Browsing by Author "MAKULILO, ALEXANDER BONIFACE"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Democracy and its Determinants: A Critique
    (The African Review: A Journal of African Politics, Development and International Affairs, 2017-12-30) MAKULILO, ALEXANDER BONIFACE
    Scholars of comparative politics have been concerned with the meaning of democracy as well as the pre-conditions for the emergence and consolidation of democracy. The commonly examined determinants include a set of cultural, ideological, economic and external assistance factors. This article engages one variant of democracy namely liberal democracy in order to understand whether or not it presupposes certain conditions to happen and consolidate. I argue that although liberal democracy is certainly the dominant kind of democracy in the world, it has worked differently across space and time to the extent that the precondition argument is progressively losing its explanatory power.
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    Democratic "reversals" in Tanzania: Revisiting Electoral Competition
    (Dar es Salaam University Press, 2015) MAKULILO, ALEXANDER BONIFACE
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    The future of elections in Africa: Critical Issues and Perspectives
    (Tanzania Journal of Sociology, 2017) MAKULILO, ALEXANDER BONIFACE; RODRICK, HENRY
    The centrality of elections in democracy has been overemphasized. Huntington asserts that the institutionalization of elections is a sufficient step to bring and consolidate democracy. He argues that elections are not only the life of democracy but also the death of dictatorship. However, since the inauguration of democratization in 1990s, African countries have failed to sustain credible democratic institutions. Elections have remained a safety valve to legitimize authoritarian regimes. This article revisits how elections are managed in order to understand the trust of results and outcome. In specific terms, it focuses on four interrelated issues, that is, the independence of electoral management bodies, electoral fraud, boycotting elections and electoral violence.
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    The independent candidate case by the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights revisited
    (International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2017-11-29) MAKULILO, ALEXANDER BONIFACE
    In June 2011, the Tanganyika Law Society, the Legal and Human Rights Centre and Rev. Christopher Mtikila filed in the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights applications instituting proceedings against the government of the United Republic of Tanzania claiming that the government had, through certain amendments to its Constitution, violated its citizens’ right of freedom of association, the right to participate in public affairs and the right against discrimination by prohibiting independent candidates to contest Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government elections. In its judgment of 14 June 2013, the Court found that the government violated Articles 2, 3, 10 and 13 (1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Court directed the government to take constitutional, legislative and all other necessary measures within a reasonable time to remedy the observed violations. This article revisits this case to understand the reluctance by the government towards independent candidates.
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    Rebooting democracy? Political data mining and biometric voter registration in Africa
    (Information & Communications Technology Law, 2017-04-27) MAKULILO, ALEXANDER BONIFACE
    The introduction of biometric voter registration and biometric voter identification on election day is a new trend in most African countries. This development in turn has necessitated massive political data mining. Yet, the nexus between elections and technology poses challenges on protection of personal information. This article offers a critical discussion of legal and regulatory frameworks that govern protection of personal information in an election context. Using the international standards for personal data protection and lessons from Kenya and Ghana, it notes that Tanzania does not have a systematic regime for personal data protection. This leaves voters’ personal data without adequate protection. Accordingly, the adoption of the biometric technology in the process of registration of voters creates greater potentials for violations of personal data than it was the case with the optical mark recognition technology