Download or read book Consolidation of Democracy in Africa written by Hussein Solomon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2000: The continent of Africa is undergoing great change. While on the one hand there is talk of a re-awakening of Africa or Renaissance various countries in Africa are still plagued by poverty, intra- and interstate violence. In some countries the legacy of neo-colonialism and under development contributed to social strife and the potential criminalization of the State. This book addresses the topic of democratization and sustainable democracy in Africa against this background.
Download or read book The Role of Civil Society in Africa s Quest for Democratization written by Abadir M. Ibrahim and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tests many of the assumptions, hypotheses, and conclusions connected with the presumed role of civil society organizations in the democratization of African countries. Taking a comparative approach, it looks at countries that have successfully democratized, those that are stuck between progress and regression, those that have regressed into dictatorship, and those that are currently in transitional flux and evaluates what role, if any, civil society has played in each instance. The countries discussed—South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt and Tunisia—represent a diverse set of social and political circumstances and different levels of democratic achievement, providing a rich set of case studies. Each sample state also offers an internal comparison, as each has historically experienced different stages of democratization. Along the course of each case study, the book also considers the effect that other traditionally studied factors, such as culture, colonization, economic development and foreign aid, may have had on individual attempts at democratization. The first extensive work on civil society and democratization in Africa, the book adds new insights to the applicability of democratization theory in a non-Western context, both filling a gap in and adding to the existing universal scholarship. This book will be useful for scholars of political science, economics, sociology and African studies, as well as human rights activists and policy makers in the relevant geographical areas.
Download or read book Civil Society in Post Euromaidan Ukraine written by Natalia Shapovalova and published by Ibidem Press. This book was released on 2018-10-27 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is among the first comprehensive efforts to collectively and academically investigate the legacy of the Euromaidan in conflict-torn Ukraine within the domain of civil society broadly understood. The contributions to this book identify, describe, conceptualize, and explain various developments in Ukrainian civil society and its role in Ukraine's democratization, state-building, and conflict resolution by looking at specific understudied sectors and by tracing the situation before, during, and after the Euromaidan. In doing so, this trailblazing collection highlights a number of new themes, challenges, and opportunities related to Ukrainian civil society. They include volunteerism, grassroots community-based activism, social activism of churches, civic efforts of building peace and reconciliation, civic activism of journalists and digital activism, activism of think tanks, diaspora networks and the LGBT movement, challenges of civil society relations with the state, uncivil society, and the closing of civic space.
Download or read book Liberation Technology written by Larry Diamond and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2012-07-30 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberation Technology brings together cutting-edge scholarship from scholars and practitioners at the forefront of this burgeoning field of study. An introductory section defines the debate with a foundational piece on liberation technology and is then followed by essays discussing the popular dichotomy of liberation'' versus "control" with regard to the Internet and the sociopolitical dimensions of such controls. Additional chapters delve into the cases of individual countries: China, Egypt, Iran, and Tunisia.
Download or read book Understanding Modern Nigeria written by Toyin Falola and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-24 with total page 691 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to the politics and society of post-colonial Nigeria, highlighting the key themes of ethnicity, democracy, and development.
Download or read book Civil Society and Democratization written by Isidro Morales and published by SAGE Publications, Incorporated. This book was released on 1999-09 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of the Cold War, a renewed interest in civil society emerged. Today, civil society, trust, democratization, social capital, and volunteerism are a primary focus among the social sciences. The end of the Cold War meant such issues in the social sciences, neglected during many years of military confrontation, came back into prominence. Voluntary groups are being given large roles, and the state is being challenged by them. The search is on for ways to encourage democracy. Free trade and globalization are part of the equation, but much attention is being focused on the role of NGOs (non-governmental organizations). The claim is that without a healthy voluntary sector, the long-term survival of a democratic society is doubtful. Civil Society and Democratization, a special issue of THE ANNALS, features articles written by both domestic and international scholars on this ever growing area of discussion. Articles in this issue cover these important topics: · Debates on civil society both in the United States and abroad · Civil society and political elections · Religion and civic engagement · Civil society and volunteerism This special issue is a comprehensive discussion of how political confidence is built and eroded in a world that unimaginable only ten years ago. It is an indispensable guide to the problems of sustaining the gains made by democracy since the collapse of the Soviet Union and will be of great interest to academics and professionals concerned with processes of social change.
Download or read book Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria written by Matthew Hassan Kukah and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering and challenging book, which has been highly acclaimed since first publication in Africa; and an important addition to the relatively sparse serious political literature on civil society in Africa. The author is a political scientist, priest, and prominent in national public life, and abroad as a lecturer and journalist. He draws on his diverse spheres of expertise to look afresh at debates about political and societal failure in Africa, since independence; abysmal and sometimes worsening indicators of development - life expectancy decreasing; infrastructure in decay; and relentless poverty. He debates what he considers the most radical and plausible views on the subject: that the development project, undermined by the colonial legacy and military rule, never existed; that Africa seeks some form of democracy, civil society and the associated institutions as a matter of survival, which the present political elite and the development agencies are unable to deliver; that cynicism - distrust of government, and fatalism dominate the popular mindset; that the SAP with all the opportunities that the programme opened up, was subverted by a political class which draws its economic lifeblood from the subversion of the national economy; that religious bodies may assuage the violence and psychological anomie generated by years of militarism, but manipulation of ethnic identity is used to gain political mileage. The author formerly received an honorary mention in the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.
