Democratic experiments in Africa : regime transitions in comparative perspective

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Title:

Democratic experiments in Africa : regime transitions in comparative perspective

Author:

Bratton, Michael.

ISBN:

9780521554299

9780521556125

Personal Author:

Bratton, Michael.

Publication Information:

Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, c1997.

Physical Description:

xvi, 307 p. : ill., map ; 23 cm.

Series:

Cambridge studies in comparative politics

Series Title:

Cambridge studies in comparative politics

Contents:

Ch. 1. Approaches to Democratization -- Ch. 2. Neopatrimonial Rule in Africa -- Ch. 3. Africa's Divergent Transitions, 1990-94 -- Ch. 4. Explaining Political Protest -- Ch. 5. Explaining Political Liberalization -- Ch. 6. Explaining Democratic Transitions -- Ch. 7. The Prospects for Democracy -- Conclusions: Comparative Implications.

Abstract:

Efforts to install democracy in African countries are powerfully shaped by the continent's recent political and institutional legacies. In this book, Michael Bratton and Nicolas van de Walle analyze the significant political reforms undertaken by some 40 out of 47 sub-Saharan countries in the early 1990s, which included the first competitive elections in a generation. How can this wave of political liberalization be explained? Why did some countries complete a democratic transition, whereas others sustained only limited political reform or suffered authoritarian reversals? What are the long-term prospects for democracy in Africa? In the first study of its kind for sub-Saharan Africa, the authors propose systematic answers to these questions from a cross-national, comparative perspective and in the light of prevailing theories of democratization.

Subject Term:

Democracy -- Africa, Sub-Saharan.

Geographic Term:

Africa, Sub-Saharan -- Politics and government -- 1960-

Added Author:

Van de Walle, Nicolas, 1957-

Electronic Access:

Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/cam026/96034865.html
Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/cam028/96034865.html
Sample text http://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/96034865.html

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Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168015744986	321.80967 B824D 1997	1	Searching... Unknown
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168023650902	321.80967 B824D 1997	2	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Between 1989 and 1994, 41 out of 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa underwent significant political reform, including in many cases the first competitive elections in a generation. How can this wave of political liberalization be explained? Why did some countries complete a democratic transition, while others could not sustain more than limited political reform and others still suffered authoritarian reversals? What are the long term prospects for democracy in Africa? This study constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of democratic transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using an original data set they assembled, the authors demonstrate that economic and international forces often provided the context in which political liberalization occurred, but cannot by themselves explain the observed outcomes. Instead, the authors develop a political-institutional theoretical framework in which the distinctive political traditions of Africa's neopatrimonial states are shown to have powerfully shaped the regime transitions.