This document discusses conceptualizations of youth from different perspectives and the role of youth in democracy and development in Africa. It defines youth chronologically as those between ages 15-24. While political parties may define it differently, most see youth as ages 15-35. The document examines levels of youth participation in Tanzania's political system and finds it to be relatively low, with barriers including educational and political cultural obstacles. Overall, the document analyzes how greater youth participation could strengthen democracy in Africa.

1. Political Tolerance and
Democracy
Dr Kitila Mkumbo
The role of
youth in Africa kitilam@udsm.ac.tz

2. CONCEPTUALISING YOUTH FROM DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES
 Psychological perspective
 the term youth is variously defined and is often used
synonymously and interchangeably with young people
and adolescence, depending on discipline as well as
cultural orientation
 a young person is said to have become a ‘youth’ once he
or she matures sexually and is capable of sexual
reproduction
 a transition period between childhood and
adulthood characterized by physical, cognitive, and
psychosocial changes

3. CONCEPTUALISING YOUTH FROM DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES
 Sociological/cultural perspective
 define youth hood in terms of the social skills acquired
by and responsibilities assigned to young people.
 In many societies, adolescence begins when children
become sexually mature and ends when children
become lawfully and economically independent

4. CONCEPTUALISING YOUTH FROM DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES
 Chronological definition (age bound)
 both psychologists and sociologists define youth as
persons between the age of ten and 20. In Tanzania, the
majority of young people in this age bracket are still
attending various levels of education
 Within the United Nations system, youth is defined as
persons falling into the age group of between 15 and 24
(also adopted by Tanzania National Youth Policy)
 This group constitutes 19.6 percent of the Tanzania’s
population

5. CONCEPTUALISING YOUTH FROM DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVES
 Political definition of youth
 More liberal and heterogeneous definition
 For example, mainstream political parties in Tanzania
define youth as individuals between the age of 15 and 35.
 Defined this way, youth constitute a major force in the
democratisation process. For example, in Tanzania youth
voters, those below the age of 40, constitute about 65.4
percent of the total voting population (53%)

6. IS DEMOCRACY IMPORTANT IN DEVELOPMENT?
 Democracy is a complex phenomenon which can
only be characterised rather than defined precisely.
 Democracy is viewed as a set of institutionalised
practices and principles for the protection,
promotion and furtherance of human and society
virtues.
 individual freedoms, participation in public affairs,
equality before the law and fairness.

7. POLITICAL FREEDOMS
 freedom to assemble form association,
 the freedom of expression,
 media freedom,
 freedom from corruption
 freedom to elect.

8. MEASURING DEMOCRACY
 The Economist Intelligence Unit Index of
democracy
 electoral process and pluralism,
 civil liberties,
 the functioning of government,
 political participation
 political culture

9. THREE DEMOCRACIES..
 Full democracies: only one country (Mauritius)
 Flawed democracies: seven countries: : South Africa,
Botswana, Cape Verde, Namibia, Lesotho, Benin and
Mali
 Hybrid democracies
 Authoritarian regimes

10. HYBRID DEMOCRACIES
 Madagascar
 Senegal
 Ghana
 Mozambique
 Zambia
 Liberia
 Tanzania
 Uganda
 Kenya
 Malawi
 Ethiopia
 Burundi
 Gambia

11. AUTHORITARIAN N REGIMES
 Morocco Angola
 Egypt
 Rwanda Djibouti
 Burkina Faso Eritrea
 Sierra Leone Guinea
 Niger Libya
 Nigeria Togo
 Cote d’Ivoire Chad
 Cameroon Central Africa
 Algeria
 Mauritania
 Tunisia
 Swaziland
 Sudan
 DRC
 Zimbabwe

12. IS DEMOCRACY IMPORTANT FOR
DEVELOPMENT
 There is a contentious unending debate in the literature
regarding the relationship between democracy and development.
 While, it is has not been possible hitherto to statistically
establish a causal effect of democracy on development, there are
several pointers of the importance of democracy in promoting
and sustaining development
 Democracy and development are not incompatible
 Democracy is not a facilitator for rather than a barrier to
development

13. IBRAHIM INDEX OF AFRICAN GOVERNANCE
 measures four aspects of governance
 human development (welfare, education and health),
 sustainable economic opportunity (public
management, participation and human rights),
 participation and human rights (participation, rights
and gender)
 safety and rule of law (rule of law, accountability,
personal safety and national security)

14. USING DEMOCRACY INDEX AND IGI
 Relationship between
 Human development and democracy
 Human development and participation
 Governance (overall development) and
democracy
 Participation and Democracy

15. USING DEMOCRACY INDEX AND IGI
 there is no statistically significant relationship
between human development and democracy
(r=.053; p=.89)
 There is no statistically significant relationship
between human development and participation
(r=.123; p=.734).

16. USING DEMOCRACY INDEX AND IGI
 when development is considered a whole a strong
relationship emerges between development and
democracy
 a statistically significant strong positive relationship
between overall governance performance and
democracy (r=.94; p < .0005)
 Statistically significant strong relationship governance
and participation (r=.95; p < .00005).

