Threats to Democracy in Africa

Abstract

This article reflects on the threat to democracy in Africa against the backdrop of the recent spate of coups in the continent. It advances three theses to explain the nature of the threat to democracy in the continent. It argues, in the main, that the threat to democracy inheres in the nature of production relations, the character of the post-colonial elite and external interference in the affairs of the continent in ways that are counterproductive to the goals of socio-economic and political development. The article affirms that these factors constitute veritable grounds for democratic deconsolidation. It then concludes that the way out of the triple constraints lays in an introverted production orientation such that the continent can produce what it consumes in the context of an industrialisation policy; investment in human development by means of education for critical consciousness and reinvention of the developmental state for citizens empowerment. Importantly, it calls for a tri-continental solidarity involving Africa, Asia and Latin America to countervail external meddlesomeness. And nation-building elite to pursue these goals of transformation would be invaluable.