Democracy in Africa

Successes, Failures, and the struggle for political reform

Bibliographic Data

ID6026418
AuthorsFrederick Cooper (0000-0002-2594-4169), Faith Cooper (0009-0007-7927-7991, New York University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume115
Issue459
Pages369-370
Publication date2016-04-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9909 • E-ISSN: 1468-2621
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/afraf/adw012
OpenAlexW2342274628
LanguageEN
Citations received18

Nic Cheeseman is a skeptical believer. He rejects the arguments that democracy is unsuitable for Africa or that Africans are unsuited for democracy. He does not think that democracy can be imposed from outside. Nor does he romanticize African village politics into a model for democratic states. He does believe that Africa's history is “dotted with fragments of democracy” (3). He finds in these fragments possibilities for the future, and in those possibilities the only real alternative to the self-aggrandizing, self-perpetuating elites who have dominated many African countries. He sees democratization as a process, and along the way there are not only obstacles but dangers, for the mobilization of popular sentiment in electoral campaigns can entail demagoguery, fear-mongering, and scapegoating. Democracy in Africa is a concise survey of African political history, but Cheeseman lingers long enough over his major examples to bring out their complexities. He points to the variety of experiences and tendencies that generalizations about “Africa” obscure. Cheeseman contrasts vicious circles – a leader who had significant resources to control, who enriched himself and his cronies in visible ways, and who therefore clings to power by all means – with situations where elites, while lacking a legitimate electoral mandate, had less to lose or balked at plunging their societies into violent conflict. He raises the possibility of a virtuous circle, as tentative moves toward political openness create confidence in the possibility of winning elections by offering something to citizens.

Authoritarianism · Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Epistemology · Openness to experience · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Skepticism · Sociology · Virtuous circle and vicious circle · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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