems no less subjective in their

assessments then the free and fair standard. The new standard do seems to have more nuances

being less definitive which makes it more applicable in elections where there is a demand for

judging an election in the context in which it takes place. However, that is also a weakness due to

the fact that average voter, aid donor, politicians and the media demands a definitive answer to the

credibility of an election.

61

Conclusion The analysis has tried to provide an answer to the research question of “Why did the EU EOM

abandon the term “free and fair” in the 2004 Malawi election, instead of a broader “will of the

people and democracy progress” standard.” The respond to the research question have been

based on the combined explanatory power of both the descriptive and the exploratory part of the

analysis.

Through the thesis it has become clear that the answer to the research question is not found in the

in the applicability of the different standards; they do not provide a different measuring ability for

observers in the field. Both standards do, however, suffer from being subjective in their analysis

of elections. Each standard has abilities that the other lack, free and fair can provide a more

definitive answer to the result of an election and the progress of democracy standard can better

interpret elections within the context that they occur. It does however, become difficult in

assessing which standard is better as an election judgment tool, where one is better in regards to

understanding an election, another is better in making a different through being ascertain in its

ability to communicate results and satisfy the people that is truly affected by an election.

However, if one looks closer then there seems to be an advantage for the progress for democracy

standard since it is less definitive in its statement, thereby enabling the EU to ignore the violations

of good governance by the Malawi government, for the possible benefit of continued intervention.

In addition, the difference in standards can perhaps also be found in the interplay between Malawi

and the EU, where the EU seems to have an advantage in being able to lower the acceptable bar

for elections. Furthermore, the new standard continues to enforce and reproduce a notion that

Malawi needs Western intervention. The general picture is that Soft Power and Neo-liberalist

theoretical approaches suggest that Malawi has an uneven relation with the EU, which in turn

seems to hold an advantage in its relations with Malawi that in might very well use, for

intervening in Malawi.

This change in election standards is a disturbing sign, first of all is creates mixed signals of what

elections should be in order to strengthen democracy worldwide, in fact it can have the opposite

effect if the notion of democracy can be suited those that can benefit from a weak or stagnant

democracy. If we remember the Huntington quote from the introduction, it is important to

remember that there is a second line: “Elections, open, free and fair, are the essence of

democracy, the inescapable sine qua non. Governments produced by elections may be

inefficient, corrupt, shortsighted.”

62

Bibliography

Printed literature

Abbink, Jon & Hesseling, Gerti (2000) “Election Observation and Democratization in Africa” Macmillan Press Ltd, London

Andersen, Brita V (1991) “Interdependence: En analyse af begrebets andvendelse in international politik” Forlaget politiske studier, København

Abrahamsen, Rita (2007) “Postcolonialism” in “International Relations Theory for the Twenty-First Century an Introduction”, Ed. By Griffiths, Martin, Routledge, London

Abrahamsen, Rita (2003) “African Studies and the Postcolonial Challenge” African Affairs Vol.102 p: 189-210

Abrahamsen, Rita (2000) “Disciplining democracy: Development Discourse and Good Governance in Africa” Palgrave, New York

Alan Ferguson (2000) Quoted in Bjornlund, Eric C. (2004) “Beyond Free and Fair” The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore

Baylis, John & Smith, Steve (2001) “The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations” Oxford University Press, London

Bjornlund, Eric C. (2004) “Beyond Free and Fair” The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore Carew, George M. (2006) “Democratic Transition in Postcolonial Africa: a deliberative approach”

The Edwin Mellen Press, New YorkCarothers, Thomas (2004) “Critical Mission” the Brookings Institution Press, Washington Carothers, Thomas (1997) “The Observers Observed” In “Journal of Democracy” Vol. 8 Nr.3

pp.17-31Dahl, Robert A (2006) “On Political Equality” Yale University Press, New Havende Vaus, David A (2001) “Research design in social research” Sage Publications Ltd. London di Zerega, Gus (2001) “Liberalism, Democracy, and the State: Reclaiming the Unity of Liberal

Politics” in The Review of Politics Vol. 63 Nr. 4 pp. 755-782Dunne, Tim (2001) “Liberalism” in “The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to

International Relations”, ed.s Baylis, John & Smith, Steve, Oxford University Press, London

Elklit, Jorgen & Svensson, Palle (1997) “What Makes Elections Free and Fair?” in “Journal of Democracy” Vol. 8, Nr 3,

Harding, Sandra (1998) “Is Science Multicultural?” Indiana University Press, BloomingtonHede, Klavs Kinnerup (2006) “Menneskerettigheder, demokratisering og good governance i

dansk udviklingspolitik” Jurist- og Økonomforbundets Forlag, Randers Jackson, R & Sørensen G, (2007) ”Introduction to International Relations Theories and

approaches” 3.ed Oxford University Press, New York Kalipeni, Ezekiel (1997) “Regional Polarisation in Voting Pattern: Malawi’s 1994 Election” in

“African Journal of Political Science” Vol. 2 No.1 pp: 152-167 Kaspin, Beborah (1995) “The Politics of Ethnicity in Malawi's Democratic Transition” in “The

Journal of Modern African Studies” Vol. 33 No. 4 pp: 595-620 Keohane, Robert (1989) “International Institutions and State Powers: Essays in International

Relations Theory”, Boulder, Westview

63

Lamy, Steven L (2001) “Contemporary mainstream approaches: neo-realism and neo-liberalism” in “The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations”, ed.s Baylis, John & Smith, Steve, Oxford University Press, London

Lodge, Tom (2002) "Malawi" in “Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa” ed. Kadima, D & Pottie, D, Sage Publications, New York

Maroleng, Chris (2004) “Malawi General Election 2004: Democracy in the firing line” African Security Review Vol. 13 No 2 pp: 73-95

Matlosa, Khbelle. (2008) “Elections & Conflict” in “The Resolution of African Conflicts” ed. by Nhema Alfred & Zeleza Paul Tiyambe James Currey Ltd. Oxford

McEvan, Cheryl (2001) “Postcolonialism, feminism and development: intersections and dilemmas”, in Progress in Development Studies Vol. 1 2, pp: 93–111.

Nye, Joseph S. (2004) "Soft Power: the means to success in world politics" Public Affairs, New York

Nye, Joseph S. (2003) “The Velvet Hegemon” Forigen Policy No. 136, May –Jun pp: 74-75 Nye, Joseph S. (2006) “Think Again: Soft Power” Foreign Policy No. 153 Mar-April pp: 51-57Nye, Joseph S (2004) a “The decline of American’s Soft Power” Foreign Policy Vol. 83 No3

May-June pp. 61-68 Prasad, Biman & Roy, Kartick (2007) “Governance and Development in Developing Countries:

An Overview of Issues” in “Governance and Development in Developing Countries” ed. Prasad, Biman & Roy, Kartick, Nova Science Publishers Inc, New York

Reilly, Benjamin (2008) “Post-war elections” in “From War to Democracy: Dilemmas of Peacebuilding” Ed. By Jarstad, Anna & Sisk, Timothy D Cambridge university Press, Cambridge

Sadar, Ziauddin (1999) “Development and the Locations of Eurocentrism” in “Critical Development Theory: Contributions to a new paradigm” eds. Munck, R & O’Hearn, D, Zed Books Ltd, New York

Santa-Cruz, Arturo (2005) “International Election Monitoring, Sovereignty, and the Western Hemisphere Idea: The Emergence of an International Norm” Routhledge, London

Smith, Steven (2002), “The end of the Unipolar Moment? September 11 and the Futur of World Order” International Relations No. 16 pp: 171-184

Sylvester, Christine (1999) “Development studies and postcolonial studies: disparate tales of the 'Third World'” in Third World Quarterly Vol. 20, Issue 4, pp: 703 – 721

Van Donge, Jan K (1995) “Kamuzu’s Legacy: the Democratization of Malawi: Or searching for the rules of the game in African politics”. African Affairs Vol. 94, pp: 227-257

