Democracy and Africa

Despite three decades of preoccupation with development in Africa, the economies of most African nations are still stagnating or regressing. For most Africans, incomes are lower than they were two decades ago, health prospects are poorer, malnutrition is widespread, and infrastructures and social institutions are breaking down. An array of factors has been suggested to explain the apparent failure of development in Africa, including colonial legacy, social pluralism, corruption, poor planning and incompetent management, limited inflow of foreign capital, and low levels of saving and investment. Alone or in combination, these factors are serious impediments to development, but Claude Ake contends that the problem is not that development has failed, but that it was never really on the agenda. He maintains that political conditions in Africa are the greatest impediment to development. In this book, Ake traces the evolution and failure of development policies, including the IMF stabilization programsthat have dominated international efforts. He believes that the authoritarian structure the African states inherited from colonial rule created a political environment that was hostile to development. Ake sketches the alternatives that are struggling to emerge from calamitous failure - economic development based on traditional agriculture, political development based on decentralization of power, and reliance on indigenous communities that have been providing some measure of refuge from the coercive power of the central state. Ake's argument may become a new paradigm for development in Africa.

This text contains six papers dealing with the South African experiment, with an examination of the policy of non-racialism and the specific challenges posed by migrant workers, group identities and the themes of gender and nation.

Development was achieved in the West by capitalism and industrialization before liberal democracy was introduced as a viable form of government. Africa is grappling with the problems of underdevelopment. Yet, the West insists on liberal democracy for Africa, a form of government which has no economic and social foundations in Africa. The West now faults the African people for not being able to establish and sustain democratic institutions. Ambrose, an African development practitioner who, recently returning from the continent after three intense years of fact-finding, research, and consultation, argues that the solution to Africa's problems does not lie in externally imposed liberal institutions shored up by top-down bureaucracy that most often is ignorant, unresponsive, or outright hostile to the needs of the impoverished majority. Her investigations lead her to believe that the solution for Africa lies in a collective approach based on empowerment of the masses and economic reforms.

In this stimulating and carefully researched study, Conteh-Morgan offers a multidimensional look at the political economy of African states. While many books focus on explanations of the processes and outcomes of political transitions, this work demonstrates a deeper understanding of democratization by combining macro and micro issues and actors, and historical and contemporary dynamics, into a theoretical framework that underscores anomalies, dilemmas, and paradoxes in the political transformation of Africa. Offering one of the first detailed and balanced evaluations of democratization, Conteh-Morgan breaks new ground by providing thought provoking insights into political transitions in developing countries. The work will be of interest to scholars in comparative politics, development studies, and African studies.

State building and democratization in Africa rarely attract the attention they deserve. Few have grappled with the relationship between state building (nation-building) and democratic experiments in Africa. This collection consciously corrects this shortcoming in African political studies. Among the issues raised: Does democracy facilitate state building or does it exacerbate ethnic conflicts? Are certain modalities of democratization more likely to facilitate state-building than others? Has the era of democracy created the need for new state building strategies? Does the objective of state building require signficant modifications in the essence and form of democracy?

Africa, at the close of the twentieth century, has witnessed a tremendous amount of social, economic, & political transformation. By tackling the issues of political instability, democratization, & economic development, this book goes to the heart of the African conundrum & makes an invaluable contribution to Africa's development. Written by Africans, it offers a much needed <> that is often lacking in most development literature. African authors are not so encumbered by <> or <> & can write more candidly on events as they see them. The book constitutes a long-awaited break with orthodoxy & makes a pioneering effort to tackle issues traditionally spurned by experts because of their rigid separation of economic development & politics. The writers offer constructive solutions to Africa's problems - solutions which only Africans would dare to suggest. Contents: George A. Agbango: Political Instability & Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - Nchor B. Okorn: Violence: The Perennial Obstacle to Social, Economic & Political Development in Nigeria 1960-1990 - George A. Agbango: The Crises of Nation Building: The Liberian Experience - Julius O. Ihonvbere: Election Monitoring & the Democratization Agenda in Africa: The Case of the 1991 Zambian Elections - Baffour Agyeman-Duah: Global Transformation & Political Reforms in Africa: The Case of Ghana - Yakubu Saaka: Legitimizing the Illegitimate: The 1992 Presidential Election as a Prelude to Ghana's Fourth Republic - Henry A. Elonge: Visions of Change in Cameroon Within the Context of a New World Order - Walle Engedayehu: Ethiopia: The Pitfalls of Ethnic Federalism - Margaret C. Lee: South Africa: The Long & Arduous Road to a New Dispensation - Akwasi Osei: South Africa in the African Dilemma - Julius O. Ihonvbere: Democratization in Africa: Challenges & Prospects - George Ayittey: Obstacles to African Development - Julius O. Ihonvbere: Pan-Africanism: Agenda for African Unity in the 1990's?

The end of the Cold War, the cessation of superpower rivalry, and the demise of apartheid in South Africa have offered Africans another opportunity to engage in effective institutional reform and state reconstruction. This book emphasizes the importance of institutions to economic growth and development and, using public choice theory, provides guidelines that can be used to initiate and implement an effective people-driven institutional reform program on the continent.