Democratic consolidation : a comparative study of Botswana and South Africa : which is the most consolidated and why?

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Before a country can have democracy a consolidated democracy, democracyis a prerequisite. The term democracy can be traced back to ancient Greeceand the studies of the consolidation of democracy dates since the transition ofthe seventies. The notion of democratic consolidation has been defined byauthors as a process of making new democracies secure, deepeninginstitutions and liberties and making them immune against the threat ofauthoritarian regression. But authors have also found that there are socioeconomicconditions favourable to consolidation such as sufficient affluence.This study compares Botswana and South Africa's democracy, the reasonbeing to find out which is the most consolidated and why? To compare thesetwo countries' democracies, the study focuses on the following; affluence,institutions suitable for democracy, free and fair elections and electoralsystems.There are similarities and differences between these countries. They shareBritish parliamentary traditions. Both practice multiparty elections but neitherexperienced turnovers, for example; Botswana started practicing from 1965until now, while South Africa started in 1994. The major institutionaldifference is the electoral system. Their ratings in the human developmentindexes are declining, but South Africa scores better. The other majordifference is in their Freedom House ratings, where South Africa's rating isbetter than Botswana's. The issue of HIV/AIDS infections remains a bigproblem for these countries. To what extent this would impact on democracyis uncertain as little research of this kind has been done.In concluding this study, it is explicitly stated that these countries are freeelectoral democracies but not consolidated yet, because they have not passedHuntington's two turnover test, and their socio-economic conditions are also problematic. At this stage, however South Africa is slightly better off forthe reasons cited above.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University