Wiseman, J.A (2000) “Presidential and parliamentary elections in Malawi 1999” in “Electoral Studies” Vol. 19 pp: 615-646

Wood, George (1999) “The institutional Basis for Economics and social Progress: Perspectives and policies” in “Review of Radical Political Economics” Vol. 35, pp: 320-329

Zakaria, Fareed. (2003) “The Future of Freedom” W. W. Norton & Company Ltd. London Yin, Robert (2006) “Research Designs”, in “Research Design” Vol. 1 ed. de Vaus, David, A Sage

Publications Ltd. LondonYin, Robert (1995) “Case Study Research: Design and Methods” Sage Publications Ltd. London

64

Online databases

AfriMAP (2005) “Governance in the European Union Africa Strategy; Submission form AfriMAP” [Online database] available at: http://europafrica.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/afrimap.pdf, accessed on the 5th of May 2008

AU (2004) “Report of the African Union Observer Team on the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in The Republic of Malawi held on the 20th May 2004” [Online database] available at: http://www.africa-union.org/Official_documents/reports/Report%20AU%20Observer%20Team%20%20Malawi%202004.pdf accessed on the 15th of May 2008

UDHR (1948) “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” [Online database] available http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html Accessed on the14th of February 2008

CEE (2007) “Malawi: History” in “The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia”, [Online database] available at http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0859442.html accessed on the 25th of May 2008

CotRoM (1994) “CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI 1994” (1994) [Online database] available at: http://www.sdnp.org.mw/constitut/brfindx.html, accessed on the 10 June 2008.

Coolidge, Jacqueline (1996) “High-Level Rent Seeking and Corruption in African Regimes: Theory and Case” [Online database], available at World Bank Group: Http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/pdf/wps1780.pdf Accessed on the 17th of February 2008

CSCE (1990) “Document of the Copenhagen Meeting on The human Dimension of the CSCE” [Online database] available at: http://www.legislationline.org/legislation.php?tid=2&lid=5513. Accessed on the 7th of February 2008

Dahl, Robert A (1998) “On Democracy” Yale University Press, New Haven [Online database] available at: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/aalborguniv/Doc?id=10167950&ppg=27 Accessed on the 5 of June 2008

De Angelis, Massimo (2003) “Neoliberal Governance, Reproduction Accumulation” [Online database] available at: http://www.commoner.org.uk/07deangelis.pdf. Accessed on the 1 of June 2008

EC (2008) a “External relations” [Online database] available at: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/human_rights/eu_election_ass_observ/index.htm Accessed on the 29th of June 2008

EC (2008) “EU Relations with Malawi” [Online database] available at: http://ec.europa.eu/development/geographical/regionscountries/countries/country_profile.cfm?cid=mw&type=short&lng=en Accessed on the 29th of May 2008

Economist (2006) “Liberty and justice for some” [Online database] available at: http://www.economist.com/markets/rankings/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8908438 Accessed on the 1 of June 2008

EISA (2006) “Malawi: Electoral system” [Online database] available at: http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/mal4.htm#fn2 Accessed on the 20th of May 2008

EISA (2004) a “Election Update: Malawi 2004, no. 1” [Online database] available at: http://www.eisa.org.za/PDF/EUMALAWI200401.pdf Accessed on the 20th of May 2008

EISA (2004) b "Interim Statement” [Online database] available at: http://www.eisa.org.za/EISA/pr20040522.htm http://ec.europa.eu/development/body/publications/docs/eu_donor_atlas_2006.pdf

65

EISA (2004) c "Donors” [Online database] available at: http://www.eisa.org.za/EISA/donors.htm Accessed on the 20th of May 2008

EU COM (2006) “Communication from the Commission o the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social committee and the committee of the Regions” [Online database] available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0421en01.pdf Accessed on the 20th of May 2008

EU (2006) “EU Donor Atlas 2006” [Online database] available at: http://ec.europa.eu/development/body/publications/docs/eu_donor_atlas_2006.pdf Accessed on the 28th of May

