Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi Summary PDF

Preview

Summary

Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi Summary...

Description

Frank Brefo Politics of Africa James Wunsch 11/20/16 Why Chewas and Tumbukas Are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi Summary

In his article, Daniel Posner, argues that the political salience of a cultural cleavage will depend on the sizes of the groups that it defines relative to the size of the arena in which hypothetical competition is taking place. If the cultural cleavage defines groups that are large enough to constitute viable coalitions in the competition for political power, then politicians will mobilize these groups and the cleavage that divides them will become politically salient. If the cultural cleavages that define groups are too small to serve as viable based of political support, then these groups will go immobilized and the cleavage that separates them will remain politically irrelevant. The cultural differences between the groups will still exist, but there will be no political importance attached to them. Posner draws up a natural experiment, which is made possible by the division of the Chewa and Tumbuka peoples by the border between the African countries of Zambia and Malawi. The division of the Chewa and Tumbuka communities by the Zambia – Malawi border provides a laboratory-like opportunity for comparing the salience of an identical cultural cleavage in different settings. In his study, he is able to study the relations between a pair of groups vary as a consequence of the different environments in which those relations are taking place. Based on his studies it turns out the relations between Chewas and Tumbukas in each country are quite different. In Malawi, interactions between members of the two communities are often

antagonistic since the two see each another as political adversaries. In Zambia, by contrast, Chewas and Tumbukas tend to view each other as ethnic brethren and political allies. The border that separates Zambia and Malawi thus does more than simply partition the Chewa and Tumbuka peoples. It also demarcates two completely different zones of intercultural relations....