Malawi

The former British colony of Nyasaland became the independent state of Malawi in 1964. A landlocked country in southeast Africa, Malawi has a population of over 15 million, more than half of it living in poverty. Vast inequalities and a deeply unequal distribution of wealth exist in the country, which was ruled for the three decades following independence by a single-party system. President Hastings Banda, the leader of the Malawi Congress Party, suppressed opposition to his party as well as personal opposition. During the years of the dictatorship, [Page 518]church congregations remained one of the few social networks that could get to the rural population and not be controlled and censored by the regime. Church congregations have continued to attract Malawians in recent years because of the high mortality rate caused by the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS)virus.

In 1993, the country began its transition toward a multiparty system, which has remained in place to the present. Yet in spite of a more democratic political system, social networks based on personal interest have deeply infiltrated the state apparatus. Such networks function under official institutions and regulations and often prevent an effective enforcement of laws and policies designed for the common good. As the state fails to deliver services to the citizens, most Malawians try to develop personal acquaintances with civil servants so they can access public resources. Civil servants have increasingly become more aware of their importance and have been developing their own social networks, which operate a vital distribution of services and resources that civil servants have been able to appropriate and can be based on kinship, patronage, or ethnicity. The informal conventions of affiliation based on kinship, patronage, and ethnicity often interact with the application of formal rules. Thus, in Malawi, politicians and civil servants are not simply holders of public office but also custodians of private relationships that allow them to have an important source of social security that is denied to many of their countrymen. International observers such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have accepted Malawi into their ranks of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries. Yet, they have threatened to cut off funds to improve the agricultural sector, which accounts for 40 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), if the country does not actively try to eliminate corruption.

The HIV/AIDS virus is an important element in the creation and maintenance of social networks. In 2003, it was estimated that almost one million people were living with the disease. The high mortality rate caused by the pandemic has made attendance at funeral ceremonies a form of social support and a way to maintain good social links to one's neighbors. While women were initially targeted for sex education that emphasized the importance of safe sex to contain the spread of the HIV virus, more recently, researchers have argued that male networks could provide an important contribution to HIV prevention. A study by the Max Planck Democratic Research Institute in Germany, for example, has found that men often socialize with their male friends about what they consider acceptable and desirable sexual behavior. Because of this male attitude, campaigns that emphasize the more positive aspects of masculinity, such as being strong and sheltering oneself and one's family, may prove an effective form of prevention within male networks.

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