Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Voting for Democracy: Watershed Elections in Contemporary Anglophone Africa

0/5 ( ratings)

First published in 1999, the essays in this book examine the context and conduct of a series of watershed elections held in Anglophone Africa in the first half of the 1990s. These elections crystallized a wider process of democratization, underway in much of sub-Saharan Africa during the last decade, in which attempts were made to shift from various forms of authoritarian rule to pluralist parliamentary politics.

This volume brings together for the first time, studies of these events in countries sharing a comparable legacy of British colonialism, an acquaintance with the Westminster constitutional tradition and related experiences of decolonization and democratic struggle. Written from a variety of perspectives by contributors with first-hand knowledge and long experience of research in Africa, the papers situate each election in its wider political context, examining the political forces at work and the events which gave rise to reform. All indicate that, despite Western pressure for reform and the influence of the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in Eastern Europe, internal African demands for democracy provided the primary driving force for change.

Not all the elections fulfilled the hopes invested in them. In Nigeria, they were annulled before all the votes had been counted. In Kenya, the disarray of the opposition ensured the return to power of the old order. Even where they produced a successful regime transition, the democratic credentials of the new governments were sometimes seriously flawed. Yet for all these limitations, these watershed elections signalled important progress for African democracy. They brought a formal end to colonial rule in Namibia and to three centuries of racial discrimination in South Africa. They brought changes of government through the ballot box in Zambia and Malawi, among the first instances in Africa of such change being accomplished without the use of force.

Above all, they provided African electorates with an opportunity to pass judgement on long-serving authoritarian regimes - with unequivocal results: in every case, when given the chance to vote, Africans voted for democracy.

Pages: 273

Format: ebook

Publisher: Routledge

Release: July 09, 2019

ISBN: 0429765762

ISBN 13: 9780429765766

Voting for Democracy: Watershed Elections in Contemporary Anglophone Africa

0/5 ( ratings)

First published in 1999, the essays in this book examine the context and conduct of a series of watershed elections held in Anglophone Africa in the first half of the 1990s. These elections crystallized a wider process of democratization, underway in much of sub-Saharan Africa during the last decade, in which attempts were made to shift from various forms of authoritarian rule to pluralist parliamentary politics.

This volume brings together for the first time, studies of these events in countries sharing a comparable legacy of British colonialism, an acquaintance with the Westminster constitutional tradition and related experiences of decolonization and democratic struggle. Written from a variety of perspectives by contributors with first-hand knowledge and long experience of research in Africa, the papers situate each election in its wider political context, examining the political forces at work and the events which gave rise to reform. All indicate that, despite Western pressure for reform and the influence of the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in Eastern Europe, internal African demands for democracy provided the primary driving force for change.

Not all the elections fulfilled the hopes invested in them. In Nigeria, they were annulled before all the votes had been counted. In Kenya, the disarray of the opposition ensured the return to power of the old order. Even where they produced a successful regime transition, the democratic credentials of the new governments were sometimes seriously flawed. Yet for all these limitations, these watershed elections signalled important progress for African democracy. They brought a formal end to colonial rule in Namibia and to three centuries of racial discrimination in South Africa. They brought changes of government through the ballot box in Zambia and Malawi, among the first instances in Africa of such change being accomplished without the use of force.

Above all, they provided African electorates with an opportunity to pass judgement on long-serving authoritarian regimes - with unequivocal results: in every case, when given the chance to vote, Africans voted for democracy.

Pages: 273

Format: ebook

Publisher: Routledge

Release: July 09, 2019

ISBN: 0429765762

ISBN 13: 9780429765766

More books from Roger Southall

Liberation Movements in Power: Party & State in Southern Africa

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Election 2019: Change and Stability in South Africa's Democracy

3.5/5 ( ratings)

State of the Nation: South Africa 2003–2004

3.5/5 ( ratings)

A New Scramble for Africa?: Imperialism, Investment and Development

2.5/5 ( ratings)

Whites and Democracy in South Africa

New South African Review 3: The Second Phase – Tragedy or Farce?

South Africa's Role in Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking in Africa: Conference Proceedings

Election 2014 South Africa: The campaigns, results and future prospects

New South African Review 4: A Fragile Democracy – Twenty Years On

African Peace Process: Mandela, South Africa, and Burundi

Election 2014 South Africa: The Campaigns, Results Future Prospects

Opposition and Democracy in South Africa

New South African Review 6: The Crisis of Inequality

New South African Review 1: 2010: Development or Decline?

Legacies of Power: Leadership Change and Former Presidents in African Politics

State of the Nation: South Africa 2004-2005

New South African Review 5: Beyond Marikana

The New Black Middle Class in South Africa

Issue: A Journal of Opinion, Volume XXVII Number 2

Zunami!: The 2009 South African Elections

Rate this book!

Write a review?