User:Airyue/sandbox

Democracy in Africa

I've had to submit my sandbox instead of an article as someone doing this OLE submitted the article for Democracy in Africa before me (despite my article being approved).

The emergence of Democracy in Africa brought an end to the dominance of one-party rule on the continent. Between 1989 and 1994, the region went under a process of democratisation with many holding multi-party elections for the first time since independence. Democracy on the continent arose from a combination of internal and external factors which necessitated regime change. External factors include the influence of Western agencies and governments and the disintegration of socialism as a viable alternative to democracy. Internal factors include the will of the people, the economic crises in many African countries and the exposure of the deficiencies of postcolonial African countries. Although governance on the continent is still characterized by authoritarian rule, elections are being held in greater frequency and increased levels of political participation have been recorded in recent years.

Origins

After gaining independence, many African nations adopted a one-party system of governance. The centralized state and enforcement agencies left behind by former colonial powers were used by African leaders to maintain absolute power. Elections were rare, with Botswana, Gambia and Senegal the only countries on the continent to have ever held multi-party elections by 1989. However, according to Richard Dowden, this one-party model failed and towards the end of the 1980s citizens began looking for an alternative solution in Western democracy.

There are a number of reasons why democracy was adopted in Africa at the scale that it was once the one-party system was judged as impractical. External factors such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, the influence of agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank and Western foreign policy which became insistently pro-democracy played a key role. The collapse of the Soviet Union eliminated socialism as a viable alternative to democracy on the continent. Countries which depended on Soviet aid such as Angola and Mozambique were forced to engage with the West alternatively. There was increasing pressure for African countries to pass policies along Western democratic lines in order to maintain relations with the West. By the late 1980's many African countries were in deep economic decline, consequently, borrowing by African countries from the IMF and the World Bank increased. These agencies began to attach certain conditions to borrowing by African countries, most notably the need for them to adopt structural adjustment programs in exchange for aid. These agencies recognized that underpinning Africa's economic and developmentally woes was mismanagement by politicians and thus they endeavored to promote their idea of 'good governance' (democracy) on the continent using their influence. Influential Western countries such the United States, the United Kingdom and France began pressuring African countries to adopt democratizing policies and reforms during this time. British foreign policy promoted democracy in the region on the basis that democratic reforms would improve African economies by lessening corruption and promoting greater transparency and accountability. The French adopted a similar stance and advocated for democracy among francophone countries on the continent. However it was the US who pursued democracy on the continent with the greatest force. US foreign-aid guidelines in 1991 stated "foreign aid to individual countries will take into account their progress towards establishing democracy (and this) will be placed on an equal footing with progress towards economic reform and the establishment of a market orientated economy". During this time period, a shift towards conservatism was observed in the West, a consequence of this was that aid for Africa was demoted to a lower priority, thus if African countries hoped to sustain the support of the West, they had to democratize.

Internal factors can also be considered to have played an equally important role in the inception of Western democracy on the continent. Internal factors which contributed to the collapse of one-party rule include the exposure of the inadequacies of postcolonial African governments, the economic crisis, and increasing internal discontent. Post-colonial African governments were unable to successfully manage their countries finances or establish provisions which would ensure the economic well-being and survival of their citizens. The oil crisis of the 1970s aided in the further economic ruin of many African countries, even those who had relatively stable economies. In the time span of a decade, debt and the need for foreign aid exponentially increased and production further decreased.This economic crisis contributed to the move away from one-party rule as it exposed the failings of these political system. Internal discontent is also another important factor, citizens in these countries began to increasingly voice their political dissatisfaction with their governments, African intellectuals, trade union leaders, and farmers organisations began to agitate for change. As a consequence of this, governments became increasingly despotic using pure force to stay in power. This further weakened the survival of their one-party system by entrenching a cycle of political violence and instability. According to Patrick Chabal, the destruction of one-party rule in Africa ultimately rests on the dissolution of the neo-patrimonial system. Governments neglected their duties to citizens in favor of maintaining their rule through force and coercion, this had a negative effect on economies which were already in crisis. These factors combined increased the level of political discontent and pressure within for regime change.

Characteristics

Sub-Saharan Africa

Democracy in sub-Saharan Africa has been characterized by marginal improvements in some areas offset by the deterioration of democracy in many others. In The Economists Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2018, which claims to measure "electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture", seven of the fifteen lowest ranked countries were African countries. Although on average regional scores did see an improvement in 2018, development in the region is mixed. For example, while Ethiopia elected a new prime minister in 2018 who has expressed interest in enacting liberalizing reforms, in October 2018, the president of Cameroon was elected for a seventh term in office. According to the Democracy Index, in 2018 12 out of 44 sub-Saharan countries had improved scores, nine had deteriorated while the other half remained unchanged. During the last 5 years, improvement has been seen on the continent in regards to political participation with an increase in elections, however electoral process has declined with experts labeling elections as being "lawful but illegitimate". According to the Freedom House Index 2019, many governments in the region fail to deliver and protect basic rights and freedoms. Many countries continue to enforce laws which attack the media and freedom of expression. The Tanzanian government has been accused of attacking online service providers through charging them excessively expensive licensing agreements, civilians in Togo have been barred from protesting against the extended rule of the Gnassinbe family by the government.

Women casting vote in Mali elections 2013.

Governance in the region is characterized by authoritarian leaders who aim to stay in power indefinitely. The president of Cameroon Paul Biya has been in office for 36 years and secured a seventh term in 2018. Uganda's Museveni has been in office for 32 years and has recently signed off on legislation removing presidential age restrictions, allowing him to run for a sixth term. Overall in the region, 18 leaders have been in power for over a decade.

