The Congress Party Model
South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) and India's Indian National Congress (INC) as Dominant Parties
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12837618 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thiven Reddy (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 271-300 |
| Publication date | 2005-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African and Asian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1569-2094 • E-ISSN: 1569-2108 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/156920905774270493 |
| OpenAlex | W2012877372 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
The paper argues that the model developed to analyze the dominance of the Indian National Congress of the political party system during the first two decades of independence helps in our understanding of the unfolding party system in South Africa. A comparison of the Congress Party and the African National Congress suggests many similarities. The paper is divided into three broad sections. The first part focuses on the dominant party system in India. In the second part, I apply the model of the Congress System to South Africa. I argue that the three features of the Congress System – a dominant party with mass based legitimacy, constituted by many factions and operating on the idiom of consensus-seeking internal politics, and sources of opposition who cooperate with factions in the dominant party to influence the political agenda – prevails in South Africa. In the third part, I draw on the comparison between the ANC and Congress Party to account for why certain nationalist movements become dominant parties. I emphasize that broad nationalist movements displaying high degrees of legitimacy and embracing democratic practices are adaptive to changing contexts and develop organizational mechanisms to manage internal party conflict. They contribute to the consolidation of democracy rather than undermine it
Authoritarianism · Consolidation (business · Democracy · Democratic consolidation · Democratization · Divided government · Dominance (genetics · Economics · Legitimacy · Nationalism · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Regionalism (politics · Sociology · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Public Administration · South African History and Culture
South Africa, Settler Colonialism and the Failures of Liberal Democracy
La trascendencia del cambio y la continuidad identitaria en las relaciones interestatales
Archipelagos of dominance. Party fiefdoms and South African democracy
Party Dominance ‘Theory
Party politics, civil society and local democracy – Reflections from Johannesburg
Revisiting a dominant party
Considerations on the Erosion of One‐party Dominance
Local-Level Accountability in a Dominant Party System
ANC Decline, Social Mobilization and Political Society
Comprendre les partis et les systèmes de partis africains
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2006 - 2026 (21) |
| Highly cited | No |