Beyond Impunity: New Directions for Governance in Malawi

Including a foreword by Paul Zeleza, this comprehensive, compelling, accessible and timely volume should be compulsory reading to academics, policy makers, social activists, and the general public in Malawi and elsewhere on the continent. The accounts the authors present of the pervasive dysfunctions of Malawi's troubled experiment with multiparty democracy since the mid-1990s, and the endlessly deferred dreams of development, are often dispiriting. Yet, their bleak diagnoses are often accompanied by ameliorative prescriptions that are simultaneously bold and pragmatic. The book exudes a sense of hope that the struggles for a better future will continue. In itself the book represents a testament to the possibilities of the country's democratic dispensation, the need to unflinchingly confront the country's debilitating political and socioeconomic pathologies. Such a text would have been unthinkable during the dictatorship of the founding president, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

About the Author :
Kenneth R. Ross is Professor of Theology at Zomba Theological College, having earlier served as Professor of Theology at Chancellor College, University of Malawi, and as Chair of the Scotland Malawi Partnership. Asiyati Lorraine Chiweza is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. Her research interests include local governance, development, gender and public sector ethics. Wapulumuka O. Mulwafu is Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Mzuzu University, having earlier served as Professor of Environmental History and Dean of Postgraduate Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi.

Review :
"The events of 2019/2020 were momentous not just for democracy in Malawi but for the wider region. This impressive volume brings together critical insights that reveal why the presidential election was nullified, how key democratic institutions emerged stronger than before, and the challenges that still remain. It is essential reading for anyone working on Malawian politics or democratic consolidation more broadly". - Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy, University of Birmingham "Well researched and written by mostly Malawian scholars using a wide variety of local and international sources and new data collected through field work, this book offers fresh perspectives of an assortment of topical issues from the environment, federalism, and gender to governance, financial management, and trust. It also brings to our attention young scholars writing on Malawi, who offer different perspectives to those we are used to reading and refreshing new ways of looking at the country's historical and contemporary issues." - Diana Cammack, political scientist, South Africa "Malawi's 'critical juncture' of 2019-20 inspires in this volume a comprehensive look at governance. From public finances to electoral management and violence, from regionalism to natural resource management, and a whole host of other topics along the way, the chapters collected here mark a concentrated effort to rethink Malawi's governance." - Harri Englund, Professor of Anthropology, University of Cambridge "An extremely engaging and gripping collection that analyses Malawi's democratic project in a historical and contemporary perspective with a depth and breadth that very few existing accounts can rival. This volume is a must read for all academics, researchers, policy makers, journalists, activists, diplomats and development practitioners who want to understand how Malawi works or does not work including its prospects for democratic maturity in a highly dynamic local and global context." - Blessings Chinsinga PhD Director at Centre for Social Research (CSR) and Professor at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Malawi