Democratic Theory and Practice in Africa
Author: W. O. Oyugi
Publisher: East African Publishers
Published: 1995
Total Pages: 220
ISBN-13: 9789966463852
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: W. O. Oyugi
Publisher: East African Publishers
Published: 1995
Total Pages: 220
ISBN-13: 9789966463852
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Walter Ouma Oyugi
Publisher:
Published: 1988
Total Pages: 237
ISBN-13: 9780852553275
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Africa, by Michael Chege
Author: Heidi Brooks
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2019-08-15
Total Pages: 244
ISBN-13: 3030257444
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book examines the development of democratic thought in the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, with a focus on the movement’s ideas about participatory democracy. It makes particular reference to two key periods: the 1980s ‘people’s power’ movement and the subsequent years of policy formulation from 1990 when the ANC began to design and implement a system of participatory democracy alongside a representative government. Through the examination of historic documents and in-depth interviews with former ANC activists, government officials and those involved in policy development, the author explores the inspiration for the party’s commitment to establishing participatory democracy. The book combines democratic theory and political and intellectual history to look at the role of popular participation as part of a broader trajectory of the ANC’s democratic thought. It critically engages with concepts used in the party’s participatory discourse with a view to deepening our understanding of how ideas have shaped the construction of South Africa’s democracy.
Author: J. Shola Omotola
Publisher:
Published: 2014
Total Pages: 36
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Since its official inauguration on 9 July 2002, the African Union (AU) has made the promotion of democracy and good political governance for the development and stability of Africa one of its main priorities. After a decade of its existence, it is pertinent to assess how the AU has fared in its commitments to the promotion of democratic values in Africa. This is the primary concern of this paper, which seeks to assess the state of democracy and political governance in Africa. Given the centrality of elections to the theory and practice of democracy, the study evaluates the role of the AU in promoting democratic values in Africa from an electoral perspective. Drawing essentially on the AU's declaration governing democratic elections and the declaration on observing and monitoring elections, the paper submits that while these declarations have positively affected Africa's electoral landscape, there is still ground to be covered. Despite the AU's interventions, elections in Africa remain one of the weakest links in the democratisation process, turning out to be democratic liabilities, instead of assets. Moreover, the AU's election-monitoring activities have also been undermined by two closely related challenges, most notably the contexts of electoral governance in the host countries and certain administrative and implementation challenges. Consequently, the politics of the AU's election monitoring in Africa has, inevitably, produced mixed results. While it has, together with other monitoring groups, contributed to raising the general level of awareness and generated some pressure for electoral reforms, it has also tended to be less critical, especially of incumbents seeking re-election. Worse still, its reports and recommendations are not binding on the host country because they do not have the force of law. Urgent steps are needed to redress these contradictions, including reconciling international standards of elections monitoring with African realities, broader coverage of the field for each election and the use of medium- and long-term approaches. Finally, there is a need to strengthen the links between the AU and local monitoring groups. This can help improve understanding of the electoral geography of the host state, and facilitate the sharing of information and logistics.
Author: Annie Barbara Chikwanha-Dzenga
Publisher:
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 116
ISBN-13: 9781920114732
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In Africa, criminal justice systems remain rather fragile. This is not only because of the human rights practices of some African governments, but because the changes on the continent demand good governance and democracy. Criminal justice cannot be separated from democracy in as much as its effective implementation has become a barometer of democratic practices throughout the developed world. Africa's deficiencies in the criminal justice system can benefit from a comprehensive scrutiny not just of the technical legal issues, but of the ethical issues too, as well as the dissection of international norms, institutions and criminal justice processes and their relevance for Africa. This monograph undoubtedly makes a significant contribution to the fledging criminological writings on the African continent and all the articles reveal the challenges the criminal justice systems in Africa have to overcome in order to fulfill their commitments to international standards and norms.
