Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in The Gambia

Abstract

Abstract After 22 years of uninterrupted authoritarian government headed by Yahya Jammeh, in 2017, The Gambia formally began the transition to democracy after the ‘unprecedented’ 2016 presidential elections. Incumbents in semi-competitive authoritarian regimes often retain power despite having to regularly compete in multiparty elections. What happened in The Gambia is the first time in post-colonial Africa’s political history that a ‘military-turned-civilian’ dictator lost an election. This transition sparks a key question: what are the prospects for democratic consolidation and constitution endurance in the Gambian case? While conventional assumptions categorised The Gambia as a ‘least likely’ case, it is argued that there is a fair chance for democratic consolidation, given The Gambia’s context of the withering of an authoritarian regime and its replacement by a democratic government. This chapter gives an overview of the constitutional change processes, the role of governing and judicial institutions, and the influence of entrenched political culture on democratic constitutional performance after more than two decades of autocratic rule.