Democracy in Africa: Diversity within a Common Theme Les Mirages de la Democratie en Afrique Subsharienne Francophone by Francis Akinds; Democratic

Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective by Michael Bratton; Nicolas van de Walle; Political Reform in Francophone Africa by John F. Clark; David E. Gardinier; Democratization in Africa: The Theory and Dynamics of Political Transitions by Earl Conteh-Morgan; Democracy in Africa: The Hard Road Ahead b ... Review by: Dan Ottemoeller African Studies Review, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Sep., 1998), pp. 133-137 Published by: African Studies Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/524830 . Accessed: 31/07/2013 12:18
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REVIEW ESSAYS

WITHINA COMMON THEME DEMOCRACYIN AFRICA:DIVERSITY FrancisAkindes. Les Mirages de la Democratie en Afrique Subsharienne LeConseilPourle Developement de la Recherche en Karthala, Francophone. Paris: SciencesSociales(CODESRIA), 1996. vii + 246 pp. Bibliography. Pricenot reported. Michael Bratton and Nicolas van de Walle. DemocraticExperimentsin Africa: UniversiRegime Transitionsin ComparativePerspective. Cambridge: Cambridge Index.$19.95. Paper. ty Press,1997. xvi+ 307 pp. Appendixes. Bibliography. John F.Clarkand David E. Gardinier,eds. Political Reform in Francophone Africa. Boulder: WestviewPress,1997. xviii+ 318 pp. Bibliography. Index.$21.95. Paper. EarlConteh-Morgan. Democratization in Africa: The Theory and Dynamics of Political Transitions.Westport:Praeger, 1997. xii + 197 pp. Bibliography. Index.$55.00. Cloth. Marina Ottaway, ed. Democracy in Africa: The Hard Road Ahead. Boulder: 1997. vi + 176 pp. Bibliography. Index.$45.00. Cloth. Rienner, Lynne New Joseph A. Umoren. Democracy and Ethnic Diversity in Nigeria. Lantham, Press of 1996. 186 York,London: Index. America, University pp. Bibliography. $36.50. Cloth. The potential for democratic governance to solve Africa's problems has long been a central theme of African area studies. In the early 1990s, fascination with democracy intensified as Africajoined a worldwide embrace of liberal politics and economics. Discourse surrounding the subject of liberal democracy has grown so that today analysis of liberal freedoms and democratic institutions constitutes a hegemonic project within African political studies. Despite the democratic ferment of recent years, most Africans are only slightly nearer to realizing Western-style liberal political and economic systems than they were a generation ago. Still, it is significant that concern for the development of liberal versions of democracy has overtaken concerns for development of strong states and economies in Africa. To be sure, important questions remain, especially regarding the 133

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134 African Studies Review

role of liberal values in the organization of African economic systems. Hardships associated with the implementation of programs of economic "structuraladjustment" provide grist for penetrating critiques of liberalism in Africa, but endorsement of liberal political values is nearly universal. Consensus on liberal political values and the grudging acceptance of liberal economics appear to offer a new opportunity for building a theory of African liberal democracy. However, this is still a highly speculative project since there are no large-scale, well-established examples of liberal democracy on the continent. In contrast, renewed harsh authoritarian rule in Nigeria and the outright anarchy of states such as Liberia, Somalia, and Sierre Leone provide glaring examples of the failures of democratic governance. The lack of an African theory of democracy is not surprising since paths to democracy are contextually defined, and the set of circumstances surrounding African political development is particularly daunting for liberal democracy. In fact, the principle effect of renewed interest in liberal versions of democracy in Africa appears to be a recognition of the complexities of realizing liberal values in Africa. A widely accepted theory of African liberal democratization is not at hand, but continuing fascination with the topic provides an opening for a fresh look at African politics. This has fostered an eclectic literature on African political development which is reflected in the works reviewed here. Despite the difficulties of building a theory of African liberal democin racy, Michael Bratton and Nicolas van de Walle's Democratic Experiments Transitions in is an ambitious Africa: Regime Comparative Perspective step toward such a theory. This work sets high standards for both empirical and theoretical scholarship which will undoubtedly energize theoretical debates. The authors provide concise summaries of the theoretical approaches to African democratization utilized in the works reviewed here. These include: structural (aggregate level) vs. contingent (individual level) approaches; international (principally the effects of international finance) vs. domestic approaches; and economic vs. political approaches. Bratton and van de Walle embrace the liberal poles of these theoretical continuums (contingent, domestic, and political), which they combine and label as a "politico-institutional" approach. The authors' choice of a liberal theoretical framework facilitates their focus on the role of African political institutions as independent variables in situations of regime transition. In short, the authors argue that African democratization in the 1990s is distinctive because of the continent's neo-patrimonial political institutions. In addition, the authors assert that historically defined levels of political participation predict levels of liberal democracy. Thus, according to Bratton and van de Walle, in a typical African state, well-known characteristics of neo-patrimonial rule such as clientelism and reliance on personal leadership to provide political legitimacy are key descriptors which inhibit the growth of liberal democracy. The authors also demonstrate that states with relatively well-established electoral traditions,

