Malawian Democracy Beyond Patrons and Clients: Distribution in Parliamentary Elections and the Moral Grounds of Democratic Relationships

The distribution of cash, resources and campaign materials is a characteristic feature of elections in Malawi and across Africa. Scholars, commentators and international bodies often describe these practices as a type of clientelism, patronage or ‘vote buying’ that corrupts the ethical integrity of the relationship between democratic representatives and the electorate by introducing a transactional logic into the formation of political relationships. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in a rural constituency in Malawi’s Central Region, this article examines the significance of distributary practices in the 2019 parliamentary elections. It argues that distributary practices should be understood as an attempt by parliamentary candidates to establish the moral grounds of a distinctly democratic relationship with constituents in the context of socio-economic inequality and limited state resources. The article highlights two important ways that distributive practices, informed by an ethic prevalent in the broader social life of constituents, enabled political relationships to be formed on robust moral, democratic grounds. First, distribution can be understood as an enactment of a type of virtue associated with the capacity to assist others that I refer to as ‘virtuous capacity’, entailed in the demands and expectations of being a Member of Parliament. Second, these practices can be seen as an expression of a non-reciprocal moral obligation associated with a democratic mandate to serve constituents. Rather than undermining the ethical integrity of the relationship between candidates and constituents, distributary practices have enabled moral democratic relationships to be formed that might otherwise be difficult to establish.