North Africa

In North Africa, Tunisia is the only country which the Democracy Index can identify as a democracy, achieving the classification of "flawed democracy". The Arab Spring revolts have had significant impacts on the region, however many countries have returned to authoritarian or hybrid regimes with many such as Libya remaining in political conflict. A disconnection to formal politics and engagement has been seen in citizens of these countries however there has been evidence of citizens becoming more willing to utilize public protests and social media to influence political change. This is evidenced in the recent Sudan uprising where protests centered around inflation escalated to protesters demanding and ultimately achieving the removal of long-term president Omar al-Bashir who had been in power for nearly 30 years.

Arab Spring demonstrators in Morocco, 2011.

Statistics

Each year the Economist's Intelligence Unit assesses democracy worldwide using a variety of methodologies. Index values are used to identify countries within 4 types of regimes: full democracy (greater than 8), flawed democracy (greater than 6, less than or equal to 8), hybrid regime (greater than 4, less than or equal to 6), authoritarian regime (less than or equal to 4).

Sub-Saharan Africa 2018

	Overall score	Global rank	Regime type
Mauritius	8.22	17	Full democracy
Cape Verde	7.88	26	Flawed democracy
Botswana	7.81	28	Flawed democracy
South Africa	7.24	40	Flawed democracy
Lesotho	6.64	56	Flawed democracy
Ghana	6.63	57=	Flawed democracy
Namibia	6.25	69	Flawed democracy
Senegal	6.15	73=	Flawed democracy
Benin	5.74	81=	Hybrid regime
Zambia	5.61	86	Hybrid regime
Malawi	5.49	90	Hybrid regime
Tanzania	5.41	91=	Hybrid regime
Mali	5.41	91=	Hybrid regime
Liberia	5.35	93	Hybrid regime
Madagascar	5.22	95	Hybrid regime
Uganda	5.20	96	Hybrid regime
Kenya	5.11	98=	Hybrid regime
Burkina Faso	4.75	104	Hybrid regime
Sierra Leone	4.66	105	Hybrid regime
Nigeria	4.44	108	Hybrid regime
Gambia	4.31	111	Hybrid regime
Côte d'Ivoire	4.15	113	Hybrid regime
Mozambique	3.85	116=	Authoritarian
Mauritania	3.82	119	Authoritarian
Niger	3.76	120	Authoritarian
Comoros	3.71	121	Authoritarian
Angola	3.62	123	Authoritarian
Gabon	3.61	124	Authoritarian
Ethiopia	3.35	128=	Authoritarian
Rwanda	3.35	128=	Authoritarian
Congo (Brazzaville)	3.31	131	Authoritarian
Cameroon	3.28	132	Authoritarian
Zimbabwe	3.16	134=	Authoritarian
Guinea	3.14	136	Authoritarian
Togo	3.10	138	Authoritarian
Swaziland	3.03	141	Authoritarian
Djibouti	2.87	146	Authoritarian
Eritrea	2.37	151=	Authoritarian
Burundi	2.33	153=	Authoritarian
Guinea-Bissau	1.98	157	Authoritarian
Equatorial Guinea	1.92	161	Authoritarian
Chad	1.61	163	Authoritarian
Central African Republic	1.52	164	Authoritarian
Democratic Republic of Congo	1.49	165	Authoritarian

North Africa 2018

	Overall score	Global rank	Regime type
Tunisia	6.41	63=	Flawed democracy
Morocco	4.99	100	Hybrid regime
Algeria	3.50	126	Authoritarian
Egypt	3.36	127	Authoritarian
Libya	2.45	154	Authoritarian
Sudan	1.43	155	Authoritarian

Criticism

Critiques regarding democracy on the continent typically center around its apparent failings. Questions have been raised regarding the legitimacy of multi-party elections, many have claimed that results are often manipulated by the ruling regime in order to remain in power, in addition doubt has also been cast on the ability of multi-party elections to bring about developmental and economic improvement on the continent. Those criticising the failures of democracy in some African countries have identified a myriad of possible causes for its non-success. Tribalism, ethnic and religious differences which often give rise to violence and political instability are often blamed. Leadership is another major obstacle for the success of democracy, with many African leaders accused of mismanagement and corruption. Others point to the West, arguing that current problems can trace their roots to colonialism, with current dysfunction the result of the destruction of native social relations and the disruption to local dynamics by colonial forces.

There are those who reject Western liberal democracy as a dominant form of government that can ensure developmental progress and legitimate government in Africa. Prominent African intellectuals such as Claude Ake and Maxwell Owusu propose that Western liberal democracy cannot and has not been able to replace the primacy of customary law on political behavior in contemporary Africa. They argue that the political illegitimacy plaguing postcolonial Africa can find its roots in the tension between external and indigenous institutions regarding the practice of political power. Communalism, central to traditional African governance should be the foundation of participatory democracy on the continent. Multi-partyism, a central tenet of liberal democracy, is rejected on the basis that it hands power to elites who use it to dominate and exclude lower classes from political participation. Critiques of this viewpoint center around the generalizations regarding African societies this perspective invokes, in addition, critics have commented that it ignores the difficulties in implementing this form of democracy in African societies who may have different perspectives regarding what is 'tradition'. The idea of instituting non-Western forms of democracy in Africa countries (and in other developing nations) was especially popular in the mid 20th century. Proponents rejected Western democracy on the basis that emulating the West was "insulting" and ultimately inappropriate. However this ideal fell out of favour by the 1980s and 90's with the emergence of the Third Wave of democracy. The Western model was considered a success and those in developing countries took issue with the suggestion that their nations were not capable of achieving the same accomplishments Western democracies had attained.

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