While internal party democracy is a crucial component of especially European parties, party leadership in many of the so-called ‘new’ democracies refuses to democratize internal decision-making processes. The German political foundations have recognized this issue and have been one of the first international institutions to work on political party development and internal party democracy in new democracies. Since there is a lack of research on the democracy promotion programmes of the foundations as well as party assistance in general, we do not know much about the effects of party assistance on the internal party democracy of political parties in post-authoritarian states.
By concentrating on party assistance of the two German foundations Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Kenya and South Africa, this paper aims to answer three types of questions which connect to the general theme of the panel and its key questions:
• What opportunities do political parties in Kenya and South Africa offer their party members to participate in the internal decision-making process?
• Why do most of the parties in Kenya and South Africa refuse to democratize their internal decision-making process?
• What are the effects of party assistance by the German political foundations on the development of internal party democracy?
This paper argues that party assistance needs to draw on the level of party institutionalization (Basedau/Stroh 2008; Randall/Svåsand 2002) to have an impact on political party development and the parties’ internal decision-making process. Against the background of this hypothesis and based on empirical research in Kenya and South Africa, this paper analyses general conditions and impact of party assistance on internal party democracy.
