Authoritarianism, Popular Resistance and Regime Change in Zambia

In 1990, after 17 years of authoritarian rule under inaugural president, Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia looked to be on the precipice of prolonged instability and violence. Authoritarianism showed no signs of softening; the country’s economic decline continued to heap misery on a population where the vast majority were already living in poverty; and the banning of opposition parties in 1973 meant that there was no legitimate political opposition to challenge to Kaunda’s rule. Over the 1970s and 1980s, opposition to Kaunda found expression in various civil society organisations, eventually coalescing into a broad-church Movement for Multiparty Democracy (mmd). When the price of the national staple, maize, doubled overnight, protests quickly escalated into riots, killing dozens. However, instead of an escalation of violence, the mmd pushed Kaunda to engage in political reform. What followed was a decision by Kaunda to lift the ban on opposition parties, leading to his electoral defeat. How did the growing opposition rule precipitate a peaceful transition to multi-party democracy? In this article I argue that Kaunda’s inclusive ideology, which avoided the politicization of ethnicity allowed for a more inclusive and peaceful transition away from authoritarian rule.