Parliamentary development
Can parliaments enhance the quality of democracy on the African continent? An analysis of institutional capacity and public perception
African parliaments have limited capacity to hold the executive to account
Authors:
L. Nijzink; S. Mozaffar; E. Azavedo
Publisher:
Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, 2006
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 assistance. Parliaments are generally regarded as potential agents for democratic change but their actual role in enhancing the quality of democracy in Africa is far from clear. In this context, this study examines two issues that are crucial to the democracy enhancing potential of Africa’s current parliaments. They are:
- institutional capacity of parliaments
- the way parliaments are perceived by the citizens they represent
The study covers parliaments of 16 select African countries. Its main findings include:
- weak parliaments are faced with strong presidents: the institutional capacity of parliaments to hold the executive to account is fairly limited
- there is a ‘representation gap’ between MPs and the public
- citizens are not generally satisfied with their elected representatives
- citizens seek parliaments to be assertive in relation to the executive
On the question of the relationship between parliaments and the quality of democracy in Africa, the study shows that:
- pure presidential regimes fall into categories of lower levels of democracy, except in the case of Ghana
- parliamentary regimes show higher levels of democracy
- hybrid regimes or premier-presidential systems are not clearly related to any specific level of democracy
