Democratising elections without parties

Reflections on the case of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3979371
AutoresAlice Wilson (0000-0003-4858-0350, University of Cambridge, autor correspondente)
Ano2010
Volume15
Fascículo4
Páginas423-438
Data de publicação2010-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629380903424380
OpenAlexW2002983411
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas14
Referências citadas12

Like many liberation movements, the Polisario Front has long aspired to the practice of democracy. In recent years, however, some observers of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) have come to question the absence of multiple parties in elections and political life. The Polisario Front and many Sahrawi hold that a multi-party system can only be introduced after an act of self-determination and that in the meantime, the SADR enjoys participatory democracy. This paper argues that the gap between scepticism about and confidence in the SADR's democracy arises from different interpretations of democracy, and that the SADR is a suggestive reminder of how the principles of democracy can be pursued through multiple interpretations. Yet the gap between the two positions also reflects a process of ongoing democratisation in the SADR, a recent phase of which can be observed in the 2008 legislative elections

Democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · African Studies and Geopolitics · Law · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender · Religion, Society, and Development