The Professor Paget Henry is a professor of Sociology and African Studies in Brown University and is a specialist and expert on society, democracy, and political parties. Regarding to the role of political parties in building democracy, we contacted the Professor Henry and he expressed his views in an exclusive interview to Gulan Magazine as the following:

“Democracy is all about checks and balances, countervailing forces, and representing as many voices as possible. You have to look at how opposition is treated within a political party. Can be there opposing voices within a political party? How is the leader of the party selected? You can begin by practicing democracy within the political party by looking at how principles of representation, principles of countervailing powers operate or don’t operate within the political party. So; you need to look at certain key things within the political party, what measures are there to ensure the representation of the voices of the ranking file in selecting of the leader and things like that? So; to me, democracy, you could say; as you pointed out, democracy very begins within the party. If there are traditions of representing the voices of the masses, representing the voices of minorities, those are the things you want to build on, because it is hard to teach people a brand new culture. Introducing democracy is the toughest, because as you pointed out; the transition to power is always difficult. So; I think the best way to go would be to look for the most peaceful examples of transitions to power that have occurred in your society and try to let people know about them and explain to them why this is so important, because if they have a local example that they can draw on, that you can build on, then you can begin the process of reeducating people to the idea that peaceful transitions to power are good for the country. And you need to establish, very clearly, certain procedures for who is going to govern next. Sure; the transfer of power sets the tone for everything, what’s going to happen after the new leader comes to office. And the way to get that is to make sure that the leader came to power in a democratic way, a way that is consistent the democratic norms. If you can do that, then it will be easier for that leader to carryout fundamental reforms, because it would be seen as legitimate. So; you are absolutely right that having a legitimate transfer of power becomes a very important precondition for carrying out important reforms.”


Transcription: Qane’ Kakeiy