To these factors must be added foreign influences. Aid donors have added
political pluralism, ‘good governance’, democracy and respect for human
rights to their list of conditions attached to international development
assistance. For example, in 1990 President Mitterrand of France warned
African leaders at the sixteenth Franco-African Congress that ‘France will
link its contribution to efforts designed to lead to greater liberty and democ-
racy’. In 1991 the British Minister for Overseas Development announced
that British aid policy would require recipient governments to move towards
pluralism, the rule of law, democracy and respect for human rights.
Multilateral aid agencies such as the World Bank have added to the pres-
sures demanding ‘good government’ in return for aid. Interpretations of
‘good governance’ as a condition for multilateral and bilateral assistance
have been quite varied (Williams and Young, 1994, pp. 84–6).
Such pressure combined in the early 1990s with the influence of the
momentous events in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union on domestic
political groups demanding political reforms and especially an end to the
single-party regime. Competitive party politics have emerged in a number
of countries as a consequence, most notably Nepal, Angola, Ghana, the
Ivory Coast and Zambia. However, resistance to multi-partyism has been
strong. The one-party state continues to be defended by reference to
the threat of tribal factionalism (Zimbabwe), the need to concentrate on
economic development (Tanzania), and the lack of readiness for democracy
among the people (Kenya).
Party systems and democratization
It is clear from the role played by political parties that their significance for
the process of democratization is immense. The success of democratization
is in part dependent on the existence of institutionalized parties and party
systems of government. The consolidation of democracy is widely regarded
as conditional upon the institutionalization of regular electoral competition
between parties which can adapt to new constitutional rules. Parties have
also been crucial to opposition to authoritarian rule, when they mainly had
the characteristics of social movements (for example, the African National
Congress before majority rule in South Africa). Such political movements
need to ‘institutionalize’ themselves in readiness for the establishment of
electoral competition (Ware, 1996, pp. 141–2).
The concept of party system ‘institutionalization’ has been developed by
Mainwaring and Scully using Latin American data to compare prospects for
148 Understanding Third World Politics