IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rjeaxx/v16y2022i4p558-575.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Legal autocratisation ahead of the 2021 Zambian elections

Author

Listed:
  • Marja Hinfelaar
  • Lise Rakner
  • Sishuwa Sishuwa
  • Nicolas van de Walle

Abstract

Zambia experienced an episode of distinct democratic backsliding between 2011 and 2021. Autocratisation resulted from the deliberate use of legal mechanisms to enhance executive power. Tracing key legal changes through legal documents, press reports and informant interviews, the article examines this recent episode of autocratisation as a consequence of a poorly institutionalised party system in a fledgling and unconsolidated presidential democracy. We show that under PF rule, autocratisation resulted from the deliberate use of legal mechanisms to enhance executive power, stifle the opposition, muzzle the press and undermine civil society forces. The election of opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema in August 2021 may have ended this episode of backsliding as for the third time in the country´s history, power changed peacefully through the ballot box. But, to what extent the 2021 elections will move Zambia away from this authoritarian trend is uncertain as the state of the country’s political institutions, hereunder a poorly institutionalised party system in an unconsolidated presidential democracy, may leave it vulnerable to further episodes of backsliding. The main contribution of this paper is the documentation of the role of lawfare in processes of autocratisation, and how integral it has been to the decline of democracy in Zambia.

Suggested Citation

  • Marja Hinfelaar & Lise Rakner & Sishuwa Sishuwa & Nicolas van de Walle, 2022. "Legal autocratisation ahead of the 2021 Zambian elections," Journal of Eastern African Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 558-575, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rjeaxx:v:16:y:2022:i:4:p:558-575
    DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2022.2235658
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17531055.2022.2235658
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/17531055.2022.2235658?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:rjeaxx:v:16:y:2022:i:4:p:558-575. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/rjea .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.