Download or read book Democratization in Late Twentieth Century Africa written by Jean-Germa Gros and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1998-09-24 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few would disagree that since 1990 Sub-Saharan Africa has undergone a process of political transformation. Where one-party systems once stood, multi-parties are now dominant; where heads of state once ruled autocratically, open elections have emerged. In this study, both African and non-African scholars take a critical look at the evolution and contradictions of democratization in seven African nations: Malawi, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, and Gabon, each at a different stage in the democratization process. Some of these countries historically have not received much attention in North America. For example, little is known about Malawi, and Gabon has escaped notice outside the Francophone world. While other works have focused primarily upon the role that institutions have played in the democratization process, this study looks at individual leaders. Some of the authors were themselves participants in the reform movements in their home countries, and they examine the role that the military and the church played in the process. This volume also includes a discussion of why democratization has stagnated or been reversed in some nations.
Download or read book African Politics written by Joelien Pretorius and published by Juta and Company Ltd. This book was released on 2008 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1991 Samuel Huntington published "The Third Wave: Democratisation in the Late Twentieth Century". The book informed much of the scholarly work on democratisation in Africa. Although comprehensive in classifying the causes and limitations of transitions to democracy, "The Third Wave" was also limited in its definition of democracy and expectations of a new democracy. This volume engages with the topics of democracy and democratisation in contemporary African politics at the local, national and continental level. It acknowledges a conceptual debt to Huntington when discussing elections, party systems, leadership and the development of continental norms of liberal democracy, but also highlights new conversations (eg: about participatory spaces) that go beyond the Third Wave.
Download or read book The Third Wave written by Samuel P. Huntington and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This global democratic revolution is probably the most important political trend in the late twentieth century. In The Third Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluates the prospects for stability of the new democracies, and explores the possibility of more countries becoming democratic. The recent transitions, he argues, are the third major wave of democratization in the modem world. Each of the two previous waves was followed by a reverse wave in which some countries shifted back to authoritarian government. Using concrete examples, empirical evidence, and insightful analysis, Huntington provides neither a theory nor a history of the third wave, but an explanation of why and how it occurred. Factors responsible for the democratic trend include the legitimacy dilemmas of authoritarian regimes; economic and social development; the changed role of the Catholic Church; the impact of the United States, the European Community, and the Soviet Union; and the "snowballing" phenomenon: change in one country stimulating change in others. Five key elite groups within and outside the nondemocratic regime played roles in shaping the various ways democratization occurred. Compromise was key to all democratizations, and elections and nonviolent tactics also were central. New democracies must deal with the "torturer problem" and the "praetorian problem" and attempt to develop democratic values and processes. Disillusionment with democracy, Huntington argues, is necessary to consolidating democracy. He concludes the book with an analysis of the political, economic, and cultural factors that will decide whether or not the third wave continues. Several "Guidelines for Democratizers" offer specific, practical suggestions for initiating and carrying out reform. Huntington's emphasis on practical application makes this book a valuable tool for anyone engaged in the democratization process. At this volatile time in history, Huntington's assessment of the processes of democratization is indispensable to understanding the future of democracy in the world.
Download or read book Democracy in Africa written by Nic Cheeseman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the history of democracy in Africa and explains why the continent's democratic experiments have so often failed, as well as how they could succeed. Nic Cheeseman grapples with some of the most important questions facing Africa and democracy today, including whether international actors should try and promote democracy abroad, how to design political systems that manage ethnic diversity, and why democratic governments often make bad policy decisions. Beginning in the colonial period with the introduction of multi-party elections and ending in 2013 with the collapse of democracy in Mali and South Sudan, the book describes the rise of authoritarian states in the 1970s; the attempts of trade unions and some religious groups to check the abuse of power in the 1980s; the remarkable return of multiparty politics in the 1990s; and finally, the tragic tendency for elections to exacerbate corruption and violence.
Download or read book Democratization in Africa Challenges and Prospects written by Gordon Crawford and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is two decades since the ‘third wave’ of democratization began to roll across sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1990s. This book provides a very timely investigation into the progress and setbacks over that period, the challenges that remain and the prospects for future democratization in Africa. It commences with an overall assessment of the (lack of) progress made from 1990 to 2010, exploring positive developments with reasons for caution. Based on original research, subsequent contributions examine various themes through country case-studies, inclusive of: the routinisation of elections, accompanied by democratic rollback and the rise of hybrid regimes; the tenacity of presidential powers; the dilemmas of power-sharing; ethnic voting and rise of a violent politics of belonging; the role of ‘donors’ and the ambiguities of ‘democracy promotion’. Overall, the book concludes that steps forward remain greater than reversals and that typically, though not universally, sub-Saharan African countries are more democratic today than in the late 1980s. Nonetheless, the book also calls for more meaningful processes of democratization that aim not only at securing civil and political rights, but also socio-economic rights and the physical security of African citizens. This book was originally published as a special issue of Democratization
Download or read book State Conflict and Democracy in Africa written by Richard A. Joseph and published by Lynne Rienner Pub. This book was released on 1999 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the important dimensions of state formation and erosion, social conflict, and the gains and setbacks of democratization in contemporary Africa. It looks at the dominant patterns of political restructuring since the upheavals of the early 1990s.
