Democracy and Africa – a View from the Village

Owusu, Maxwell

doi:10.1017/s0022278x00010806

Cited by 80 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Beyond basic awareness, however, much depends on the content that people project onto the regime. Many analysts imply that Africans will have very high expectations because they hold a substantive understanding of democracy (MacPherson, 1967;Owusu, 1992;Sono, 1993;Ake, 1996;Schaeffer, 1998). By this criterion, democracy is only attained when material benefits are broadly delivered and equality is attained throughout society.…”

Section: Understandings Of Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and Experience

Mattes

Bratton

2007

American J Political Sci

282

253

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conventional views of African politics imply that Africans arrive at political opinions largely on the basis of their positions in the social structure or enduring cultural values. In contrast, we argue that Africans form attitudes to democracy based upon what they learn about what it is and what it does. We test this argument with a unique data set known as Afrobarometer Round 1, which is based on surveys of nationally representative samples of citizens in 12 African countries that have recently undergone political reform. Specifically, we test our learning hypothesis against competing sociological and cultural theories to explain citizens' demand for democracy (legitimation) and the perceived supply of democracy (institutionalization). We provide evidence of learning from three different sources. First, people learn about the content of democracy through cognitive awareness of public affairs. Second, people learn about the consequences of democracy through direct experience of the performance of governments and (to a lesser extent) the economy. Finally, people also draw lessons about democracy from their country's national political legacies.1 Earlier versions of this paper were presented to a conference on "The Consolidation of Democracy: What

show abstract

Section: Understandings Of Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and Experience

Mattes

Bratton

2007

American J Political Sci

282

253

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…After a lifelong consideration of what "democracy" might mean in African contexts, anthropologist Maxwell Owusu concludes: "We now know… that free and fair elections must be linked with reasonable economic security for every citizen." 17 The essential point that Owusu makes is that democratic ideas are and have always been present in African contexts; the impediments to their realization lie elsewhere: local security concerns, etc. 18 Similar arguments are found in Asian contexts.…”

Section: Local Governance: Making Historical Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving beyond Illiberal Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recalling the significance of local governance

LaMonica¹

2015

Afr. J. Pol. Sci. Int. Relat.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The developmental history of today's liberal democratic states demonstrates a clear parallel between liberal state practice and functioning local government institutions. This simple fact has implications for today's policymakers interested in the political liberalization of sub-Saharan Africa's newly declared "democracies." Yet, among the many debates taking place in developmental politics, local governance remains -at best -a niche area that is usually brought up within the context of decentralization policy. Largely due to the recent history of Cold War patronage that focused on central over local government relations, the newly declared democracies of sub-Saharan Africa consistently rank among the lowest in the world in the yearly indexes on freedom compiled by Freedom House. Here it is argued that, if political liberalism is to be realized within these newly declared democracies of sub-Saharan Africa, a renewed emphasis on the role of local government institutions must take place. Emphasis is placed on the recent experience of Zambia, which demonstrates the kinds of internal and external policy challenges proponents of local governance have faced.

show abstract

“…These calls have arisen as a result of the social changes that have transformed the African social and political landscapes. Several scholars have observed the juxtaposition of Western-style democracy, which is based on the notion of political and social rights of individuals, with the ethnic-based collectivism characteristic of African societies (see Owusu 1991). To such scholars, the problem of governance is to recognise and satisfy the goals and aspirations of different groups and their leaders.…”

Section: The Integrationist Argumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local governance and spatial distribution of resources: The need to harness traditional leadership for service delivery in South Africa

Amoateng¹,

Kalule-Sabiti²

2011

International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-,

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, the aim of the study forming the basis of the article was to examine how traditional leadership can be harnessed for the purposes of service delivery at the local level in South Africa. Specifically, the study sought to examine the juxtaposition of traditional and modern forms of governance in South Africa (institutional duality) and the role traditional leaders play in the provision and delivery of social and economic services to the sections of the population within their jurisdictions. The results of the study confirmed the existence of this institutional duality with regard to the Southern African institutional culture. In other words, even though traditional leaders no longer wield the considerable administrative, legislative and judicial powers they used to exercise over the chiefdoms, they are still very much part of the institutional culture of South Africa and the sub-region.

show abstract

Democracy and Africa – a View from the Village

Cited by 80 publications

References 7 publications

Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and Experience

Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and Experience

Moving beyond Illiberal Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recalling the significance of local governance

Local governance and spatial distribution of resources: The need to harness traditional leadership for service delivery in South Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About