Assessing Trends in African Democratization: Methods and Challenges

Abstract

The 1989 National Conference in Benin opened the era of political liberalization and redemocratization in sub-Saharan Africa. A combination of internal and external factors created effective pressure for political change, which culminated in the introduction of multiparty elections in most African countries during the 1990s. Democracy, understood as institutionalized and competitive elections, along with respect for civil and political liberties, was once again on the agenda of many countries. Public opposition to the authoritarian regimes arose out of a steady accumulation of discontent over many years, accentuated by economic hardship and deepening social divisions of ethnicity, religion, class, and region. This opposition included a variety of groups and interests: marginalized politicians, businesspeople who lacked or had lost the favor of government, people from regions that they felt had been discriminated against by governments, workers and trade unions, students, women’s organizations, religious organizations, and human rights activists (Ake, 2000). The agitations of these groups represented a resurgence of normative values, particularly of freedom and economic well-being that had been long repressed by authoritarian postcolonial regimes. Amid an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy within African states, public protest contained a multiplicity of demands and expectations, often contradictory, and did not necessarily possess a consensus on what should replace the resented regimes.

This chapter draws on a previous chapter I published with Lindsay Whitfield in Turning Points in African Democracy, Mustapha & Whitfield, eds, James Currey, Oxford, 2009.