Editing SWAPO (section)

==Ideology==
SWAPO was founded with the aim of attaining the [[independence of Namibia]] and therefore is part of the [[African nationalist]] movement. Pre-independence it had a [[socialism|socialist]],<ref name="Tötemeyer"/> [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]]<ref name=Soiri/> ideology, a thinking that was not immediately abandoned when independence was achieved in 1990 and SWAPO became the ruling party.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/37/027.html |first=Timothy |last=Dauth |title=From Liberation Organisations to Ruling Parties: The ANC and SWAPO in Transition |work=NamNet Digest, Vol. 95, no. 3 |date=17 January 1995 |access-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210084857/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/37/027.html |archive-date=10 February 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Officially, however, it adopted a [[Social democracy|social democratic]] ideology, until the electoral congress in 2017 approved the official change to [[socialism]] with a "Namibian character",<ref name=sweeping/> although some Namibians have labeled the change as lacking a "grass-roots" nature.<ref name="nam23">{{Cite web |last=Aluteni |first=D. |date=7 December 2018 |title=Swapo, what is 'Socialism with a Namibian Character'? |url=https://www.namibian.com.na/183845/archive-read/Letter-of-the-Week--Swapo-what-is-Socialism-with-a-Namibian-Character |website=[[The Namibian]] |access-date=5 April 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414161723/https://www.namibian.com.na/183845/archive-read/Letter-of-the-Week--Swapo-what-is-Socialism-with-a-Namibian-Character |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Various commentators have characterised the politics of SWAPO in different ways. [[Gerhard Tötemeyer]], himself a party member, considers its post-independence politics [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] and [[social democracy|social democratic]].<ref name="Tötemeyer"/> [[Henny Seibeb]], an opposition politician from the [[Landless People's Movement (Namibia)|Landless People's Movement]], describes the current party ideology as [[liberal nationalism]] with traces of "[[dogmatism]], [[authoritarianism]], and [[statism]]".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.namibian.com.na/164541/archive-read/Social-Movements-Party-Politics-And-Democracy-In-Namibia |first=Henny |last=Seibeb |title=Social Movements, Party Politics And Democracy In Namibia |newspaper=[[The Namibian]] |date=12 May 2017 |access-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013120525/https://www.namibian.com.na/164541/archive-read/Social-Movements-Party-Politics-And-Democracy-In-Namibia |archive-date=13 October 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref>