Introduction

Like many countries in other parts of the world, African countries participated in what Huntington (1991) referred to as the ‘third wave’ of democratization. In the aftermath of the end of the Cold War, most of them instituted multi-party political systems and adopted the election-centred liberal approach to democratization. This post-Cold War wave of democratization was a new round of attempts at such for many African countries that were not party to the first wave since they were colonies. Their first attempts took place during the early years of decolonization in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as colonial powers allowed the erection of some of the conventional procedures of democracy in the waning years of their control. Unsurprisingly, the first attempts at democratizing failed, often culminating in military coups and single-party rule, largely because most African countries at the time lacked the conditions that would enable them to sustain a democratization process. Dominated by the executive branch of government, the African state did not have the mechanisms of checks and balances to foster democratization. The African population was largely illiterate at that time and was too fragmented along ethnic lines to be able to influence the policy choices in order to advance broad social interests. The middle class, the intelligentsia, the media, and civil society at large were too weak to put strong enough pressure for accountability of the functionaries of the state. The fragmentation of the economies and institutions of governance, along with societal fragmentation along primordial lines, also did not allow inclusive representation and participation in the political process. Under such conditions, the likelihood of successful democratization was highly unlikely except in rare cases where there were leaders who were highly committed and competent enough to protect aspects of democratic governance. Leaders of Botswana and perhaps Tanzania might be included in the ranks of this small group of leaders. The combination of competency and commitment, however, were rare among African leaders, who, at the time, had limited experience of governing, even if they had the commitment.

Unfortunately, the second round of democratization attempts has also fizzled out in much of Africa, giving way to dominant ruling parties and elected autocrats.