Author: Mawere, Munyaradzi
Publisher: Langaa RPCIG
Published: 2015-10-24
Total Pages: 422
ISBN-13: 9956763004
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Questions surrounding democracy, governance, and development especially in the view of Africa have provoked acrimonious debates in the past few years. It remains a perennial question why some decades after political independence in Africa the continent continues experiencing bad governance, lagging behind socioeconomically, and its democracy questionable. We admit that a plethora of theories and reasons, including iniquitous and malicious ones, have been conjured in an attempt to explain and answer the questions as to why Africa seems to be lagging behind other continents in issues pertaining to good governance, democracy and socio-economic development. Yet, none of the theories and reasons proffered so far seems to have provided enduring solutions to Africa’s diverse complex problems and predicaments. This book dissects and critically examines the matrix of Africa’s multifaceted problems on governance, democracy and development in an attempt to proffer enduring solutions to the continent’s long-standing political and socio-economic dilemmas and setbacks.
Author: Samuel P. Huntington
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 2012-09-06
Total Pages: 388
ISBN-13: 0806186046
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This global democratic revolution is probably the most important political trend in the late twentieth century. In The Third Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluates the prospects for stability of the new democracies, and explores the possibility of more countries becoming democratic. The recent transitions, he argues, are the third major wave of democratization in the modem world. Each of the two previous waves was followed by a reverse wave in which some countries shifted back to authoritarian government. Using concrete examples, empirical evidence, and insightful analysis, Huntington provides neither a theory nor a history of the third wave, but an explanation of why and how it occurred. Factors responsible for the democratic trend include the legitimacy dilemmas of authoritarian regimes; economic and social development; the changed role of the Catholic Church; the impact of the United States, the European Community, and the Soviet Union; and the "snowballing" phenomenon: change in one country stimulating change in others. Five key elite groups within and outside the nondemocratic regime played roles in shaping the various ways democratization occurred. Compromise was key to all democratizations, and elections and nonviolent tactics also were central. New democracies must deal with the "torturer problem" and the "praetorian problem" and attempt to develop democratic values and processes. Disillusionment with democracy, Huntington argues, is necessary to consolidating democracy. He concludes the book with an analysis of the political, economic, and cultural factors that will decide whether or not the third wave continues. Several "Guidelines for Democratizers" offer specific, practical suggestions for initiating and carrying out reform. Huntington's emphasis on practical application makes this book a valuable tool for anyone engaged in the democratization process. At this volatile time in history, Huntington's assessment of the processes of democratization is indispensable to understanding the future of democracy in the world.
Author: Larry Jay Diamond
Publisher: JHU Press
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 570
ISBN-13: 9780801862731
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →"The country-specific chapters serve to underline the differences between African democracy and liberal democracy, yet some authors are at pains to emphasize that whatever their limitations, African democracies are an advance over what had gone before." -- African Studies Review
Author: Thomas Kwasi Tieku
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2017-01-03
Total Pages: 268
ISBN-13: 1442235314
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The African Union (AU) is the leading international organization on the African continent. Established in 2001, it consists of fifty-four members, a ten-member Commission, political organs, such as the Assembly, Pan-African Parliament, and a body where civil society groups are represented. The AU seeks the political and socio-economic integration of the African continent and has emerged as a key player in international politics. Since its creation, the AU has tackled a wide range of issues, including health epidemics (Ebola), undemocratic change of governments, gender inequality, wars, poverty and climate change. It has also led military interventions in Burundi, Comoros, Sudan, and Somalia and adopted key legal instruments to prevent transnational terrorism, bad governance, human rights abuses, corruption and promoted economic development. Governing Africa shows how the AU has faced these challenges by providing a comprehensive and critical examination of AU's performance and role, explaining the innovative and homegrown solutions it has developed in the last decade. Going beyond the traditional security-centric discussion of AU, it analyzes other equally important issues that the AU has dealt with, such as human rights and democracy promotion. For those interested in global studies, the 3D model advanced in this book provides excellent theoretical model for studying IOs anywhere in the world. The first book to deal with the AU as a multi-dimensional, dynamic political organization, Governing Africa takes stock of AU’s successes and failures in its first decade.