Challenges for the Democratisation Process in Tanzania: Moving towards consolidation years after independence?

5. Sphere 1. State/state capacity. The political institutions and challenges for democratisation within the stat

123 5 Sphere 1. State/state capacity The political institutions and challenges for democratisation within the stat1 In the following chapters I will discuss the four spheres presented in chapter two, 1) the state/state capacity; 2) the civil society; 3) the political society; and 4) the economic society in order to analyse the research question to what extent a development towards consolidation of democracy appears, based on the perceptions from various stakeholders interviewed, and supplemented with other primary and secondary information gather during the field studies, as well as available literature. In this chapter I will present and assess how two institutions within the state in Tanzania have developed over the past 18 years of multiparty reforms and developments, in order to identify major challenges for the democratisation process and the consolidation of democracy, along the lines presented in the analytical framework in figure 1 in chapter 2. The section of the analytical framework to be reviewed in this chapter appears in the figure 5. The assessment is based on how these processes were viewed by stakeholders within the political parties, CSOs, media, researchers and well-placed officials within the Tanzanian government and donor community. The findings are then compared with views found in the literature on the democratisation process in Tanzania. 1 This section is based on a review of documents provided by the Government of Tanzania, Sida, secondary literature, consisting of reviews, research reports, and books – with both empirical and theoretical approaches. Interviews/discussion with staff at Sida Stockholm and the Embassy in Dar es Salaam have been triangulated with interviews with different actors in Tanzania, independent researchers in Tanzania and Sweden, ten members of parliament, and donor agency staff. 124 JONAS EWALD CHALLENGES FOR THE DEMOCRATISATION PROCESS IN TANZANIA The current chapter discusses democratic institutions within the state, i.e., the executive at central and local level, the parliament and local government councils and the judiciary . In the following chapter, I will discuss democratic institutions outside the state; the civil society, media, human rights, democratic culture. Next chapter will also include a brief section on the forth sphere, the economic society where corruption and economic development will be discussed. The aim with the section is to make a brief assessment if the economic reforms could be said to have contributed to an inclusive economic development, based on the three indicators economic and sector growth; poverty and income distribution and hence indicate to what extent political and administrative reform might have contributed to a more substantive democratisation, in terms of outcomes for the majority, as discussed in the chapter 2. Corruption is used as an indicator of good governance, as emerge from the figure 5. In the next chapter, chapter 7, I will focus on the political society, and analyse the political parties and the challenges they are facing. All this with the aim to understand to what extent Tanzania is moving towards a consolidation of democracy. Each chapter and section starts with a short presentation and description of major features of the respective state, policy and society, in order to be able to analyse their bearing on the democratisation process. Figure 5 “Sphere”1 in the analytical framework—State/state capacity Ability of the representative to hold the exec. accountable Autonomy of the executive & representative vis-à-vis donors Balance Executive—Representative and Judiciary STATE/STATE CAPACITY Good and democratic governance Independence of judiciary Autonomy of administration vs executive Governance reforms Corruption Respect for human rights Spheres Institutions Indicators Chapter 5 125 5 SPHERE 1. STATE/STATE CAPACITY THE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR DEMOCRATISATION WITHIN THE STATE The theoretical underpinning to the selection of institutions, as discussed in chapter 2.3, is the tension identified in the theories on development and the theories on democratisation, between the need to strengthen the capacity of the state and good governance, on the one hand, and substantive democratisation, on the other (p.74 chapter 2). There is a delicate balance between state-building and democratisation, two processes that do not necessarily go together. To strengthen the capability of the state at central and local level to formulate, develop and implement policies for development of the society, is a cornerstone in the debate on how to establish an accountable, transparent and well governed “development state”, on the one hand but does statebuilding and good governance presuppose democracy, strengthen democracy or even undermine a consolidation of...