Struggle For Democracy In Africa Research Articles

African accountability: What works and what doesn’t?,

African accountability: What works and what doesn't?, a book edited by Steven Gruzd and Yarik Turianskyi, is a story about the struggle for democracy in Africa. It tells the story not so much through the lives of heroic individuals and decisive events, as through institutions. And institutions, by their nature, are rather dry. Nonetheless, the book is important, because it is precisely the weakness of institutions that has been the great failure of democracy, accountability and good governance in Africa. Understanding their strengths and weakness is crucial to understanding the successes and failures of democracy and accountability.

Democracy and People Power in Africa: still searching for the ‘political kingdom’

1This article analyses current trends in the struggle for democracy in Africa, including the role of social movements. Such movements found early expression in the anti-colonial movement, while recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt are reminiscent of the second liberation struggles of two decades earlier. The article undertakes a critical evaluation of emerging democratic forces in Africa, arguing that such a review is vital to the analysis of the trends in the struggles for people power, and explores strategies for avoiding the pitfalls that undermined earlier waves of democratisation in the continent, particularly that of the 1990s when initial euphoria led to uncritical acceptance of movements that were later found to be opportunistic and undemocratic. The article concludes by examining the conditions under which an ‘emanicipatory’ African national democratic project—defined by an increase in people's participation in authoritative resource allocation—can be initiated and sustained in the face of a deepening crisis of the current neoliberal world order.

John Wiseman

The Journal of Modern African Studies deeply regrets to announce the death of the Book Reviews Editor, Dr John Wiseman, on 5 March 2000.John Wiseman, Senior Lecturer in African Politics at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, died of cancer on 5 March 2000, at the tragically early age of 54. John was always proud to have been a product of the Department of Government at Manchester, where he took both his undergraduate degree and his Ph.D. with Bill Tordoff and Dennis Austin between 1968 and 1974, completing his Ph.D. under Bill's supervision on ‘The Organisation of Political Conflict in Botswana’. He then taught for three years at Ahmadu Bello University, before taking up what proved to be his lifetime post at Newcastle in 1977.Sceptical of theory, and moved by a deep love of Africa, John always saw African politics as deriving from the needs, aspirations and struggles of individual Africans, rather than from grand global narratives. This was an approach that encouraged the empathetic and fieldwork-based study of individual African states, first in Botswana, but also in his second African home, The Gambia, while at the time of his death he was working on Malawi. It also led to an interest in leadership, expressed in his Political Leaders in Black Africa (1991), and to an abiding conviction that Africans were every bit as capable as anyone else in the world, given half a chance, of managing effective multi-party democracies. This conviction was expressed in his two major books, Democracy in Black Africa: Survival and Revival (1990), and The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa (1996), as well as an edited volume, Democracy and Political Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (1995). Fittingly, the last publication before his death was ‘The Continuing Case for Demo-Optimism in Africa’, Democratization (1999).A lifetime enthusiast, John made an enormous contribution to the study of Africa, as teacher, colleague and friend. His final-year undergraduate course on African politics at Newcastle regularly attracted more than seventy students a year. He was an active member of ASAUK, especially in organising conference panels and serving on its Executive Committee, and was Book Review Editor first of The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, and from 1997 of The Journal of Modern African Studies. He will be deeply missed, both amongst the Africanist community in the United Kingdom, and in those parts of the continent that he knew and loved. A memorial fund has been established, and will be donated to projects in those parts of Africa with which John was most closely associated. Cheques should be made payable to the ‘University of Newcastle’, and sent to Mrs Joan Davison, Department of Politics, University of Newcastle, Newcastle- upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU.Pending the appointment of a new Book Reviews Editor, all reviews and correspondence should be sent to the Editor, Christopher Clapham, at the University of Lancaster.

Organized Labor and the Struggle for Democracy in Nigeria

The literature on the on-going transitions in Africa has largely ignored trade unions and workers, women, even the prodemocracy movements. Of course, they are mentioned in passing or used in examples. But there has been a dearth of detailed case studies of the role of these popular constituencies in Africa's transition and non-transition. There is enthusiastic interest in constitutional engineering, political parties, politicians and of course, elections and election monitoring. The role of workers has been particularly ignored even when the new and traditional political parties, human rights and prodemocracy movements have had to rely on this particular constituency in their contestations for power. Yet, we cannot afford to ignore the popular communities and constituencies which determine the dynamics of politics and shape the overall character of the transition from forms of authoritarianism to multiparty systems. Ironically, in spite of the initial enthusiasm for the “third wave” or “second liberation” the on-going struggle for democracy in Africa is beginning to attract a lot of pessimism leading to more nuanced and cautious evaluations of the nature, processes, institutions, actors, limitations, and prospects for democracy, democratization and the sustenance of plural politics (Lemarchand 1993; Muigai 1993; Zeleza 1994; Ihonvbere 1995a). While Harvey Glickman (1993, 3) notes that “Liberalization of politics may mean pluralization of interest articulation, but not democratic government,” Michael Bratton, Nicolas van de Walle, Samuel Decalo, Stephen Ellis and Rene Lemarchand have all expressed deep reservations about on-going liberalization in the continent (Glickman 1993; Bratton and van de Walle 1992; Decalo 1992; Lemarchand 1992; Ellis 1993).

