In a recent article published in the Journal of Democracy, Richard Joseph analyzes what he calls “frontier Africa” – the continent in flux where political and economic life “features an interplay of risk, reward, and uncertainty.” The 1990s created important openings for political and economic freedoms in many African countries. But most of these countries remain vulnerable “frontier” markets and democracies at best.
Joseph focuses in particular on one key weakness of African democracies that undermines not only political stability, but also sustained growth: the overwhelming power of the executive. Despite the introduction of formal elections, many African democracies persist in the old ways of seeing the government as a way of getting rich. Newly elected leaders tend to move toward accumulating more power and influence with the end result not much different from the personal rule of their authoritarian predecessors. If democracy is to be nothing more than a sanctioned way of appropriating public resources, the chances of building truly democratic governance and functioning markets remain slim. Joseph comments:
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Still unresolved in Africa is the contest between personal rule (typified by the “Big Man” syndrome) and institutions based on the rule of law. The Kenyan electoral tragedy showed, once again, how readily the scales can be tipped between these competing principles of governance. (…) Few African leaders, even in electoral democracies, govern today as committed democrats. Some, such as President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, spent many years in opposition sharply criticizing incumbents as undemocratic, only to behave nepotistically and autocratically once they themselves gained power.
How can those entrenched tendencies be changed? The key lies in improving state performance, better governance, and institution-building that would include public at large in the democratic decision-making process between the elections.
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The most daunting frontier still to be crossed in much of postcolonial Africa is the creation and maintenance of institutions that will uphold transparency and the rule of law. Democracy will not flourish in Africa until public institutions perform their most fundamental duties [provide basic public goods] in a reasonably efficient and predictable manner. (…) Assessments of democracy’s prospects in Africa should attend more closely to democracy as more than just a set of rules for managing power struggles among elites. In the context of the great material deprivation of the masses of the people, democracy is an avenue by which their legitimate aspirations for a better future can be expressed and claims for redress made.
Published Date: April 29, 2008