Papers by Marja Hinfelaar
Oxford University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2022
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
Journal of Eastern African Studies
Zambia Social Science Journal, 2023
The Life and Legacies of Kenneth Kaunda in Southern Africa Although UNIP demanded immediate indep... more The Life and Legacies of Kenneth Kaunda in Southern Africa Although UNIP demanded immediate independence, Kaunda's radicalism was tempered by strong Christian beliefs. Lengthy negotiations with the British Government and the white settler government resulted in elections in 1962 and 1964 in which UNIP won a huge majority. Kaunda became president at independence in 1964. However, Kaunda soon faced both internal political challenges borne from discontent with the results of independence (Larmer, 2006) and external security threats from neighbouring white minority states. Kaunda consequently made Zambia a one-party state, banning other political parties, centralising power around the presidency and imprisoning opponents. Opposition to the one-party state intensified with Zambia's economic decline in the 1980s (Mushingeh, 1994). There were huge protests over food prices in 1986 and again in 1990, the latter of which was followed by an unsuccessful coup. Rather than attempting to hold power in the face of growing opposition, Kaunda agreed to hold multiparty elections in 1991 and lost by a wide margin to the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). Kaunda accepted defeat and committed to a peaceful transition of power, which became an important precedent for subsequent political transitions. Kaunda was politically marginalised in the 1990s and the MMD government briefly tried to strip him of Zambian citizenship to prevent him standing in the 1996 elections (Ndulo & Kent, 1996: 273). However, his reputation was rehabilitated in the 2000s and he came to be widely regarded as a respected founding father of Zambia and credited with establishing a peaceful and united nation. His exhortation of 'One Zambia, One Nation' is still widely remembered and repeated. Many participants in Zambia's independence struggle wrote autobiographies, or became the subject of biographies, including Dixon Konkola (Vickery, 2011),
Journal of Eastern African Studies, Oct 2, 2022
Oxford University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 2022
In contrast to the rich tradition of academic analysis and understanding of the pre-colonial and ... more In contrast to the rich tradition of academic analysis and understanding of the pre-colonial and colonial history of Zambia, the trajectory of post-colonial Zambia has been all but ignored by historians. The assumptions of developmentalism, the cultural hegemony of United National Independence Party orthodoxy and its conflation with national interests, and a narrow focus on Zambia's diplomatic role in Southern African affairs, have all contributed to a dearth of studies centring on the diverse lived experiences of Zambians.
In "The Objects of Life in Central Africa" the history of consumption and social change... more In "The Objects of Life in Central Africa" the history of consumption and social change from 1840 until 1980 is explored. By taking consumption as a vantage point, the contributions deviate from and add to previous works which have mainly analysed issues of production from an economic and political perspective. The chapters are broad-ranging in temporal and geographical focus, including contributions on Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola. Topics range from the social history of firearms to the perception of the railway and include contributions on sewing machines, traders and advertising. By looking at the socio-economic, political and cultural meaning and impact of goods the history of Central Africa is reassessed.
Zambia Social Science Journal, 2021
Inequality in Zambia, 2021
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
This paper summarises research on the 'pocket of effectiveness' (POE) phenomenon in Zambia. It tr... more This paper summarises research on the 'pocket of effectiveness' (POE) phenomenon in Zambia. It traces the development of three POEs within the Zambia context: the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Zambia and Zambia Revenue Authority. This paper shows that the performance of these POEs largely depends on structural forces underpinning Zambia's historical trajectory, namely the character of its political settlement, the structure of the economy and global neoliberalism, and of the shifting political coalitions that have governed the country during this period. Originally shaped by the nationalised copper industry and a state-led economy, these organisations were subject to a radical reorientation under the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s. Donorsupported 'capacity-building' efforts and the need to adhere to international standards disciplined Zambia's economic institutions, moderated political interference from the executive and enabled them to be highly functional in a narrow organisational sense. They turned out over time to be politically unsustainable in the face of developmental failures, alternative ideological commitments, elite fragmentation and political populism. Overall, Zambia's governing elite was only fully aligned with this project of technocratic neoliberalism for a relatively brief period during the mid-2000s that ended with the unfortunate death of the then-president. With Zambia's politics becoming increasingly competitive and fragmentary, this mode of economic governance came into direct conflict with both political populism and a residual commitment to a more statist and planning-based approach within the bureaucracy. Despite the rhetoric of economic nationalism, the prioritisation of short-term survival strategies has undermined the quality of economic governance to the extent that rising levels of debt dependency now threaten both Zambia's sovereignty and its developmental future.
