Browsing by Author "Nijzink, Lia"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Can parliaments enhance the quality of democracy on the African continent? an analysis of institutional capacity and public perceptions
    (2006) Nijzink, Lia; Mozaffar, Shaheen; Azevedo, Elisabete
    While modern parliaments in Africa receive little attention in the scholarly literature, they are receiving considerable attention from the international donor community. Since the early 1990s, when many African countries resumed multi-party elections and democratic practices, legislative strengthening programmes have become an important part of international democracy assistance. Despite these programmes, our knowledge about Africa's current parliaments remains limited. They seem to be widely regarded as potential agents for democratic change but whether national legislatures are in fact enhancing the quality of democracy on the African continent is far from clear. This paper discusses two important issues that lie at the heart of the democracy enhancing potential of Africa's current parliaments: their institutional capacity and the way they are perceived by the citizens they represent. After a brief review of the existing literature on legislatures in Africa, the paper first considers whether parliaments have the institutional capacity to fulfill a meaningful role and then provides a detailed description of the autonomy of parliaments in 16 selected countries. The paper subsequently turns to the way Africans perceive and evaluate their parliaments. Do citizens see their legislatures as valuable institutions? Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the prospects of African parliaments becoming agents of democratic change.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Metadata only
    Electoral politics in South Africa: assessing the first democratic decade
    (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) Piombo, Jessica; Nijzink, Lia
    This comprehensive volume brings together contributions and diverse opinions from leading and emerging South African and international scholars to assess the quality of democracy and the electoral process in South Africa over the past ten years, with particular emphasis on the 2004 elections. The book speaks to a broad range of topics, all linked through the electoral theme, which get to the heart of many issues in contemporary South African politics. It offers an absorbing analysis of the evolution of the party system and party campaigns; tracks changes in public opinion and voter motivations; assesses the political implications of socio-economic change; depicts the evolution of parliament and the electoral system; probes the often tense relationship between media and government; and analyses the institutionalisation of the Independent Electoral Commission. Electoral Politics in South Africa serves as an essential sourcebook for information on the elections, the parties and their campaigns and as an authoritative contribution to careful electoral process analysis.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The Institutions of Representative Democracy
    (2004) Nijzink, Lia; Piombo, Jessica
    This paper charts the development of the two institutions most central to the nature of representative democracy in South Africa: the electoral system and the National Assembly.2 It reviews how developments since 1994 have shaped the institutional context in which political parties operate and compete for power. The paper first considers how the National Assembly has developed over the past ten years, reviewing the performance of parliament and its role in the consolidation of democracy. The second part of the paper focuses on the electoral system, reviewing the debate around electoral reform and discussing changes that have been introduced since 1999. In the conclusion, we suggest what the implications of these institutional developments are for the future of representative democracy in South Africa.