SITUATING CIVIL SOCIETY IN DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN LESOTHO

Civil society is not only capable of helping start the transition to democracy but also able to help deepen democracy. Based on this premise, this article examines the role of civil society in the process of democratic consolidation in Lesotho. It aims to situate civil society in the entire process and efforts of consolidating democracy. To accomplish this endeavour, this article extensively examines the available relevant literature and data by relying on discourse analysis. It establishes that civil society in Lesotho plays a significant role in consolidating democracy through diverse activities such as advocacy, aggregation of interests, lobbying, and provision of civic education. Social protests are found to be one of the most preferred approaches of influencing policy in the direction of democratic consolidation, especially when the government is unresponsive to public needs. The article also revealed that in many instances, the government of Lesotho abuses its powers by violating civil and political rights. This behaviour seems to be the main impediment to democratic consolidation since civil society is largely assuming its role in the country. The article suggests that civil society should do more to deter the state’s abuse of power while the government should refrain from perpetuating human rights violations so as to enable the country’s democracy to consolidate. Keywords: Civil society, Christian Council of Lesotho, Democratic consolidation, Transformation Resource Centre, National University of Lesotho.