Democracy in Africa

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a widespread and rapid adoption of democratic institutions at the end of the Cold War, representing a major change in the political life of the region. Yet while stereotypes of military dictators and corrupt patriarchs no longer hold absolute sway over popular images of sub-Saharan Africa, the region is far from being (or being seen as) a stronghold of liberal democracy. Democratization has found some success in a few countries but faces major challenges in others. How has the political liberalization of the early 1990s changed African politics? Why has democratization taken such divergent paths across the region? This course examines these questions by studying key patterns of continuity and change since independence.