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ReviewEssays 135
regardless of how meaningful these elections have been in the past, are likely to achieve approximations of liberal democracy more quickly than states that have more limited traditions of political participation. In sum, a state's institutional heritage predicts the degree of liberal democracy that it is likely to have achieved in the round of regime transitions which Africa experienced in the early 1990s. This core argument is not novel; most of the key points were previously published by the authors and reflect mainstream liberal treatments of African politics of the past twenty years. However, the assembled discussion, replete with appendixes that detail the data the authors mine with multiple regression techniques to support their argument, is undoubtedly a seminal contribution. Indeed, this assemblage of data, which includes measures for all forty-two sub-Saharan African states, is a notable achievement that will facilitate comparison, discussion, and critique of this volume. Bratton and van de Walle's analysis of these data is colored by their preference for procedural definition of democracy and institutional analysis, but since these preferences reflect the current dominance of liberal values, it is probable that this work will become a standard reference for African political studies for years to come. Perhaps the authors' most notable contribution is their attempt to make the study of African democracy truly comparable to the study of democracy in other areas. Emphasis on achieving viable generalizations is a laudable goal, but it is also a handicap for the authors. Inevitably their attempt to generate a framework for analysis of all of sub-Saharan Africa glosses over country-specific factors. No doubt country specialists will take issue with many of the generalizations assigned to individual states. But the overall effect of categorizing African democracy in terms of neo-patrimonial rule and institutional legacy is welcome as it gives European, Asian, or Latin American area specialists convenient starting points from which to conduct comparative analysis. In the wake of Bratton and van de Walle's work, the potential impact of the other works reviewed here is comparatively small, but discussions of specific topics and specific states, such as those included in the volume edited by Marina Ottaway, Democracy in Africa: The Hard Road Ahead, also make important contributions. In particular, the Ottawayvolume provides a concise introduction to the subject of African democracy in the 1990s. Realistic and pessimistic, Ottaway's introduction to Democracyin Africa sweeps away any of the facile optimism that marked many of the initial analyses of African democratization. Issues such as economic reform and the roles of the military, civil society, and the international community are addressed by respected authors. The volume's essays on Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Nigeria particularly support this volume's realist approach to the prospects for liberal democracy in Africa. The strength of the work edited by John F. Clark and David E. Gardinier, PoliticalReformin Francophone Africa,is that it helps fill a gap in Eng-

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136 AfricanStudiesReview
lish-language scholarship on African politics. As the editors rightly point out, "francophone Africa has been slighted-not to say ignored-in AngloAmerican settings" (2). Indeed, in addition to providing country studies that can help readers understand the variety of specific contexts in which struggles for democracy are unfolding in Africa, this work provides valuable insights to its English-speaking audience concerning AnglophoneFrancophone divisions in Africa. Specifically, the authors' descriptions of the hands-on role of the French state in Francophone Africa, as well the importance of national conferences as venues for political expression in Francophone Africa, provide instructive contrasts between political development in Francophone and Anglophone Africa. To be sure, the empirical focus of this work limits its shelf life. By early 1998, events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congo argued for revision of the chapters treating these countries, but the goal of drawing its audience's attention to the subject of political development in Francophone Africa is fully realized and very welcome. Francis Akindes's Les Mirages de la Democratieen Afrique Subsharienne echoes the concerns of the other authors as Akindes reviews Francophone domestic and international constraints to democratization in Africa. However, this work stands apart, as the author asserts a need for cultural autonomy to facilitate African political and economic development. Akindes's insistence on the primacy of culture is a refreshing departure from standard treatments of economic and political variables. However, the author offers little of substance to policy makers or researchers who might wish to pursue cultural aspects of African democratization. A far more precise delineation of the relationship between culture and political/economic variables is necessary if this work is to be more than a vague plea for Africans to come to terms with the fundamental changes in society that will be necessary in order to achieve Africa's potential. Earl Conteh-Morgan's work Democratization in Africa: The Theoryand deals with its subject at a very high level of Dynamicsof Political Transitions generalization and reaches theoretical conclusions that are more banal than enlightening for specialists in the field. However, nonspecialists seeking an introduction to the issues surrounding African democratization may find this to be a useful volume. and EthnicDiversity in NigeriapreFinally,Joseph A. Umoren's Democracy sents a collection of talking points and facts, all of which are relevant to our understanding of Nigerian democracy. Nevertheless, this treatment is not a cohesive academic work. Umoren writes as a concerned layman, a friend of Nigeria whose concerns may speak to the average Nigerian with more meaning than other more academically grounded works. The fact that the author feels deeply enough to undertake this task is indicative of the degree to which the subject of democracy has come to dominate our thinking about Africa. In sum, these works testify to the fascination with democracy that dom-

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Review Essays 137

inates contemporary studies of African politics. More specifically, these works reveal that the scope of debate about how to organize "government by and for the people" in Africa is now centered on liberal values. Despite the pathologies that attend liberal philosophy in situations of extreme economic inequality, there remains a faint but perceptible optimism in these works concerning the results that might obtain from a liberal political market place in Africa. Given the variety of works reviewed here, it is somewhat remarkable that none of them asserts a paradigmatic definition of democracy or theory of democratization. Underlying these works there appears to be a realization that no single study can hope to unlock the causal nexus of social, economic, and institutional factors that lead to democracy. This embrace of complexity will not reassure those who seek a replicable science of political and economic development, but it should encourage Africans and friends of Africa to continue the African democratic experiment. Dan Ottemoeller of Florida University Florida Gainesville,

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