Additional African States

Abstract

Only one African state, Libya, has featured among our seven principal case studies of deviant countries. Of course many more African states merit examination. It is especially in the area of human rights that scores of them were guilty of rule-breaking behaviour. In the World Democracy Audit released in 2002, only two African states – Mauritius and South Africa – were among the 34 unquestionably free countries in the world. Five more African states, including Botswana, Mali and Ghana, were classified as ‘free but with a distance to go’. All remaining African countries (with populations exceeding one million) were placed in the ‘unfree’ category.¹ Despite their persistently poor human rights records, few African states have been condemned to true deviant status. One reason is that among African leaders considerations of sovereignty and solidarity have traditionally taken precedence over concern with human suffering in fellow African countries.