EU (2005) “EU Strategy for Africa: Towards a Euro –African Pact to accelerate Africa’s development” [Online database] available at: http://www.eusa.org.za/en/PDFdownload/Development/EU_Strategy_for_Africa.pdf Accessed on the 20th of May 2008

EU EOM (2004) “European Union Election Observation Mission 2004: Final Report” [Online database], available at: http://www.pedz.uni-mannheim.de/daten/edz-h/az/04/elections-reports-malawi-04_en.pdf. Accessed on the 25th of May 2008

EU EOM b (2004) “European Union Election Observation Mission to Malawi 2004: Preliminary statement” [Online database], available at: http://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/africa/MW/Malawi - EU Final version of preliminary statement.doc Accessed on the 25th of May 2008

Fenger, Paul (2005) ”Den Malawianske Kabale” [Online database], available at: http://humanrights.palermo.magentaaps.dk/departments/international/partnercountries/malawi/Malawifeature/ Accessed on the 28th of May 2008

findingDulcinea (2008) “Did Malawi Defeat Famine by Defying the World Bank?” [Online database], available at: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/international/Did-Malawi-Defeat-Famine-by-Defying-the-World-Bank--.html Accessed on the 17th of June 2008

IPU (1994) “Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair elections” by the “Inter-Parliamentary Council” ” [Online database], available at: http://www.ipu.org/cnl-e/154-free.htm Accessed on the 28th of June 2008

Keane, John (2005) “Humble Democracy: On the need for new thinking for an aging ideal”, Gangulie Memorial lecture, [Online database] available at: http://www.johnkeane.net/pdf_docs/whydemocracy.pdf. Accessed on the 28th of May 2008

Lameck, Masina (2008) “Taiwan dumped for China” [Online database] available at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5327/is_200802/ai_n24393418?tag=content;col1 accessed on the 19 June 2008

MEC (2004) “2004 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections” [Online database] available at: http://www.sdnp.org.mw/~solomon/mec/ Accessed on the 29 of May 2008

MEJN (2007) “EPAs: Which Way for Malawi?” [Online database] available at: http://www.acp-eu-trade.org/library/files/Malawi-Economic-Justice-Network-CUTS_EN_1207_CUTS_EPAs-Which-way-for-Malawi.pdf Accessed on the 20th of June 2008

Nye, Joseph S (2004) “The Benefits of Soft Power” [Online database] available at: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4290.html Accessed on the 30 of May 2008

ODIHR (2003) “Existing Commitments for Democratic Elections in OSCE Participating States” [Online database] available at: http://www.sce.org/documents/odihr/2003/10/772_en.pdf. Accessed on the 7th of February 2008

66

OSCE/ODIHR (2007) “Election Observation Handbook” Fifth ed. [Online database] available at: http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2005/04/14004_240_en.pdf. Accessed on the 20th of May 2008

Patten, Chris (1999) “Speech at the Human Rights Discussion Forum” Plenary session Brussels-Charlemagne building, 30 Nov. [Online database] available at: ttp://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/news/patten/speech_99_193.htm Accessed on the 30 of May 2008

Rothchild, Michael (2000) “Democracy and Culture: An African Perspective” [Online database] available at: http://www.hollerafrica.com/showArticle.php?catId=5&artId=260 accessed on the 19 June 2008

RotCOG (2004) “Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group” [Online database] available at: http://www.thecommonwealth.org/shared_asp_files/uploadedfiles/%7BE2DF93B3-91EA-4B3F-BCC8-199EAB105B75%7D_malawi%20final%20report%20_electronic%20version.pdf accessed on the 10 June 2008

TI (2004) “TI 2004 Corruption Perceptions Index” [Online database] available at: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2004 accessed on the 10 June 2008

UNDP (2005) “Human Development Index Trends” [Online database] available at: http://www.undp.org.mw/basic_facts.html accessed on the 14 June 2008

24NEWS (2005) “Corruption 'eating' Malawi” [Online database] available at: http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1539924,00.html accessed on the 14 June 2008

67

Appendix Appendix 1

68

Appendix 2

69

Appendix 3

70