Barriers to the Democratisation of Africa
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? WHAT ARE THE BARRIERS TO THE DEMOCRATISATION OF COUNTRIES IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA.
As a prologue this paper poses two fundamental and pertinent questions: Is there any form of democracy in Africa? Are there model democracies in the industrialized countries today that can be used as standard measures? These, indeed, are very pertinent questions to Africans. They are especially important as they come at a time when there is a dramatic shift towards a new international order that has embraced the concepts of democracy and globalization as the ultimate ‘‘catchwords’’ toward the actualization of sustainable development (Ezeanyika 2011). Democracy in Africa has been shaped by the colonial powers that ran Africa until the period of decolonisation that began in the 1960’s. Ever since, Africa has attempted to follow the European model of democratic governance. However, whilst African democracy has shown some improvement, it is still having legitimacy problems and African states are characterised a lot of barriers which makes it impossible to realise the dream of democracy. Therefore this essay will seek to firstly define what democracy is and will show that the problems with democracy mainly arise from the fact that there is no universally accepted and substantive definition of the term. The paper will then highlight the barriers to democracy in Africa and there will be a focus on the role played by colonialism and the ethnic divides that exist in Africa. The paper will also examine how corruption and the economic problems of African States are restraining democratic legitimacy.
Two events have dramatically altered the international system. The first is the end of the Cold War era and the second is the fall of communism in the early 1990s (Ezeanyika 2011). These events have clearly elevated the status of democracy to an unprecedented level throughout the world, as most nations have moved away from the system of authoritarian regimes. As stated by
As a prologue this paper poses two fundamental and pertinent questions: Is there any form of democracy in Africa? Are there model democracies in the industrialized countries today that can be used as standard measures? These, indeed, are very pertinent questions to Africans. They are especially important as they come at a time when there is a dramatic shift towards a new international order that has embraced the concepts of democracy and globalization as the ultimate ‘‘catchwords’’ toward the actualization of sustainable development (Ezeanyika 2011). Democracy in Africa has been shaped by the colonial powers that ran Africa until the period of decolonisation that began in the 1960’s. Ever since, Africa has attempted to follow the European model of democratic governance. However, whilst African democracy has shown some improvement, it is still having legitimacy problems and African states are characterised a lot of barriers which makes it impossible to realise the dream of democracy. Therefore this essay will seek to firstly define what democracy is and will show that the problems with democracy mainly arise from the fact that there is no universally accepted and substantive definition of the term. The paper will then highlight the barriers to democracy in Africa and there will be a focus on the role played by colonialism and the ethnic divides that exist in Africa. The paper will also examine how corruption and the economic problems of African States are restraining democratic legitimacy.
Two events have dramatically altered the international system. The first is the end of the Cold War era and the second is the fall of communism in the early 1990s (Ezeanyika 2011). These events have clearly elevated the status of democracy to an unprecedented level throughout the world, as most nations have moved away from the system of authoritarian regimes. As stated by
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