Political parties in the East African integration process

Abstract

This article examines four models on the role of political parties in economic and political integration arrangements that have emerged historically. First is the US model in which all political parties in what is essentially a federal dispensation, large and small; old and new, have a national character although parties are not a part of the relevant federal American constitution. The second model is the European Union pattern in which political parties continue to be of a national rather than a federal cross-country character and play virtually no visible role in regional politics except in contesting for the European Parliament. The third is the Russian Federation model which is prescriptive and highly regulated to ensure that parties have a federal character to avoid the possibility of parochial nationalism. The fourth case, which is closer to home, is the Tanzanian model which emerged under conditions of political exigencies involving a revolution in Zanzibar and a military mutiny in Tanganyika.