The role of political parties in africa in exploring a new link between democracy and social justice

_{Photo Credit: Assemblee Nationale Du Benin / Benoit Koffi}

The wave of democratization that swept across most French-speaking African countries in the 1990s made political parties the pillars of electoral competition. In many African countries, democracy has long been perceived as merely an environment for electoral competition, linked more to the struggle for state power than to a paradigm of genuine social transformation based on clear ideologies. Many African countries have adopted multiparty systems, often as a result of reforms imposed or encouraged by the international community under threat of budget cuts in development aid. The speech given in La Baule by the late French President François Mitterrand on June 20, 1990, served as a reminder to French-speaking countries of the best form of political governance in Africa. But this apparent pluralism sometimes masks a fragile democracy, marked by the personalization and personification of power, clientelism, and a weak culture of accountability, with many Central African countries falling into this category. In this system, political parties function more as electoral machines than as vehicles for ideas or instruments for promoting social justice.

Three decades later, it comes as no surprise to see the glaring disconnect between formal democracy (elections) and effective social justice based on the equitable distribution of wealth and opportunities. For their part, citizens, often reduced to the simple role of voters, do not always see a direct link between voting and improving their living conditions (this also explains the voter turnout rate, which is falling considerably in many countries around the world). This disconnect fuels mistrust of political systems and sometimes encourages abstention or even radicalization. Faced with growing citizen disenchantment, the role of political parties can no longer be limited to the mere conquest of power. They must transform themselves into true catalysts for a new social pact, reconciling the democratic process with its socio-economic dividends, which are the only guarantee of restoring confidence and ensuring the sustainability of partisan democracy. Political parties, especially those that claim to be progressive, are called upon to play a new role, not only by animating democratic life, but also by exploring and building a renewed link between democracy and social justice. This article aims to review the operating methods of political parties in Africa, critically analyze how parties function in light of social justice values, and make recommendations for better governance of political parties in Africa.

I - Political Parties: Giants with feet of clay in Africa?

The theoretical role of political parties is clear: to act as an interface between the state and society, to structure debate, and to aggregate popular interests. In Africa, this function is often distorted, transforming parties into obstacles to social justice. This fragility manifests itself, among other things, in the primacy of clientelism over ideology and the lack of political education and social content.

• The Primacy of Clientelism over Ideology

In many African contexts, political parties remain personalized electoral machines centered around a charismatic leader or elite, rather than ideological structures with a clear social agenda. The criteria for selecting executives and candidates are too often based on their ability to mobilize support or their membership in a network of primary interests, relegating competence, programmatic content, and strategic vision to the background. Achille Mbembe is right to emphasize in his book "De la postcolonie: Essai sur l'imagination politique dans l'Afrique contemporaine" [Khartala Edition, chapter 1, pp. 21-23], Achille Mbembe rightly emphasizes the fact that politics is often reduced to a logic of command and predation, thus questioning the relevance of political parties in animating the political life of African countries. According to Mbembe, these parties, far from promoting a substantial democratic life or representing alternative visions, are often integrated into this same logic of command and clientelism, contributing to the reproduction of the system he calls the “postcolony.”

• Lack of Political Education and Social Content

The organizational weakness and financial difficulties of most parties prevent them from fulfilling their civic education role. Debates focus on criticizing individuals or distributing positions, leaving little room for substantive issues: how to finance universal education or healthcare? How to create decent and sustainable jobs for young people? This programmatic failure contributes to growing disinterest among citizens and, more seriously, to the erosion of the legitimacy of the multiparty system itself. Reports by IDEA (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) on West Africa confirm this trend, noting that “the effectiveness and capacity of parties remain weak” despite their proliferation, which hinders their role in aggregating and articulating social interests [2017, International IDEA (with contributions from various authors) “Political Parties in West Africa: The Challenge of Democratization in Fragile States” Chapter 3 P 50-55].

II- Social justice: a transformative challenge for political parties

Social justice is the ethical and political imperative that should underpin the legitimacy of political parties in contemporary Africa, as it offers a concrete alternative to the logic of predation previously decried by Achille Mbembe. While the proliferation of parties is evident, as confirmed by IDEA reports highlighting their low effectiveness in aggregating and articulating social interests, this weakness often stems from their involvement in networks of clientelism and rent-seeking. The transformation of parties ,therefore, requires a rethinking of their mission: they must evolve from simple electoral machines or elite interest groups into genuine citizen movements structured around programs to reduce inequalities (access to education, health care, decent employment) and ensure the equitable redistribution of wealth. By adopting social justice as their ideological and operational compass, parties can not only (re)connect with the basic concerns of the population, but also acquire the ability to organize majorities on solid programmatic bases, thereby restoring their crucial role as intermediaries between the state and society and finally validating their democratic relevance.

