The Impact Of The 2004 Election Campaign On The Quality Of Democracy In South Africa

ABSTRACT

Despite the critical relationship between election campaigns and the quality of

democracy, it is an understudied phenomenon. Moreover, in South Africa, there has

never been a systematic study of an entire election campaign. In this thesis I assess

whether the 2004 election campaign hindered or enhanced the quality of South

Africa’s democracy. I adapt Lasswell’s model of persuasive communication (which

views the source, content, medium, recipient and effect as crucial parts of the

communicative process) as well as concepts set out by Diamond and Morlino (2005),

Powell (2005) and Buchanan (2001) to develop an integrated analytical model to

assess how an election campaign can contribute to the quality of democracy.

I bring together a wide set of data, much of it original, into a unique body of evidence

which I use to evaluate the extent to which South Africa’s 2004 campaign contributed

to or detracted from the quality of democracy. I thus provide a systematic assessment

of the caliber of information and choices offered by political parties to voters in 2004

election.

Juxtaposing my empirical findings against my analytical model reveals a bleak

picture of campaigning in South Africa. Every component of my model received a

predominantly negative assessment. A substantial body of voters without firm

partisan attachments (but with low levels of internal efficacy and largely negative

images of opposition parties and their leaders) had unprecedented access to the mass

media and were available to be persuaded by political parties. However, parties failed

to provide distinctions between their policies, instead promising similar outcomes

without adequately communicating their strategies. Campaign messages therefore

blurred rather than illuminated the choices for voters. The poor communication by

parties was further compounded by the media’s pre-occupation with conflict and

hostility between party leaders. I therefore find that in the 2004 election the campaign damaged, rather than enhanced, the quality of democracy in South Africa.