Author: K. Good
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230001130
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
This book critically examines the realities of liberal democracy; its elitism and non-accountability; and its inequalities and injustices. Participatory systems and movements, whether in Athens, seventeenth and nineteenth century England, or South Africa 1970-1990, are more effective in satisfying the democratic aspirations of the people and in curtailing ambitious elites, than what is passed off now as 'democracy'. By interrogating contemporary democratic regimes, in the United States, and in Botswana and South Africa, the severe limitations and constraints inherent in liberal democracy are highlighted. The need for a clear evaluation of what constituted democracy emerges as a powerful message of Kenneth Good's argument.
Author: Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasonga
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848137222
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329
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Book Description
Democratic institutional forms and processes are increasingly widespread in Africa as dictatorial regimes have been forced to give way as a result of popular mobilization and external donor pressure. However the premises of the African scholars whose empirical research and analytical explorations are included in this volume are that democratic form and democratic substance are two different things; Western-derived institutional forms are neither necessarily the most appropriate nor the most practical in the current African context; and rooting democratic norms in the political cultures of African polities raises socio-cultural issues with which political scientists must engage. This book explores various critical questions in the context of particular elections and particular countries as diverse as Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, the Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. They include the continuing impact of police state apparatuses following democratic transition; factors influencing African voters' attitudes and behaviour; the impact of incumbency on electoral competition; women's electoral participation; the phenomenon of often very limited party programmatic choice in the context of huge social diversity and multi-party competition; and the controversial issues around the transplantation of liberal democratic institutions. Underlying these issues is the fundamental question of whether democratic processes as currently practised in Africa are really making any significant difference to the African struggle for economic, social and cultural progress. This volume is valuable for the original perspectives of its African contributors; the issues it explores; and the concrete democratic experiences it analyses; and the challenges it makes to the existing concepts, paradigms and practices of liberal democracy.
Author: Reginald M.J. Oduor
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666913820
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 307
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Book Description
A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title Africa beyond Liberal Democracy: In Search of Context-Relevant Models of Democracy for the Twenty-First Century explores possible future trajectories of democratization on the continent. At the dawn of political independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, many countries in Africa set out with liberal democratic constitutions. However, these were quickly dismantled by civilian regimes that turned their countries into one-party autocracies, or by military coups that set aside the constitutions altogether. The 1990s saw an attempt at reverting to competitive multi-party politics through the so-called second-generation constitutions, but these are again being dismantled by civilian autocracies and military juntas. In this collection, edited by Reginald M. J. Oduor, African and Africanist scholars examine the view that what has failed in Africa is liberal democracy rather than democracy as such, because liberal democracy arose in an individualist socio-political Western context that is significantly different from the communalist milieu of African societies. The contributors, from a variety of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, andbased in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Sweden, and Finland, present a range of perspectives on possible directions for context-relevant models of democracy in the various countries of Africa in the twenty-first century.
Author: Clive Gabay
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317686136
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196
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Book Description
Strong states and strong civil societies are now increasingly hailed as the twin drivers of a ‘rising Africa’. Current attempts to support growth and democracy are part of a longer history of promoting projects of disciplinary, regulatory and liberal rule and values beyond ‘the West’. Yet this is not simply Western domination of a passive continent. Such an interpretation misses out on the complexities and nuances of the politics of state-building and civil society promotion, and the central role of African agency. Drawing upon critical theory, including postcolonial and governmentality approaches, this book interrogates international practices of state-building and civil society support in Africa. It seeks to develop a theoretically informed critical approach to discourses and interventions such as those associated with broadly ‘Western’ initiatives in Africa. In doing so, the book highlights the power relations, inequalities, coercion and violence that are deeply implicated within contemporary international interventions on the African continent. Providing a range of empirical cases and theoretical approaches, the chapters are united by their critical treatment of political dynamics in Africa. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African politics, development studies, postcolonial theory, International Relations, international political economy and peacekeeping/making.
Author: Tatah Mentan
Publisher: Africa Research and Publications
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324
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Book Description
The much-vaunted African renaissance' of liberal democracy, culture and economic grown appears to be in tatters. Instead, sagging economic growth, backsliding on liberal democracy and increased regional and national tensions menace much of the continent. Financial and commodity volatility have emerged as critical elements for African governments to factor into political calculations - and as political legitimacy is tied directly to economic success, the fallout from the continent's economic crises translates into political fragility.'
