Part I : Conceptual orientation -- Introduction / Lesley Blaauw and Dennis U Zaire -- Part II : Dominant party states and fractures in democratic Southern Africa -- Botswana's democratic rigor mortis and freefall / Tshepo Gwatiwa -- Namibia : from liberation movement as government to government without liberation : democracy under the governance of SWAPO (1990-2015) / Henning Melber -- Namibia : heading for a fall? : government and party performance 1999-2021 / Christiaan Keulder -- Democracy in the balance : an ailing African National Congress and the fight for the South African Miracle / Annemie Parkin -- Part III : Between democracy and authoritarianism -- Democratisation and the survival of liberation movements in southern Africa : the case of Zambia's United National Independence Party / Aaron W Siwale and Biggie Joe Ndambwa -- Angola's MPLA : implications for democrac and democratic consolidation / Alex Vines -- Mozambique's FRELIMO : implications for democracy and democratic consolidation / Alex Vines -- revisiting party factionalism within ruling parties and political stability in Lesotho, 1993-2022 / Motlamelle A Kapa -- Critical notes on division, factionalism and purges in Zimbabwean politics : implications for democracy and democratic consolidation / Mark Chingono and Alexander Rusero -- Critical theory (Frankfurt School) and the political crisis in Eswatini / Albert K Domson-Lindsay -- Part IV : Conclusion -- The future of dominant parties, the challenge to electoral authoritarianism, and possible changes in political dynamics in the monarchy : What lies ahead for southern Africa? / Lesley Blaauw and Dennis U Zaire