1939-1964 History of Southern Africa






Malawi Independent, since 1964



Domestic Policy . . . In 1964, Malawi proclaimed independence. In 1966 the constitution of a republic was adopted. As the country's first president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda was elected (-1994). His rule turned authoritarian; still as p.m., in the September 1964 Cabinet Crisis he broke with several cabinet ministers. Factually, Malawi was a one-party-state; in the 1966 elections the ruling party candidates ran unopposed. In 1971 the elections were cancelled by president Kamuzu Banda, who simply appointed the members of parliament and assumed presidency for life.
1965 and 1967 rebellions were suppressed. In 1975 the nation's capital was moved from Zomba to Lilongwe.
Dr. Banda is described as one of Africa's few conservative politicians in that period. Many white settlers remained in the country; their representation in parliament, until 1973, was guaranteed by a representative appointed by the president. Malawi entertained good relations with South Africa.

The economy . . . Economic policy of independent Malawi focussed on the improvement of the infrastructure, the development of the nation's education system, on developing agriculture. Malawi did not enter any experiments in the direction of establishing a socialist society. However, an economic Africanization policy targeted Malawi's Asian minority (of c. 12,000), which controlled many of the nation's businesses. A 1978 law limited their residence to urban areas.
Political turmoil in neighbouring Moçambique caused the influx of refugees; the closure of the border with Moçambique had a serious impact on landlocked Malawi.
Upon independence in 1964, Malawi had a population of 3.79 million; a 1977 census counted 5.54 million, by 1998 the figure reached 10.5 million (Lahmeyer), the estimated figure for 2009 is 15.9 million (Wikipedia); an almost 3-fold increase since independence. In 2005 Malawi proclaimed a national disaster - the Malawian Food Crisis, still ongoing.

Foreign Policy . . . Malawi entertained good relations with South Africa and Taiwan and received foreign aid from many western nations as well as Taiwan. Malawi's reluctance to join the proposed African boycott of Apartheid South Africa resulted in the deterioration of her relations with neighbouring African nations, Zambia, Tanzania, and, since 1975, Moçambique.
The war for independence and the succeedinf civil war in Moçambique had an impact on the landlocked nation, as her supply lines through Mocambique were jeopardized, a refugee problem emerged and the combattants at times violated her borders.
Since 1975 Malawi was surrounded by states hostile to the South African Apartheid regime; the small nation of Malawi, however, did not alter her South Africa policy.

Recent Developments . . . Malawi is a multiethnic state where a number of languages are spoken, Chichewa, Lomwe, Yao, Sena. The government promotes the use of Chichewa as language of administration and education. In addition, English is spoken.
In a referendum in 1993, multiparty democracy was introduced. A year later, Banda was voted out of office.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles Malawi, Politics of Malawi, Elections in Malawi, Foreign Relations of Malawi, Economy of Malawi, Malawian Food Crisis, Demographics of Malawi, Hastings Banda, from Wikipedia
Official Website of the Government of Malawi
The World Factbook : Malawi, from CIA
History of Malawi, from Africanet
Chichewa - Background and History
Timelines, from BBC News; from timelines.ws
Category : Politics of Malawi, from Wikipedia; Political Resources on the Net : Malawi; Governments on the WWW : Malawi
Category : Elections in Malawi, from Wikipedia
Entry Malawi, from EISA Web Encyclopedia
Global History of Currencies : Malawi; Tables of Modern Monetary History : Africa, from www.dollarization.org, scroll down for Malawi
Global Integrity : Malawi 2007
Languages of Malawi (15), from Ethnologue
Category Languages of Malawi, from Wikipedia
World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples : Malawi
DOCUMENTS Map of Malawi, from CIA World Factbook
Flag of Malawi, from FOTW
Documents on Malawi History, from World History Archives
Banknotes from Malawi, from Ron Wise's World Paper Money
Lists of Statesmen, from from World Statesmen (B. Cahoon), from Rulers (B. Schemmel), from World Rulers (E. Schulz, illustrated)
Historical Population Statistics, Malawi, from Population Statistics by Jan Lahmeyer
Election Results, from Malawi (since 1994); from IFES Election Guide
REFERENCE Cynthia A. Crosby, Historical Dictionary of Malawi, Metuchen : Scarecrow 1980
Article Malawi, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1965 pp.511-512, 1966 pp.488-489, 1967 pp.498-499, 1968 pp.498-499, 1969 pp.483-484, 1970 p.488, 1971 p.471, 1972 pp.443-444, 1973 pp.441-442, 1974 pp.444-445, 1975 pp.471-472, 1976 p.500, 1977 p.500, 1978 p.531, 1979 p.519, 1980 p.519, 1981 p.523, 1982 p.523, 1983 p.517, 1984 p.514, 1985 pp.469, 730, 1986 pp.463, 728, 1988 pp.392-393, 648, 1989 pp.392, 649, 1990 pp.410, 664, 1993 pp.364, 660, 1994 pp.363, 661, 1995 pp.440-441, 660 [G]
Article : Malawi, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1970-1971 pp.474-476, 1975-1976 pp.410-412, 1978-1979 pp.806-809, 1980-1981 pp.813-817, 1983-1984 pp.809-813, 1984-1985 pp.809-813, 1985-1986 pp.811-815, 1987-1988 pp.815-818, 1988-1989 pp.817-820, 1989-1990 pp.884-887, 1990-1991 pp.827-830, 1991-1992 pp.828-831, 1992-1993 pp.911-914, 1993-1994 pp.908-911, 1994-1995 pp.906-909, 1995-1996 pp.970-973, 1996-1997 pp.853-855, 1997-1998 pp.865-868, 1998-1999 pp.929-932, 2000 pp.1059-1063, 2001 pp.1035-1039, 2002 pp.1076-1080, 2003 pp.1079-1083, 2004 pp.1085-1089, 2005 pp.1092-1096 [G]
Article : Malawi, in : The World in Figures 1st ed. 1976 pp.78-79, 2nd ed. 1978 pp.78-79, 4th ed. 1984 pp.78-79 [G]
Entry : Republic of Malawi, Cabinet, pp.63-64; Background Notes, pp.855-860, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2003 [G]
Article : Malawi, in : Americana Annual 1965 pp.436-437, 1967 p.424, 1968 p.420, 1969 p.430, 1970 pp.426-427, 1971 p.433, 1972 p.431, 1973 p.432 [G]
Entry : Malawi, pp.684-687 in : IMF, International Financial Statistics Yearbook 2001 [G]
Entry : Malawi, in : The Commonwealth Yearbook 1989 pp.250-254 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on October 13th 2009

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