Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000-2025

A Political Historical Reassessment
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-84701-429-0
Verlag: James Currey

Buch, Englisch, Band 45, 314 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 145 mm x 222 mm, Gewicht: 528 g

Reihe: African Issues

Is democracy surviving in Africa? Despite the continuance of multiparty elections, in the face of unmet expectations for greater freedom, social justice, and inclusive development, an increasing authoritarianism is spreading across the continent.

Although most African states continue to use some form of multiparty elections according to the formal rules of liberal democracy, the reality is that people's expectations for greater freedom, social justice, and inclusive development have not been met. The result is a growing number of African states where power relations are increasingly authoritarian - a trend seen in the West as well.

Bringing together contributors from Africa, Europe, and North America, this volume seeks to analyze democracy in sub-Saharan Africa beyond the mere examination of the elements that determine its impasse, the political factors that hinder the proper functioning of democratic institutions or even the models through which a country's level of democratic status is "indexed." Instead, the goal is to address current states of "democracy" in Africa within a larger, global history.

Given the post-colonial histories of most African nations, the current demise of democratic governments on the continent cannot be interpreted as a new phenomenon without precedent. The volume presents a longer-view perspective to explain more specifically how history can explain the current crises in democracy and development, exploring how negotiations between external and internal interests have always contested their meanings in Africa, and arguing that these struggles continue to create new conditions for new democratic spaces.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tornimbeni, Corrado

Scarnecchia, Timothy

Weitere Mitwirkende

Tornimbeni, Corrado

Scarnecchia, Timothy

Pallotti, Arrigo

Gazibo, Mamoudou

Aalen, Lovise

Hartmann, Christof

Villalon, Leonardo A.

Isumonah, V. Adefemi

Hinfelaar, Marja

Kaaba, O'Brien

Booysen, Susan

Carmody, Pádraig

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Totalitarismus & Diktaturen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Politische Propaganda & Kampagnen, Politik & Medien
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Wahlen und Volksabstimmungen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Demokratie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. "The times and challenges of democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa" by Corrado Tornimbeni, Timothy Scarnecchia, and Arrigo Pallotti

2. "History, Democratic Theory, and Democratization in Africa" by Mamoudou Gazibo

3. "Ethiopia's 'Inclusive Autocracy': Crumbling or Transforming?" by Lovise Aalen

4. "The alternatives to democracy: Populist-nationalism and elitist-developmentalism in Côte d'Ivoire" by Christof Hartmann
5. "The long and winding road to a dead end? Three-plus decades of democratic work in Niger" by Leonardo A. Villalón

6. "The Nigerian Illustration of Under-Developmental Democracy" by V. Adefemi Isumonah

7. "Between the shadow of the past and the contradictions of the present: the demise of democracy in Tanzania" by Arrigo Pallotti

8. "Progress and Stagnation: The Story of Zambia's Democracy" by Marja Hinfelaar and O'Brien Kaaba

9. "Did Democracy ever have a chance in Zimbabwe? Performative democracy within a militarized state, 2000-2025" by Timothy Scarnecchia

10. "FRELIMO's hegemony in question: an historical perspective on power, development and democracy in Mozambique" by Corrado Tornimbeni

11. "Democracy evolving on a jagged curve - South Africa's one-party dominance within multiparty democracy and coalition governance" by Susan Booysen
12. "From "Donor Democracy" to Authocracy or Regime Diversity? Prospects for Democratisation in Africa" by Pádraig Carmody

Über Autor(innen)

Tornimbeni, Corrado
CORRADO TORNIMBENI is Professor of African History and Institutions at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna, Italy.

Scarnecchia, Timothy
TIMOTHY SCARNECCHIA is Professor of History at Kent State University, USA.

Tornimbeni, Corrado
CORRADO TORNIMBENI is Professor of African History and Institutions at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna, Italy.

Isumonah, V. Adefemi
V. Adefemi Isumonah is a Professor of Political Science and former Head of Department, University of Ibadan. He is co-author of Confronting Islamist Terrorism in Africa: The Cases of Nigeria and Kenya and Federal Presence in Nigeria: The Sung and Unsung Basis for Ethnic Grievance.

Scarnecchia, Timothy
TIMOTHY SCARNECCHIA is Professor of History at Kent State University, USA.