Download or read book Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990 written by Jaimie Bleck and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First comprehensive analysis of electoral politics in Sub-Saharan Africa since the democratic transitions of the early 1990s.
Download or read book Electoral Politics in Africa since 1990 written by Jaimie Bleck and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-29 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic transitions in the early 1990s introduced a sea change in Sub-Saharan African politics. Between 1990 and 2015, several hundred competitive legislative and presidential elections were held in all but a handful of the region's countries. This book is the first comprehensive comparative analysis of the key issues, actors, and trends in these elections over the last quarter century. The book asks: what motivates African citizens to vote? What issues do candidates campaign on? How has the turn to regular elections promoted greater democracy? Has regular electoral competition made a difference for the welfare of citizens? The authors argue that regular elections have both caused significant changes in African politics and been influenced in turn by a rapidly changing continent - even if few of the political systems that now convene elections can be considered democratic, and even if many old features of African politics persist.
Download or read book Political Opposition and Democracy in Sub Saharan Africa written by Elliott Green and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes a closer look at the role and meaning of political opposition for the development of democracy across sub-Saharan Africa. Why is room for political opposition in most cases so severely limited? Under what circumstances has the political opposition been able to establish itself in a legitimate role in African politics? To answer these questions this edited volume focuses on the institutional settings, the nature and dynamics within and between political parties, and the relationship between the citizens and political parties. It is found that regional devolution and federalist structures enable political opposition to organize and gain local power, as a supplement to influence at the central level. Generally, however, opposition parties are lacking in organization and institutionalization, as well as in their ability to find support in civil society and promote the issues that voters find most important. Overall, strong executive powers, unchecked by democratic institutions, in combination with deferential values and fear of conflict, undermine legitimate opposition activity. This book was originally published as a special issue of Democratization.
Download or read book Elections and the Media in Post Conflict Africa written by Marie-Soleil Frere and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past ten years, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Rwanda all organized pluralist elections in a post conflict context, having experienced an armed conflict which either interrupted or prevented democratization processes. These polls were organized with the support of the international community, which viewed them as a crucial step in the peace-building process. The local media's role throughout was supposed to be to ensure that an electoral process is actually 'free and fair' - a role that becomes even more crucial in countries where the media have previously being perceived as warmongers or peace-builders in the conflicts. Giving a voice to African journalists and analysing the work they have been publishing or broadcasting during these elections, African media specialist Marie-Soleil Frere explores if and how the local media fulfilled their duties. In doing so, the book reveals journalists' professional challenges at a time when much is expected from the media, as well as the intense political pressure faced that can make their work particularly difficult. Insightful and comprehensive, Elections and the Media in Post-Conflict Africa underlines both the importance and the fragility of the role of the media in a democratic system.
Download or read book Liberal Democracy and Its Critics in Africa written by Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasonga and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic institutional forms and processes are increasingly widespread in Africa as dictatorial regimes have been forced to give way as a result of popular mobilization and external donor pressure. However the premises of the African scholars whose empirical research and analytical explorations are included in this volume are that democratic form and democratic substance are two different things; Western-derived institutional forms are neither necessarily the most appropriate nor the most practical in the current African context; and rooting democratic norms in the political cultures of African polities raises socio-cultural issues with which political scientists must engage. This book explores various critical questions in the context of particular elections and particular countries as diverse as Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, the Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. They include the continuing impact of police state apparatuses following democratic transition; factors influencing African voters' attitudes and behaviour; the impact of incumbency on electoral competition; women's electoral participation; the phenomenon of often very limited party programmatic choice in the context of huge social diversity and multi-party competition; and the controversial issues around the transplantation of liberal democratic institutions. Underlying these issues is the fundamental question of whether democratic processes as currently practised in Africa are really making any significant difference to the African struggle for economic, social and cultural progress. This volume is valuable for the original perspectives of its African contributors; the issues it explores; and the concrete democratic experiences it analyses; and the challenges it makes to the existing concepts, paradigms and practices of liberal democracy.
Download or read book Refounding State Legitimacy When experiences and practices speak Volume 1 written by SŽverine Bellina and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2017-03-24 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The state is no longer the sole player in public action: it is now obliged to interact with civil society, the private sector and populations. This transition from "government" (a state monopoly) to "public governance" (public action with a plurality of actors) implies a certain repositioning. It is in the new relationship between the state and societies that the exercise of political power is called upon to find coherence and to restructure the legitimacy of the state. This diagnosis was the starting point for the reflections contained in this work. From the standpoint of legitimacy, the authors of this book have studied a series of experiences and practices, both in various countries around the world and within different international organisations. They offer a series of descriptive contributions designed to facilitate comprehension and analysis of the processes seeking to legitimise political power, according to a variety of contexts and the diversity of conceptions of power.
Download or read book 1989 as a Political World Event written by Jacques Rupnik and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is not about the events of 1989, but about 1989 as a world event. Starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet bloc it examines the historical significance and the world brought about by 1989. When the Cold War ended in Europe it ushered in a world in which the international agenda is set outside Europe, in America or Asia. The book critically examines and moves beyond some of the conveniently simple paradigms proposed in the nineties, by leading political scientists such as Fukuyama and Huntington, to show how the events of 1989 meant different things to different parties. This was an anti-utopian revolution, a symbol of the possibility of non-violent transitions to democracy, which raised the hopes of world-wide democratic changes. Contributors show how 1989 can be seen as the founding moment of a globalized world, but equal attention should be given to the dispersion of its meanings and the exhaustion of some of its main trends associated with the post-1989 era. Europe was reunited, yet it is in crisis. Twenty years on, global markets have brought about a global financial crisis. The fall of the Berlin Wall was celebrated as the advent of free movement in a world without borders. Now however, we can see that new borders, walls, fences have since been built. With an introductory essay by Vaclav Havel, 1989 as a Political World Event will be of interest to scholars of European Politics and International Relations.
Download or read book Introducing Electronic Voting written by Peter Wolf and published by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Electronic voting is often seen as a tool for making the electoral process more efficient and for increasing trust in its management. Properly implemented, e-voting solutions can increase the security of the ballot, speed up the processing of results and make voting easier. However, the challenges are considerable. If not carefully planned and designed, e-voting can undermine the confidence in the whole electoral process. Technology upgrades in elections are always challenging projects that require careful deliberation and planning. Introducing e-voting is probably the most difficult upgrade as this technology touches the core of the entire electoral process—the casting and counting of the votes. E-voting greatly reduces direct human control and influence in this process. This provides an opportunity for solving some old electoral problems, but also introduces a whole range of new concerns. Consequently, e-voting usually triggers more criticism and opposition and is more disputed than any other information technology application in elections. This Policy Paper outlines contextual factors that can influence the success of e-voting solutions and highlights the importance of considering these factors before choosing to introduce new voting technologies.
Download or read book Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa written by B. Soares and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-10-01 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political liberalization and economic reform, the weakening of the state, and increased global interconnections have all had profound effects on Muslim societies and the practice of Islam in Africa. The contributors to this volume investigate and illuminate the changes that have occurred in Africa, through detailed case studies.
Download or read book Elections in Africa written by Dieter Nohlen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1999-07-22 with total page 1001 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Elections have always been an integral part of post-independence African politics and have assumed utmost importance in the course of recent democratisation processes. However, comparative research on the political development in Africa lacks reliable electoral data. Elections in Africa fills this cap. The handbook is the only reliable source for African elections from independence to present.In the first volume of this series, Elections in Africa presents a country-by-country study of African nations that provides a comparative introduction on elections and electoral systems. Each country chapter examines the history of the institutional and electoral arrangements, the evolution of suffrage and current electoral provisions. Precise and exhaustive data on national elections and referendums are presented comparatively. The book provides a definitive and comprehensive set ofdata on elections and electoral systems in order to facilitate comparative research. Data is presented in a systematic manner allowing for both historical and cross-national comparisons.
Download or read book Voting for Reform written by Stephan Haggard and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1994 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolution af the enemy.
Download or read book Electoral Commissions in West Africa written by Mathias Hounkpe and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wealth Health and Hope in African Christian Religion written by Stan Chu Ilo and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wealth, Health, and Hope in African Christian Religion offers a portrait of how contending narratives of modernity in both church and society play out in Africa today through the agency of African Christian religion. It explores the identity and features of African Christian religion and the cultural forces driving the momentum of Christian expansion in Africa, as well as how these factors are shaping a new African social imagination, especially in providing answers to the most challenging questions about poverty, wealth, health, human, and cosmic flourishing. It offers the academy a good road map for interpreting African Christian religious beliefs and practices today and into the future.
Download or read book Elections and the Media in Post Conflict Africa written by Marie-Soleil Frere and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-08 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past ten years, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Rwanda all organized pluralist elections in a post conflict context, having experienced an armed conflict which either interrupted or prevented democratization processes. These polls were organized with the support of the international community, which viewed them as a crucial step in the peace-building process. The local media's role throughout was supposed to be to ensure that an electoral process is actually 'free and fair' - a role that becomes even more crucial in countries where the media have previously being perceived as warmongers or peace-builders in the conflicts. Giving a voice to African journalists and analysing the work they have been publishing or broadcasting during these elections, African media specialist Marie-Soleil Frere explores if and how the local media fulfilled their duties. In doing so, the book reveals journalists' professional challenges at a time when much is expected from the media, as well as the intense political pressure faced that can make their work particularly difficult. Insightful and comprehensive, Elections and the Media in Post-Conflict Africa underlines both the importance and the fragility of the role of the media in a democratic system.
Download or read book Citizenship between Empire and Nation written by Frederick Cooper and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-31 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking history of the last days of the French empire in Africa As the French public debates its present diversity and its colonial past, few remember that between 1946 and 1960 the inhabitants of French colonies possessed the rights of French citizens. Moreover, they did not have to conform to the French civil code that regulated marriage and inheritance. One could, in principle, be a citizen and different too. Citizenship between Empire and Nation examines momentous changes in notions of citizenship, sovereignty, nation, state, and empire in a time of acute uncertainty about the future of a world that had earlier been divided into colonial empires. Frederick Cooper explains how African political leaders at the end of World War II strove to abolish the entrenched distinction between colonial "subject" and "citizen." They then used their new status to claim social, economic, and political equality with other French citizens, in the face of resistance from defenders of a colonial order. Africans balanced their quest for equality with a desire to express an African political personality. They hoped to combine a degree of autonomy with participation in a larger, Franco-African ensemble. French leaders, trying to hold on to a large French polity, debated how much autonomy and how much equality they could concede. Both sides looked to versions of federalism as alternatives to empire and the nation-state. The French government had to confront the high costs of an empire of citizens, while Africans could not agree with French leaders or among themselves on how to balance their contradictory imperatives. Cooper shows how both France and its former colonies backed into more "national" conceptions of the state than either had sought.
Download or read book Democratization in Africa written by Larry Jay Diamond and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The country-specific chapters serve to underline the differences between African democracy and liberal democracy, yet some authors are at pains to emphasize that whatever their limitations, African democracies are an advance over what had gone before." -- African Studies Review
