Strides towards substantive democracy and gender perspective in the 21st century of Africa

Abstract

The weakness of the multiparty political system in Africa will be analysed in line with accepted standards for transparency, electoral provisions, as well as the free and fair establishment, assembly and participation of competing political parties which enables political parties to function as the representative entities which they are intended to operate. As African countries strive to make strides towards more substantive democracy in the 21^st Century, it is imperative for the prevailing political party system to be reviewed and consequentially revived in relation to liberal democratic principles and constitutional directives. Throughout the ‘waves’ of African democracy dating from the post-independence period to the current era, the continent has produced a diverse array of democratic dispensations, from malfunctioning one-party dominated states on one hand, to pluralistic multiparty societies on the other. This paper attempts to delineate the institutional functioning of political parties in Africa line with the frailties of multipartyism in Africa, with the objective of explicating the transformations that must occur in order to political parties to play a more effective role in the democratic dispensation across the continent.