The editor of the Institute’s peer reviewed academic journal, the South African Journal of International Affairs, joined the Electoral Commission of South Africa for an event at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 30 November 2023 to launch a special issue of SAJIA focused on Safeguarding Election Management Bodies in the Age of Democratic Recession (Vol 30.3).
It was noted by authors and guest editors in their contributions that the history of democracy has been one of progress as the spread of civil liberties and political rights have increased across the globe. Elections have played an indispensable role in this story. Particularly since the Huntingtonian ‘third wave of democratisation’ in the mid-1970s, the number of people able to take part in national elections has grown exponentially as opportunities to elect and hold governments to account has increased substantially.
There is strong evidence, however, of a new era of democratic recession characterised by a notable reversal of democratic gains. Some describe this reversal as an erosion – a weakening of systems and institutions – others as democratic backsliding, where if not a total democratic breakdown, there is a declining quality of democracy and in some cases, a deepening authoritarianism.
A democratic recession threatens to undermine the performance of election management bodies (EMBs), which in turn reinforces democratic recession and diminishes the scope for citizens to enjoy fundamental rights, constricting citizen participation in governance processes. The special issue of SAJIA considers this trend and reports on research into how EMBs might also be directly affected by coercive pressures exerted upon them by incumbent governments. There is also a set of wider context-specific challenges simultaneously facing EMBs in Africa, affecting their ability to deliver. Therefore, the Institute, together with guest editors from the Electoral Commission of South Africa, the African Union/University of Johannesburg, and the University of East Anglia in the UK, produced together with 13 authors and book reviewers a special issue to consider these and other emerging challenges – such as the rising place of digitisation and the role of social media in elections – and to reflect on how EMBs can be best equipped to fulfil their mandates.
Several election management officials from the SADC region, as well as local academics, politicians, and members of SAIIA Western Cape, were in attendance. The editor presented a set of the articles to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mr Masotho Moepya, thanking the Commission for the sponsorship which allowed for Open Access publication of the full special issue.
