The role of dominant party systems for nation building in deeply divided societies; a comparison between South Africa and Malaysia

Keywords

Dominant party system, nation building, South Africa, Malaysia, multiethnic society, cleavage, race, ethnicity, African National Congress, United Malays National Organization, consociationalism.

Countries

South Africa, Malaysia

Objectives

Violent ethnic conflicts are one of the biggest threats to multiethnic societies. Due to this circumstance research has so far examined especially the violent potential in multiethnic societies and has not focused on successful multiethnic societies, especially the specific gains and failures of different strategies after a certain period of time. Moreover the party system is being accused of ethnicizing conflicts in societies and to profit on this ethnicization. That is why this research sheds light on how political systems even in deeply divided societies can cope peacefully with multiethnicity; especially what impacts the party system has had on nation building and which nation-building strategy the parties have pursued. In order to show two different ways of peaceful nation building for societies that are deeply divided in terms of ethnic fragmentation and socioeconomic stratification the examples of South Africa and Malaysia will be analyzed. Besides many similarities especially the party system has to be mentioned. Both systems are characterized by a dominant party, in South Africa the ANC (African National Congress), in Malaysia UMNO (United Malays National Organization).

Three features characterize the Malaysian party system. Firstly it is largely an ethnic-based party system. This has been caused by the politicization of ethnicity as well as by the British colonialists who banned multiethnic socialist parties in the 1950’s and thus created a vacuum, which UMNO, the United Malay National Organization, could easily fill. UMNO has been a conservative organization for the ethnic Malays. In order not to be sidelined the other ethnic groups founded their own associations that finally evolved as ethnic parties, e. g. the Malaysia Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malaysia Indian Congress (MIC). The second feature is the dominance of the multi-party coalition. Due to the success of vote-pooling across ethnic lines an Alliance (now Barisan Nasional) of several ethnic parties evolved. Finally the limitation of scope and depth of political participation has to be mentioned, which eventually results in a dominant position of UMNO. UMNO as the first major political party used the control over the state to shape the political system and the electoral process according to its needs and thus created a strong executive power. (Norani Othman et. Al. 2004: Election: How it all began, Part 2)

The South African party system must be characterized differently. Due to the legacy of Apartheid race and ethnicity do still play a significant role in the country. However, the ANC as the dominant party drives a two-way approach. On the one hand they stick to the old categories of Apartheid in order to address the imbalances of the past with its policy programs, e.g. affirmative action. On the other hand it tries to push its non-racial agenda forward. This non-racialism of the ANC is rooted in the Anti-Apartheid struggle, especially in the United Democratic Front (UDF) that as a coalition of many activist organizations fought the Apartheid system. The second feature is the dominance of the Tripartite Alliance, which consists of the ANC, the SACP (South African Communist Party) and COSATU, which is the biggest trade union federation in South Africa. In the 2004 election this Alliance received more than a 2/3rd majority nationwide and has gained control in all provincial parliaments. However, they integrate opposition parties by giving them high and influential positions in government. For opposition parties the situation is difficult. Many of them are either regionally-based or still stick to an exclusive racial or ethnic group. Thus none of them is a credible national alternative to the ANC. Moreover the electoral system of proportional representation increases the fragmentation of the opposition.
 
The study compares the last thirty years of the nation building efforts in Malaysia with the last ten years in South Africa because in these respective periods some significant changes have taken place in the countries. In South Africa the Apartheid system collapsed and the first free and fair elections for the whole population brought the ANC to power. In Malaysia some major changes concerning nation building occurred, namely the process of Islamization started and the government launched the concept of Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian nation).

In this study I intend to explore the role of the party system for the nation building process in the selected countries. First of all the societal and institutional influences that led to the formation of the party system will be analyzed. Secondly the different party systems will be looked at in terms of their dealings with multiethnicity. On the one hand this will take place on the level of the political parties itself, for example the analysis of their constitution and their membership. On the other hand the relation between the political parties will be looked at, for example the forming of coalitions or consociational elements. Finally the influence of the party system on nation building will be investigated. Here the type of influence will be studied in detail by analyzing the degree of how the political parties accomplish the integrative functions and what they contribute to the three core elements of the selected nation-building concept. Finally similarities and differences between the two countries can be determined and valid theses can be diverted from the case studies and it will be analyzed, which nation building effort tends to be more sustainable.

Methodology

Qualitative Research (semi-structured interviews), comparative studies

Team Members

Malte Kaßner

Partner Institutions / Funding Organizations

University of the Western Cape, University of Stellenbosch, Institute of Malaysian & International Studies (IKMAS) at the University Kebangsaan Malaysia / ZEF

Publications

Kaßner, Malte, (2000): Der ANC in Südafrika - Der Weg zur Dominanzpartei als Selbstverständlichkeit?, in: Paes, Wolf-Christian/Heiko Krause, (Hg.): Zwischen Aufbruch und Zusammenbruch - Demokratisierung im Südlichen Afrika, Bonn, S. 62 -76.

Workshops / Conferences

Duration of the Project

October 2002-December 2005

Contact:

Malte Kaßner