Abstract:
Liberal democracy, a political system marked not only by free and fair elections, but also by the rule of law, a separation of powers and the protection of basic liberties of speech, religion, assembly, and property (Zakaria 1997: 22), has for a long time formed part of theoretical debates in political science, and recently it has been hailed as the preferred political system. According to Mattes (2003) it is the only system in the world designed to maximize human dignity, freedom as well as distribute sovereignty amongst its people. However, there has been wide acknowledgement of a possible new threat to liberal democracy and democratic consolidation: HIV/AIDS. Indeed, the HIV/AIDS pandemic is being depicted as one of the biggest threats to the democratic system in Africa today. Mozambique is not immune to the above crisis. The first case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed in 1986. This was followed by a steady increase in the prevalence rate to an estimated 16.2% among the population aged 15 to 49 years in 2004. In July 2004, the government declared HIV/AIDS a national emergency (UNICEF 2005). This study assesses the possible impacts that the pandemic might have in Mozambique and on efforts of consolidating democracy by looking at two indicators of democratic consolidation, namely, civil society and economic growth. The study concludes that notwithstanding efforts at halting and minimising the spread of HIV/AIDS by government, civil society and international organizations prevalence rates in Mozambique continue to rise. Prevalence rates rose from a low average of 11 percent in 2000 to 12.7 percent in 2001, 13.6 percent in 2002, and 16.2 percent in 2004 and 2006 (allAfrica.com 2007). The study concludes that the rise in prevalence rates affects Mozambique‘s civil society and the economy, mainly the agricultural sector and household economy. The impact that the pandemic has on these sectors of society may in turn have an impact on the quality of democracy and the prospects for democratic consolidation in Mozambique. Copyright