Competing for Caesar, 2020
Global Policy, 2021
This paper examines through qualitative study the effect of government regulatory restriction and... more This paper examines through qualitative study the effect of government regulatory restriction and repression on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) engaging in transnational advocacy. The focus is on NGO's advocacy activities, in the realm of human rights, environment, labor and development in particular, using illustrations from Bangladesh and Zambia. It finds that next to some NGOs disbanding and moving towards service activities, many NGOs shift in terms of substantive advocacy and form of organizational collaboration. To continue cross-border interactions with their foreign partners, many NGOs adjust to circumvent or compensate for restrictions and repression. Because of this, transnational advocacy can be said to continue, but repression and restrictions have significant substantive and organizational effects for the collaborations studied, and cross-border NGO collaborations in our sample are increasingly fragile and their advocacy more tempered. Policy Implications • Policy makers should take note that as a result of repressions and restrictions, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) devoted to labor and human rights, are disbanding, reducing and/or ceasing transnational advocacy activity. • Policy makers should note that as a result of repression and restrictions, NGOs committed to labor, human rights, development and environmental themes are creating a more tempered form of transnational advocacy, that adjusts for the targets, issue and language of advocacy, with significant implications for the role that transnational NGO advocacy plays in domestic and international politics.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
This working paper analyses the role of Zambia's central bank, the Bank of Zambia (BOZ), in deliv... more This working paper analyses the role of Zambia's central bank, the Bank of Zambia (BOZ), in delivering on its mandate, following banking reforms in the early 1990s. Despite occasional political pressures arising out of the competitive clientelist democracy, especially with regards to banking supervision and appointments of governors, BOZ has been able to deliver on its mandate and is regarded as a 'pocket of effectiveness'. Its relatively independent position has been attributed to the conscious efforts of its top echelon to entrench BOZ's autonomous position and work towards legislative independence in 2016. Besides changes in the legislative framework, BOZ's countervailing powers were strengthened by the acknowledgement on the part of political leaders that the central bank acts as an important 'signaller' to international financial markets; a strong tradition of self-assessment; and an emphasis on public accountability. Historically, the BOZ governor plays an important role in defending BOZ's mandate vis-à-vis the Executive, with the ability to stress the necessity for BOZ to abide by international and regional central banking standards. BOZ's autonomy was briefly under threat in 2011. This transition coincided with a major political and ideological shift, which saw Patriotic Front (PF)'s short-lived attempt to confront conventional central banking policies. In this paper, BOZ's effectiveness is measured in terms of price and financial stability and organisational and leadership capacities, traced in the context of Zambia's changing political settlements.
Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2020
ABSTRACT Much has been written about the strength of African presidentialism. This article studie... more ABSTRACT Much has been written about the strength of African presidentialism. This article studies the resilience of presidential power in Zambia in the face of electoral turnover. Opposition election campaigns, conducted by both the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and the Patriotic Front (PF), featured deep constitutional reform as prominent campaign pledges. Nevertheless, after winning the presidency, both parties failed to reduce presidential power. We support this conclusion by an analysis of constitution making in Zambia since the early 1990s and an analysis of the latest 2016 amended constitution. We argue that presidential powers become valuable institutional assets for newly elected elites attempting to reduce electoral uncertainty and consolidate power. Consequently, reduction in presidential power is unlikely as long as the executive is able to control the constitution making process.
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Papers by Marja Hinfelaar