Faced with this democratic disillusionment, social justice appears to be a promising and mobilizing goal. It refers to notions of equity, inclusion, wealth redistribution, but also recognition of cultural, social, and economic rights. More and more citizens, especially young people and women, are calling for a political model that goes beyond simply holding elections.

Some African parties are beginning to take a stand on these issues. For example, we are seeing the emergence of parties rooted in social struggles, environmental movements, and feminist demands, especially in Western and American countries. They offer programs focused on access to healthcare, education, employment, and territorial justice. By placing these issues at the heart of their discourse and actions, these parties seek to legitimize themselves in ways other than through the ethnicization or personalization of power.

III - Towards a re-founding of political parties as drivers of a democratic social contract

Going beyond the simple logic of electoral survival and entrapment in neo-patrimonial predation, the survival and legitimacy of African political parties necessarily depend on their re-founding around their original mission: to be the drivers of a new democratic social contract. This requires them to emancipate themselves from their role as clientelist structures and transform themselves into truly programmatic and inclusive organizations. Instead of the current, often non-transparent management of resources, rebuilt parties should publicly commit to the objectives of social justice and accountability. They must become incubators for civic debate, aggregators of divergent interests, and guarantors of ethical governance, acting as the true lever of a substantive democracy where power is exercised in the general interest. In doing so, parties can not only regain the trust of the people but also prove their effectiveness and their ability to articulate viable social projects, thus ensuring the sustainability of the pluralistic system itself.

To do so, they would need to understand what is at stake and agree to transform themselves. This would first require reforming their internal functioning: more debate, participatory democracy, transparency in the selection of candidates, and the inclusion of women and young people in leadership positions. A party that does not respect these principles internally will find it difficult to defend them at the national level and beyond.

In my country, Benin, this is the case with the Les Démocrates party, the main opposition party. Within our political party, considerable efforts have been made to give more visibility to both young people and women.

Next, parties must forge strong alliances with other social forces: trade unions, citizen movements, youth and women's associations. These synergies make it possible to develop programs that are more grounded in the realities on the ground and to innovate in the way we govern: participatory budgets, popular consultations, laws on gender parity or land justice, etc.

Finally, political parties must invest in civic education and political training. An informed population is better able to assert its rights and participate in democratic life. Social justice cannot be decreed: it is built collectively, through strong institutions, but also through active citizenship.

Conclusion: Parties caught between inertia and potential for transformation

Ultimately, analysis of the African political landscape reveals a fundamental tension: that of political parties caught between structural inertia and the imperative for radical transformation in order to meet the demands of the new era. On the one hand, Achille Mbembe's criticism of the reduction of politics to a logic of command and predation denounces formations frozen in neo-patrimonialism. This inertia is confirmed by International IDEA, which points to the weakness of parties' capacity and effectiveness in aggregating social interests, too often confining them to mere instruments of elite power and rent management. On the other hand, this crisis of legitimacy reveals immense potential for transformation. The only way to escape this cycle of inefficiency is for parties to break with predation and rebuild themselves on the basis of social justice. By transforming themselves into truly programmatic, ethical organizations open to public debate, they could finally become the driving force behind a new democratic social contract. The future of pluralism in Africa, therefore, depends on their ability to cross this threshold: either they commit to reform in order to respond to the deep aspirations of their societies, or they persist in inertia, risking obsolescence and delegitimization in the face of growing demand for truly democratic governance. African political parties, therefore, have a crucial role to play in exploring a new link between democracy and social justice. However, this role remains underutilized due to power dynamics that are still largely dominant. Yet there are signs of renewal: emerging parties, citizen mobilization, and local innovations.

By reinventing themselves—both in their internal functioning and in their relationship with society—parties can become the vectors of a genuinely African democratic project capable of responding to the deep aspirations of the people. In this respect, they are not simply political actors: they can be the architects of a new social contract based on dignity, equity, and justice.

Dr. Guy Dossou MITOKPE is the Secretary of Communication for the Democratic Party (Benin) and  Member of Parliament, 7th Legislature, Republic of Benin.