Download or read book Democracy and Democratization written by Michael Moran and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-04-29 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Africa beyond Liberal Democracy written by Reginald M.J. Oduor and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-06-21 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title Africa beyond Liberal Democracy: In Search of Context-Relevant Models of Democracy for the Twenty-First Century explores possible future trajectories of democratization on the continent. At the dawn of political independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, many countries in Africa set out with liberal democratic constitutions. However, these were quickly dismantled by civilian regimes that turned their countries into one-party autocracies, or by military coups that set aside the constitutions altogether. The 1990s saw an attempt at reverting to competitive multi-party politics through the so-called second-generation constitutions, but these are again being dismantled by civilian autocracies and military juntas. In this collection, edited by Reginald M. J. Oduor, African and Africanist scholars examine the view that what has failed in Africa is liberal democracy rather than democracy as such, because liberal democracy arose in an individualist socio-political Western context that is significantly different from the communalist milieu of African societies. The contributors, from a variety of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, andbased in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Sweden, and Finland, present a range of perspectives on possible directions for context-relevant models of democracy in the various countries of Africa in the twenty-first century.
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 Constituting Democracy written by Heinz Klug and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-09-04 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the backdrop of South Africa's transition from apartheid, this provocative book explores the role of late twentieth-century constitutionalism in facilitating political change. While using South Africa as a case study, Klug's larger project is to investigate why there has been renewed faith in justiciable constitutions and democratic constitutionalism, despite their many flaws. This examination of South Africa's constitution-making process provides important new insights into the role of law in the transition to democracy.
Download or read book Authoritarian Origins of Democratic Party Systems in Africa written by Rachel Beatty Riedl and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-13 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why have seemingly similar African countries developed very different forms of democratic party systems? Despite virtually ubiquitous conditions that are assumed to be challenging to democracy - low levels of economic development, high ethnic heterogeneity, and weak state capacity - nearly two dozen African countries have maintained democratic competition since the early 1990s. Yet the forms of party system competition vary greatly: from highly stable, nationally organized, well-institutionalized party systems to incredibly volatile, particularistic parties in systems with low institutionalization. To explain their divergent development, Rachel Beatty Riedl points to earlier authoritarian strategies to consolidate support and maintain power. The initial stages of democratic opening provide an opportunity for authoritarian incumbents to attempt to shape the rules of the new multiparty system in their own interests, but their power to do so depends on the extent of local support built up over time.
Download or read book Making Waves written by Kurt Weyland and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-07 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study investigates the three main waves of political regime contention in Europe and Latin America. Surprisingly, protest against authoritarian rule spread across countries more quickly in the nineteenth century, yet achieved greater success in bringing democracy in the twentieth. To explain these divergent trends, the book draws on cognitive-psychological insights about the inferential heuristics that people commonly apply; these shortcuts shape learning from foreign precedents such as an autocrat's overthrow elsewhere. But these shortcuts had different force, depending on the political-organizational context. In the inchoate societies of the nineteenth century, common people were easily swayed by these heuristics: jumping to the conclusion that they could replicate such a foreign precedent in their own countries, they precipitously challenged powerful rulers, yet often at inopportune moments - and with low success. By the twentieth century, however, political organizations had formed. As organizational ties loosened the bounds of rationality, contentious waves came to spread less rapidly, but with greater success.
Download or read book When Things Fell Apart written by Robert H. Bates and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores Africa in the late twentieth century, focusing on the logic of political order and the foundations of the state.
Download or read book Dictators and Democracy in African Development written by A. Carl LeVan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that the structure of the policy-making process in Nigeria explains variations in government performance better than other commonly cited factors.
Download or read book Institutions and Democracy in Africa written by Nic Cheeseman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers new research on the vital importance of institutions, such as presidential term-limits in the African democratisation processes.
Download or read book Putting People First written by Bill Clinton and published by Three Rivers Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Statements and plans by Clinton and Gore made in the early 90's on how they will put people first.
Download or read book Extracting Profit written by Lee Wengraf and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extracting profit explains why Africa, in the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, has undergone an economic boom. This period of “Africa rising” did not lead to the creation of jobs but has instead fueled the growth of the extraction of natural resources and an increasingly-wealthy African ruling class.
