A democracy of chameleons : politics and culture in the New Malawi

After thirty years of autocratic rule under ”Life President” Kamuzu Banda, Malawians experienced a transition to multiparty democracy in 1994. A new constitution and several democratic institutions promised a new dawn in a country ravaged by poverty and injustice. This book presents original research on the economic, social, political and cultural consequences of the new era. The book engages with a culture of politics in order to expand the purview of critical analysis from the elite to the populace in its full diversity. A new generation of scholars, most of them from Malawi, cover virtually every issue causing debate in the New Malawi: poverty and hunger, the plight of civil servants, the role of the judiciary, political intolerance and hate speech, popular music as a form of protest, clergy activism, voluntary associations and ethnic revival, responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and controversies over women’s rights. Both chameleon-like leaders and the donors of Malawi’s foreign aid come under critical scrutiny for supporting superficial democratization. The book ends with a rare public statement on the New Malawi by Jack Mapanje, Malawi’s internationally acclaimed writer. Dismayed at the continuation of an ”oral culture of dictatorship”, Mapanje urges Malawians to confront their past in order to have a future that is free from fear and intolerance.Anyone interested in politics and culture in sub-Saharan Africa will find this book an important source of insight and detailed analysis for a comparative understanding of Africa’s democratization.CONTENTS -- The Culture of Chameleon Politics/Harri Englund -- The Politics of Poverty Alleviation in Malawi: A Critical Review/Blessings Chinsinga -- Freedom and Insecurity: Civil Servants between Support Networks, the Free Market and the Civil Service Reform/Gerhard Anders -- Judicial Mediation in Electoral Politics in Malawi/Clement Ng’ong’ola -- Hate Speech in the New Malawi/Edrinnie Kayambazinthu & Fulata Moyo -- “Mzimu wa Soldier”: Contemporary Popular Music and Politics in Malawi/Reuben Makayiko Chirambo -- Are Malawi’s Local Clergy Civil Society Activists?: The Limiting Impact of Creed, Context and Class/Peter Von Doepp -- Ethnic Revival and Language Associations in the New Malawi: The Case of Chitumbuka/Gregory H. Kamwendo -- Tikutha: The Political Culture of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Malawi/John Lwanda -- “Human Rights and the Multiparty System Have Swallowed Our Traditions”: Conceiving Women and Culture in the New Malawi/Ulrika Ribohn -- Afterword. The Orality of Dictatorship: In Defence of My Country/Jack Mapanj