Democratic Experiments in Africa
Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective

This study constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of democratic transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Michael Bratton (Author), Nicholas van de Walle (Author)

9780521556125, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 August 1997

332 pages, 6 b/w illus. 1 map
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.49 kg

'The authors set out clearly what they are seeking to achieve, and then pursue their objectives methodically with well-structured arguments and a wealth of statistics … the book breaks new ground in the range of material it contains, and it will provide a starting point for many academic debates.' Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

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.

Introduction
1. Approaches to democratization
2. Neopatrimonial rule in Africa
3. Africa's divergent transitions, 1990–1994
4. Explaining political protest
5. Explaining political liberalization
6. Explaining democratic transitions
7. The prospects for democracy
Conclusion: comparative implications.

Subject Areas: Political structures: democracy [JPHV]