Author: Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasonga
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1848131542
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
Democratic institutional forms and processes are increasingly widespread in Africa as dictatorial regimes have been forced to give way as a result of popular mobilization and external donor pressure. However the premises of the African scholars whose empirical research and analytical explorations are included in this volume are that democratic form and democratic substance are two different things; Western-derived institutional forms are neither necessarily the most appropriate nor the most practical in the current African context; and rooting democratic norms in the political cultures of African polities raises socio-cultural issues with which political scientists must engage. This book explores various critical questions in the context of particular elections and particular countries as diverse as Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, the Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. They include the continuing impact of police state apparatuses following democratic transition; factors influencing African voters' attitudes and behaviour; the impact of incumbency on electoral competition; women's electoral participation; the phenomenon of often very limited party programmatic choice in the context of huge social diversity and multi-party competition; and the controversial issues around the transplantation of liberal democratic institutions. Underlying these issues is the fundamental question of whether democratic processes as currently practised in Africa are really making any significant difference to the African struggle for economic, social and cultural progress. This volume is valuable for the original perspectives of its African contributors; the issues it explores; and the concrete democratic experiences it analyses; and the challenges it makes to the existing concepts, paradigms and practices of liberal democracy.
Author: Nana Poku
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317184440
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
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Book Description
The period since the 1980s has seen sustained pressure on Africa’s political elite to anchor the continent’s development strategies in neoliberalism in exchange for vitally needed development assistance. Rafts of policies and programmes have come to underpin the relationship between continental governments and the donor communities of the West and particularly their institutions of global governance – the International Financial Institutions. Over time, these policies and programmes have sought to transform the authority and capacity of the state to effect social, political and economic change, while opening up the domestic space for transnational capital and ideas. The outcome is a continent now more open to international capital, export-oriented and liberal in its political governance. Has neoliberalism finally arrested under development in Africa? Bringing together leading researchers and analysts to examine key questions from a multidisciplinary perspective, this book involves a fundamental departure from orthodox analysis which often predicates colonialism as the referent object. Here, three decades of neoliberalism with its complex social and economic philosophy are given primacy. With the changed focus, an elucidation of the relationship between global development and local changes is examined through a myriad of pressing contemporary issues to offer a critical multi-disciplinary appraisal of challenge and change in Africa over the past three decades.
Author: Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781350221116
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 213
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Book Description
The institutional forms and processes of democracy are spreading in Africa as dictatorial regimes have been forced to give way. But democratic form and democratic substance are two different things. Western-derived institutional forms are neither necessarily the most approprate nor the most practical in the current African context, and rooting democratic norms in African political cultures raises socio-cultural questions. This book draws on the experiences of particular African elections and countries to explore the continuing impact of police state apparatuses; the factors influencing voters?
Author: Olúfémi Táíwò
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781734643527
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 85
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Book Description
Author: Manna Duah
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
The United States' policy to win the Cold War in Africa was to ensure that African states adopted the norms of Western liberalism in the long-term. American officials defined Western liberalism as democracy and free market liberalism. U.S. policy considered capitalism the foundation of Western liberalism. For this reason, U.S. administrations allied with, supported, and cooperated with African governments that participated in global capitalism. U.S. international education programs were vital to U.S. efforts to win the Cold War in Africa in the long-term. The fundamental purpose of the programs was to exert American influence over future African civilian, military, economic, and social leaders. U.S. education programs focused on students from Ethiopia and South Africa to solicit their support for American political and social models as the only legitimate form of governance. Officials hoped the success of Ethiopia and South Africa to evolve under U.S. tutelage would make these countries positive models of Western liberalism to Africa. American international education programs for these countries, however, fueled the rise of Pan-Africanist mobilizations among participating students. These students adapted and utilized the political and social models they learned from international education to successfully organize against U.S. policy and the Ethiopian and South African governments. Student-led insurrections forced the regimes into negotiations at the end of the Cold War. However, successor regimes to the authoritarian governments in Ethiopia and South Africa committed to the norms of Western liberalism.
