Democracy in Africa: Origins. Democratic successes in South Africa vs. Benin
Is there a successful democratic transition in Africa? Compare and contrast South Africa democracy, successes and challenges, and why it might be irreversible to Benin also successes and challenges and why it might be irreversible. I have about 8 artials to use. 1- Begin with intro to Africa’s problems after the decolonization period, and the state systems which were dominated by personal rule and military coup before the democratization process. Use Article 1&2 plz. 2- Include your thesis in the intro according to the essay question above ; make sure it’s a clear thesis. 3- Then Define democracy, liberal democracy- Procedural democracy vs. Substantive Democracy and waves of democracies then incorporate Africa transition to democracy, use the remaining articles highlighting the progress and the challenges, political and socioeconomic factors associated with African in general and then start to incorporate the 2 main countries South Africa, and Benin as an example showing the success and the challenges and why it might be irreversible… please make sure to apply the readings along the way in your example of south Africa and Benin - 7 pages. 4- Conclusion. 5- Chicago style. And please use the articles included only no others I need at least 3 citation in each page. General: 3 pages for the intro and 7 pages for south Africa and benin
Democracy in Benin: achievements and challenges
UNU-WIDER / Aug 2012
President Yayi Boni of Benin was one of the eight African leaders invited to attended the May 2012 G8 summit at Camp David to discuss the issue of food security. This is perhaps an indication that the country is doing something right, at least from the perspective of its donors in the developed world. But what has been the effect of donors on the process of democratic consolidation in Benin?
Benin has long been a particularly important country for donors, it was one of the first African countries to democratize at the end of the Cold War and as such gained a reputation as 'the laboratory of democratization in Africa'. Two decades have now past since the beginning of Benin's democratic transition, in that time the country has held five presidential elections and, at least from a procedural point of view, democracy appears to be consolidated.
Over this same period the role of foreign aid in the country has changed. Initially development aid was targeted primarily at helping the country survive severe economic problems and allowing the government to fulfill critical functions. Now donors are focusing more on specific aspects of democratic consolidation such as free and fair elections and the promotion of civil society, both directly through democracy aid, and indirectly through placing conditions on aid for development. In the UNU-WIDER working paper 'Beyond Electoral Democracy: Foreign Aid and the Challenge of Deepening Democracy in Benin' Mamoudou Gazibo looks at the effect Foreign Aid has had on democratic consolidation in Benin and argues that while it has a positive impact in some areas it has failed to enhance good governance, the rule of law, and accountability.
DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA
Name:
Course:
Date of submission:
Introduction
Africa was under European colonization for the greater part of 18th century. After almost half a decade of white rule, liberation of African ensued in 1945, just after the Second World War. Soon after gaining independence, Africans under new leadership and self-rule they found themselves in problems they had never anticipated before. Some of these immediate challenges included taking control of the institutions, governing the people, planning for the future and sharing the power w. African leaders who had been handed the power to rule took the root of single party rule, since they did not want to freely share the power. This was the beginning of the Africa democratization challenges. Some of these leaders argued that economic liberation and empowerment of the African people was the core focus of independence and democracy was a luxury they could not afford. This led to problems that sparked series of coups and attempted coups that rocked the African continent in the 70s and 80s. The coups led to emergence of leaders who were selfish and thwarted democratic progress of the continent. However, uneven they were, most countries’ democratic efforts set new terms of political discourse in Africa. The fruits of the few remaining nationalistic leaders were being seen, as their long fight against the oppressive governments was being effective. This paper supports the argument that the path adopted by first African leaders failed to allow their countries such as Benin to achieve proper democratization, however, there are success in some countries such as South Africa offers hopes in reversing these challenges.[Bill Freund, "The Decolonization of Africa: 1940-60" Extract from the Making of Contemporary Africa, 2nd E. (Lundon, UK: MacMillan Press, 1998) 183..] [Young, 297]