The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa

The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa

The Social Sciences in Africa: Breaking Local Barriers and Negotiating International Presence. The Bashorun M. K. O. Abiola Distinguished Lecture Presented to the 1996 African Studies Association Annual Meeting

Let me first thank the organizers for inviting me to deliver the keynote address at this important gathering. It is indeed a great honor to me personally but I also take it as recognition of the endeavors of African social scientists to promote social science research in Africa. One such African social scientist was a colleague and friend, the late Professor Claude Ake who did so much to institutionalize social science research in Africa. I would like to use this occasion to pay him tribute. Whatever the origins of the name of the series, it is today a salute to the many who struggle for democracy in Africa and a grim reminder that the scourge of militarism still haunts our continent and that those who would rule by the sword are either in power or lurk behind the corridors of power ready at any time to ambush the democratic process. The title I gave to the lecture must already suggest how unwieldy the subject is. I obviously cannot deal adequately with all the constricting and enabling contingencies within which social science is practiced in Africa. Time and space demand that I be highly selective in my presentation. If I seem to emphasize problem areas in the social sciences in Africa and in the relationship between Africans and their non-African counterparts it will not be because I do not recognize the real gains made in the search for solutions. I should also state at the outset that I am aware of some of the travails of students of Africa in North America and it is not my intention to add more to them. If this is any consolation, let me assure you that your woes are nothing compared to ours.

The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa, by John A. Wiseman

Journal Article The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa Get access The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa by John A. Wiseman. Brookfield, VT, Avebury, 1996. 200 pp. $59.95. Robert Fatton, Jr. Robert Fatton, Jr. University of Virginia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 112, Issue 2, Summer 1997, Pages 319–320, https://doi.org/10.2307/2657953 Published: 15 June 1997

The new struggle for democracy in Africa

The new struggle for democracy in Africa

The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa. By John A. Wiseman. Aldershot, UK: Avebury Press, 1996. 200p. $59.95.

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

The new struggle for democracy in Africa

The new struggle for democracy in Africa

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: United States Development Assistance Policy: The Domestic Politics of Foreign Economic Aid. By Vernon W. Ruttan Growing Out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform 1978–1993. By Barry Naughton The Rise and Fall of Development Theory. By Colin Leys Non‐Governmental Organizations and Rural Poverty Alleviation. By Roger C. Riddell and Mark Robinson, with John De Coninck, Ann Muir and Sarah White The North, the South and the Environment: Ecological Constraints and the Global Economy. Edited by V. Bhaskar and Andrew Glyn Industrialisation and Agricultural Surplus: A Comparative Study of Economic Development in Asia. By Massoud Karshenas Regional Trading Arrangements Among Developing Countries: The ASEAN Example. By Dean A. DeRosa Africa Now: People, Policies, Institutions. Edited by Stephen Ellis Dimensions of Development with Emphasis on Africa. Edited by Tekeste Negash and Lars Rudebeck The Underdevelopment of Development: Essays in Honor of Andre Gunder Frank. Edited by Sing C. Chew and Robert A. Denemark Promoting Development: Effective Global Institutions for the Twenty‐first Century. Edited by Jo Marie Griesgraber and Bernhard G. Gunter Asian Economies in Transition: Reforming Centrally Planned Economies. By Richard Pomfret The Response: GATT and Global Free Trade. By Sir James Goldsmith Environmental Valuation: New Perspectives. Edited by K. G. Willis and J. T. Corkindale Full House: Reassessing the Earth's Population Carrying Capacity. By Lester R. Brown and Hal Kane Exchange Rate Parity for Trade and Development: Theory, Tests, and Case Studies. By Pan A. Yotopoulos IMF Programmes in Developing Countries: Design and Impact. By Tony Killick. Development Policy Studies series IMF Lending to Developing Countries: Issues and Evidence. By Graham Bird. Development Policy Studies series Economic Reforms and Poverty Alleviation in India. Edited by C. H. Hanumantha Rao and Hans Linnemann Moving to the Market: The World Bank in Transition. By Richard W. Richardson and Jonas A. Haralz Water and the Quest for Sustainable Development in the Ganges Valley. Edited by G. P. Chapman and M. Thompson The New Institutional Economics and Third World Development. Edited by John Harriss, Janet Hunter and Colin M. Lewis The New Struggle for Democracy in Africa. By John Wiseman Democratization in South Africa: The Elusive Social Contract. By Timothy D. Sisk Money‐Go‐Rounds: The Importance of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations for Women. Edited by Shirley Ardener and Sandra Berman Global Change, Regional Response: The New International Context of Development. Edited by Barbara Stallings