Download or read book Transitions and Consolidation of Democracy in Africa written by Samuel Ebow Quainoo and published by Global Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What conditions motivate a transition to democracy? Can the dynamics of a transition influence its outcome? Under what circumstances has democracy been consolidated in Africa? This trilogy of questions has become necessary in light of the current democratic wave engulfing Africa and the rest of the world. In examining the conditions that initiate democratic transitions, this book investigates the circumstances under which democracy movements have operated between 1980 and 1990. It concludes that, contrary to dominant democratic theory, the transitions to democracy in Africa have occurred under declining levels of development. With regard to transitions, the book recognizes that they have their own dynamics. Two main types of transitions are discerned: top-down and bottom-up. The book argues that in spite of the restrictive nature of top-down transitions, they offer a better opportunity for democratic consolidation because of the consensus between elites of the pro-democracy regime and their counterparts in the authoritarian regime, a condition that is normally absent under bottom-up transitions. Finally, relying on the cases of consolidated democracies, the book derives an African democracy model. The model delineates five main conditions that facilitate democratic consolidation, including good leadership, relevant political institutions, external support, civic space, and a reasonable level of development. It cautions, however, that these are not sufficient conditions, nor are all of them necessary. Since countries have unique historical circumstances, specific countries will have to combine conditions in the model that are relevant to that society to consolidate its democracy. The right combination will depend on the specific needs of the individual country.
Download or read book The Politics of Neoliberal Democracy in Africa written by Usman A. Tar and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2009 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the late 1980s the changing dynamic of global development has driven the tide of democratic expansion in the developing world. In Africa, western donors have sought to impose 'neo-liberal' visions of socio-economic and political institution-building, spreading political reforms and economic liberalisation with far-reaching consequences. Associated with external interventions, but also sometimes conflicting with them, are internal protests against authoritarianism, which have problematically reinforced and/or undermined the donor agenda for democratic reform.Here, Usman Tar questions the assumption that Africa was lacking the essential components for a spontaneous transition to democracy. He explores the dynamic, but contradictory, links between external and internal dimensions of neo-liberal democratic expansion in Africa, focusing on Nigeria. Tar dissects the struggles for democracy, and for democratic policy and practice in a country with rich economic potential but a troubled political dispensation.
Download or read book Mobilizing for Democracy written by Vera Schatten Coelho and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-04-04 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mobilizing for Democracy is an in-depth study into how ordinary citizens and their organizations mobilize to deepen democracy. Featuring a collection of new empirical case studies from Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, this important new book illustrates how forms of political mobilization, such as protests, social participation, activism, litigation and lobbying, engage with the formal institutions of representative democracy in ways that are core to the development of democratic politics. No other volume has brought together examples from such a broad Southern spectrum and covering such a diversity of actors: rural and urban dwellers, transnational activists, religious groups, politicians and social leaders. The cases illuminate the crucial contribution that citizen mobilization makes to democratization and the building of state institutions, and reflect the uneasy relationship between citizens and the institutions that are designed to foster their political participation.
Download or read book Governance and Politics in Post Military Nigeria written by S. Adejumobi and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-12-20 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection is the product of a National Research Working Group (NRWG) established by Said Adejumobi and supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA). It analyzes the progress made in Nigeria since the return to democratic rule in 1999 and the prospects of democratic consolidation in the country.
Download or read book The Principles of ASUU written by Festus Iyayi and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Civil Society and the State in Africa written by John Willis Harbeson and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 1994 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text examines the potential value of the concept of civil society for enhancing the current understanding of state-society relations in Africa. The authors review the meanings of civil society in political philosophy, as well as alternative approaches to employing the concept in African settings. Considering both the patterns of emerging civil society in Africa and issues relating to its further development, they give particular emphasis to the cases of Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire.
Download or read book Humor Silence and Civil Society in Nigeria written by Ebenezer Obadare and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2016 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is an important contribution to the civil society debate in Africa and to the global literature on dissent.
Download or read book Democratization in Africa written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-02-01 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global movement toward democracy, spurred in part by the ending of the cold war, has created opportunities for democratization not only in Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also in Africa. This book is based on workshops held in Benin, Ethiopia, and Namibia to better understand the dynamics of contemporary democratic movements in Africa. Key issues in the democratization process range from its institutional and political requirements to specific problems such as ethnic conflict, corruption, and role of donors in promoting democracy. By focusing on the opinion and views of African intellectuals, academics, writers, and political activists and observers, the book provides a unique perspective regarding the dynamics and problems of democratization in Africa.
Download or read book In Search of Democracy written by Larry Diamond and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book evaluates the global status and prospects of democracy, with an emphasis on the quality of democratic institutions and the effectiveness of governance as key conditions for stable democracy. Bringing together a wide range of the author’s work over the past three decades, it advances a framework for assessing the quality of democracy and it analyzes alternative measures of democracy. Drawing on the most recent data from Freedom House, it assesses the global state of democracy and freedom, as of the beginning of 2015, and it explains why the world has been experiencing a mild but now deepening recession of democracy and freedom since 2005. A major theme of the book across the three decades of the author’s work is the relationship between democratic quality and stability. Democracies break down, Diamond argues, not so much because of economic factors but because of corrupt, inept governance that violates individual rights and the rule of law. The best way to secure democracy is to ensure that democracy is accountable, transparent, genuinely competitive, respectful of individual rights, inclusive of diverse forms and sources of participation, and responsive to the needs and aspirations of ordinary citizens. Viable democracy requires not only a state that can mobilize power to achieve collective goals, but also one that can restrain and punish the abuse of power—a particularly steep challenge for poor countries and those with natural resource wealth. The book examines these themes both in broad comparative perspective and with a deeper analysis of historical trends and future prospects in Africa and Asia,. Concluding with lessons for sustaining and reforming policies to promote democracy internationally, this book is essential reading for students and scholars interested in democracy, as well as politics and international relations more generally.
Download or read book Democracy Good Governance and Development in Nigeria written by Attahiru Jega and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