According to Young (1998) the democratization of African nations after independence passed through a series of three waves. To begin with, after independence, the continent’s dominant mode of governance was patrimonial autocracy, an almost pure dictatorship mode. Immediately after the independence, what followed was a series of constitutional changes, which were aimed at changing how the institutions functioned and how power was shared amongst the Africans. These constitutional changes were marred with controversies, as most of the people wanted the law to favor them. As Young puts it, there was some external influence from the communists and third world dictatorships. These were in support of the democratization. They used this as a pretext, where In fact, they were fighting against imperialism. The west on its side saw the democratization process as a kind of extermination point of colonialism and entry into self-rule era. The initial phase of transition into full democracy that had been thwarted by dictatorship, totalitarian rule and internal conflicts was renewed with national coherence and activism which promoted democracy in some of the African States. The second wave was the struggle to move from single party autocratic political systems to multi party electoral democracies which occurred in 1990s. The third wave of maturity in democracy that is happening now in Africa sheds specks of hope for the continent’s democratic future.[Crawford Young, An Interim Balance Sheet" in Peter Lewis, (Ed), Africa: The Challenges of Change and Development, 1998), 299.] [Gabrielle Lynch & Gordon Crawford. Democratization in Africa 1990-1010: An Assessment, (Leeds, UK: School of Politic and International Studies, 2010), 278.] [Young, 297.] [Edward Luttwak, Coup d’Etat: A Practical Handbook (New York, NY: Alfred Knopf, 1989), 301] [Young, 300]
The definition of democracy has been quite wide, but not ambiguous. Scholars and political scientists agree that democracy is achieved when the citizens participate in equal measures in governance, either directly or indirectly, in which case, there are elected representatives who make and amend laws that are used to govern the state. When this happens, everyone enjoys the rights and freedoms that they are entitled to under the constitution. There are a number of forms of government where power is either held by an individual, a group of individuals or a combination of parties, as in a power sharing democracy.[Lynch, 280] [Michael Bratton & Nicholas van de Walle, Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transitions in Africa, (World Politics 46(4), 1994). 466]
Liberal democracy can be described as a form of government where by the citizens are represented in the legislature by elected individuals. The ones representing the people operate in a manner in which they protect their rights and freedoms. The law, as provided by the constitution, is used to facilitate and justify this. The various branches of government that are established to run national institutions are run by rule of law. In Africa, liberal democracy has been practiced by a number of countries. However, very few of the African countries can be said to have met the minimum requirements of being described as having electoral democracy.
When the citizens of a certain state have less influence than traditional liberal democracies, they are said to be having procedural democracy. Here, the voters are given a chance to participate in an election, where they choose their representatives in a free election. On the other hand, substantive democracy is whereby the outcome of the elections is representative of the will of the people. The major difference is that substantive democracy functions in the interest of the citizens who are the governed, while procedural democracy does not. Substantive democracy therefore is more of a written democracy which governs the relationship between the people and the state. Procedural democracy dictates what is supposed to happen, and largely influenced by the law of the state.
Democratic successes in South Africa vs. Benin
Broadly speaking, South Africa is one of the African countries that have seen the biggest progress in terms of democracy. There are several factors that have been identified as reason for the same. Amongst these are the political, institutional, social and structural and above all, leadership. The relationship between these factors is quite intermingled, as they have all been used to support the country’s democratic progress.[Laurie Nathan, 2004. Accounting for South Africa’s Successful Transition to Democracy, Development Research Center, 1.]
The first major success in the development of South Africa’s major development towards democracy was the spirited fight against the minority rule, by the Africa National Congress Party. The ANC was formed by political activists and freedom fighters, which included the likes of Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela. By the mid-1980s, the ANC had apartheid regime of the white man and the ANC had reached a total stalemate. The ANC was fighting for the rights of the black majority to be respected and treated like normal citizens of the "rainbow nation". The government of the day had then opted to use force against the ANC so as to prevent them from seizing power, which was the latter’s main course, liberation. The fight by the liberators overpowered the defense of the government, and by the time the third wave of democracy was sweeping through Africa, the ANC were unbanned as an illegal organization. The release of Mandela was the first step towards the first peaceful elections of South Africa. These elections were a clear show of liberal and substantive democracy in South Africa, as the outcome was reflective of the majority’s will.[Nathan, 2.] [Nathan, 2.]
Another success by South Africa is that its leaders upheld mature politics and leadership styles. Democracy was upheld in South Africa as the nation’s leaders promised to start a "reconciliation" drive which was supposed to bring all the people together. This reconciliation facilitated the transition from a civil conflict to democracy, and it required high levels of political trust. Additionally, democracy in South Africa was consolidated by the strong institutions that it had put in place. South Africa is one of the African States that has never experienced a coup, and whose power government has never been accused of excesses or as oppressing democracy. Another show of a successful step towards promoting democracy is the ...