Abstract: Malawi is one of the emerging democracies in Africa still consolidating its democratic gains to be accepted in geopolitics. Some of the challenges facing developing countries such as Malawi include the need to reconcile two ways of knowledge production and practice towards political and national development: a culturally embedded perception on nationalism and governance and a “Western” neo-liberal democratic polity. By analyzing the Malawi Government’s policies and practices for the past ten years, this article examines the clash between the two concepts of political approach: neo-liberal ideals prescribed by Western developmental partners that are foreign and competitive and the traditional notions of uMunthu—a Southern African concept of communalism also known as Ubuntu. This article argues that Western neo-liberal concepts of democracy should not replace traditional governance structures in developing countries as Western approaches are ill-equipped to deal with the unique complexities of African indigenous cultures and ways of life. This paper proposes a traditional theoretical framework to analyze and develop deliberative structures, especially in developing countries. These local and contextual structures would help promote a better understanding and appreciation of local knowledge construction and development in sub national structures.

Keywords: Malawi; democracy; neo-liberal; uMunthu; deliberation; Africa.