17. CONCLUSION:
DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT
 no conflict between promoting democracy and
development on various aspects.
 Indeed, democracy itself is a part of development and the
two phenomena reinforce each other
 countries that tend to be authoritarian and yet achieve high
levels of human development are those that endowed with
natural resources such as oil, and their development level is
not a direct consequence of good governance.
 This is to say that human development cannot be detached
from democratic emancipation

18. YOUTH PARTICIPATION
 Participation and democracy are inextricably
intertwined like chicken and egg.
 There can be no democracy without participation as
there can be no chicken without eggs.
 Citizen participation is consensually viewed as an
important ingredient of quality democracy.

19. BUT WHAT IS PARTICIPATION?
TWO CONTENDING POSITIONS
 participation as the extent to which a group is included in
a democratic polity.
 In this regard, participation is measured with respect to the
presence of underrepresented groups, especially those groups
that have been systematically barred from democratic
institutions, such as women, people with disabilities and youth
 the main focus in the first school is on the number that is
represented in a specific position, such as legislature, rather than
the effect of such representation

20. BUT WHAT IS PARTICIPATION?
TWO CONTENDING POSITIONS
 focuses on the qualitative representation, looking at
the extent to which the voices, interests, opinions
and perspectives are made present in the decision
making processes.
 This school entails that participation is not
necessarily achieved by a mere presence in the
decision making bodies, but by the extent to which
policies address the interests of the exclude

21. PARTICIPATION…CONSENSUS
 Effective participation cannot be ascertained without the ‘presence’ of
the concerned parties in the decision making processes
 participation is seen as effective when citizens are willing to take part in
public debate, elect representatives, offer for candidature in elections
and join politic parties
 Because we are not in a Pilato Republic, effective representation is the
only surest pivotal role in ensuring that citizens effectively take part in
the decisions that affect their lives.
 Therefore, the representation of the concerned parties in the decision
making parties is the very minimum benchmark for assessing the
effectiveness of participatory democracy.

22. YOUTH PARTICIPATION…
 Participation is generally poor in the majority of
African countries
 In 2012 Ibrahim Index of African only ten countries
score an acceptable level of participation with a score
of more than 65
 countries with high scores on this index are those that
also perform well in other dimensions, such as human
development, safety and rule of law

23. YOUTH PARTICIPATION:
TANZANIAN EXAMPLE
 Demographic realities of the Tanzania population
 47% below the age of 15
 Less than 53% eligible to vote
 65% of the voting population is below the age of
40
 Ideally, therefore, in line with Weisberg’s approach
to participation, their presence in decision making
bodies should be close to this figure

24. LEVEL OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION
 Political parties (CCM and CHADEMA)
 CHADEMA commonly referred to as a party of the
youth, with 50% of the top six leadership positions
occupied by not more than 35 year olds
 Of the 29 members of the shadow cabinet, 14 are held
by those aged not more tjan 35 years
 38 percent of the MPs from this party are at or below
the age of 35
 45 percent of the members of the key decision making
bodies (central committee and excutive council) are
those aged 35 or below

25. LEVEL OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION
 CCM
 commonly referred to as a party of the old guards youth,
with all the top six leadership positions occupied by
individuals aged above 50 years
 CCM is currently having intraparty elections and one of
the crusade message has been that the party is changing
by including more youth and ‘kicking’ out the old guards,
particularly in the powerful National Executive
Committee (NEC)

26. LEVEL OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION
 Nevertheless, preliminary analysis shows that the party will
continue to be dominated by old guards even after this
election.
 For example, of the 1277 members of the party who contested for
membership in the NEC, only 114 members (8.9%) were aged at or
below 35.
 This proportion is likely to go down after the election as CCM
election corruption ridden and driven to the extent that it is very
difficult for the impoverished youth to compete.

27. LEVEL OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION
 In parliament
 In the parliament, there are currently a total of
354 members, with almost three quarters of
them representing the Government Party
(CCM).
 The opposition combined have only 28 percent
of the members of Parliament.
 Overall, the proportion of youth in the
parliament is only 11 percent

28. LEVEL OF YOUTH PARTICIPATION
 In Government
 The youngest member of cabinet (ministers) is
39 years old

29. YOUTH PARTICIPATION
WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES?
 Education
 Just about 1 percent of the primary school leavers
in Tanzania attend university education
 Poor education quantitatively and qualitatively
 Less than 30 percent of secondary school graduates
in Tanzania score at 50% grade (B)
 Critical and independent thinking, competence and
skills based education largely lacking in the
curriculum and in practice
 Producing ‘robots’ rather than transformers

30. YOUTH PARTICIPATION
WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES?
 Political Culture
 Poor parenting base-product of authoritarian family system
 Monolithic tendencies shunning diversity, inclusiveness and
pluralism and embracing exclusiveness and entitlement
 Political corruption
 Missed opportunities:
 Fashionable and acceptable to be part of the benefiting/eating
class of elites rather than the ‘struggling’ class

31. YOUTH PARTICIPATION
WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES?
 Constitutional prohibitions
 In Tanzania
 You cannot vote until you are 18
 You can run for a seat in parliament until you are 21
 You can run for presidency until you are 40

32. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
 What should be the minimum age to:
 Vote
 Run for MP and presidency

33. POLITICAL TOLERANCE
 accepting and respecting the basic rights and civil
liberties of persons and groups whose viewpoints
differ from one’s own.
 involves accepting, valuing and embracing diversity
and acknowledging the fact that every individual is
unique. Political tolerance is therefore an important
aspect of political culture

34. KEY INGREDIENTS
 education,
 Freedom of expression
 Free and independent media

35.  Thank you for your attention