Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Democracy and Democratization in Africa: A Plea for Pragmatic Possibilism
Author:Khagram, SanjeevISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:Africa Today
Volume:40
Issue:4
Period:4th Quarter
Pages:55-72
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:democracy
Politics and Government
nationalism
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/4186943
Abstract:This paper advocates 'pragmatic possibilism', a perspective on the probability of and potential for democratization and democracy in Africa which is different from the current perspectives. In the first section, the author specifies the concepts of 'democracy' and 'transition to democracy'. Two dominant comparative and theoretical perspectives on democracy and democratization (the 'conditions for democracy' and 'transitions to democracy' perspectives) are then briefly outlined and it is argued that these perspectives are not mutually exclusive. The author claims that an integrated approach which reconciles both perspectives can be useful for scholars and practitioners of democracy in Africa. A respecification of the phenomena to be examined and a reconceptualization of the causal mechanisms that link them together yield a potent approach. Next, the author proposes some hypotheses about the central challenges African countries are likely to face during their democratization efforts, viz. the triggering of a transition from the 'ancien regimes' to political democracy; structural adjustment and economic transformation; and ethnic reconciliation and national integration. The author concludes with some reflections on the institutionalization of political democracy in Africa. Notes, ref.
Views
Cover