To seek happiness
Development in a West African village in the Era of democratisation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7212909 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lars Rudebeck (Uppsala University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 71 |
| Publication date | 1997-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of African Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-6244 • E-ISSN: 1740-1720 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03056249708704239 |
| OpenAlex | W1985845141 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 6 |
This article examines what democracy means to a people who have no direct word for it in their own language. It sets one village's experience of Guine‐Bissau's first multi‐party elections in the historic context of the struggle for independence, the failures of the one‐party state, the difficulties caused by structural adjustment. It sets this experience against theories of democracy as an ideal or as sets of formal arrangements and argues that whilst the latter may have been successfully implemented, democracy will be poorly rooted unless it leads to palpable socio‐economic progress. There are still many problems to be overcome, not least with the lack of resources available to the state, before this is likely to be achieved. This article follows others by Rudebeck: ‘Kandjadja, Guinea‐Bissau, 1976–1986: Observations on the Political Economy of an African village’ ( ROAPE No. 41) and ‘The Effects of Structural Adjustment in Kandjadja, Guinea‐Bissau’ (ROAPE No. 49) ‐ which have sought to understand the impact of wider politcal and economic forces on this one village over time. This article is a continuation of that story
Context (archaeology · Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Happiness · Independence (probability theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Structural adjustment · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 2000 - 2000 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |