Real Constitutional Change in Sub-Saharan Africa after the Third Wave of Democratization: A Comparative Historical Inquiry

Sub-Saharan Africa has been the scene of a sizeable wave of social and political protests in recent years. These protests have many aspects in common, while at the same time there is a certain historic continuity connecting them to previous protests, with which they also have much in common. What makes them new, however, is a hybrid nature that combines street protest and online action, making them similar to protests occurring in other parts of the world during the same period. Based on a literature review and field work on three countries, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this article addresses some of the main features of what some authors have called the “third wave of African protests.” The study points out how the digital environment is galvanizing a new process of popular opposition and enabling both greater autonomy for actors promoting the protests and greater interaction at the regional level. With the sociopolitical impact in the short and medium term still uncertain, the third wave of African protests is giving birth to a new political and democratic culture in the region as a whole.

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Deadly elections: post-election violence in Nigeria

The Journal of Modern African Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022278x17000490 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 56 (1) ◽

pp. 143-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Henrik Angerbrandt

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

The State ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Third Wave ◽

Local Dynamics ◽

The Third ◽

History Of ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Election Violence ◽

Scholarly Attention

AbstractTwo decades after the ‘third wave of democratization’, extensive violence continues to follow elections in sub-Saharan Africa. Whereas national processes connected to pre-election violence have received increased scholarly attention, little is known of local dynamics of violence after elections. This article examines the 2011 Nigerian post-election violence with regard to the ways in which national electoral processes interweave with local social and political disputes. The most affected state, Kaduna State, has a history of violent local relations connected to which group should control politics and the state. It is argued that electoral polarisation aggravated national ethno-religious divisions that corresponded to the dividing line of the conflict in Kaduna. A rapid escalation of violence was facilitated by local social networks nurtured by ethno-religious grievances.

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Democracy and Reconfigured Power in Africa

Current History ◽

10.1525/curh.2011.110.739.324 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 110 (739) ◽

pp. 324-330 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Richard Joseph

Keyword(s):

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Third Wave ◽

The Third ◽

Sub Saharan

The third wave of democracy did sweep across much of sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s, but has now subsided, except for ripples and eddies.

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Democratic demands and social policies: the politics of health reform in Ghana

The Journal of Modern African Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022278x11000255 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 381-408 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Giovanni Carbone

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Health Reform ◽

Policy Diffusion ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Social Policies ◽

Third Wave ◽

Policy Feedback ◽

International Policy ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Impact

ABSTRACTIt is commonly assumed that the advent of democracy tends to bring about social welfare improvements. Few studies, however, have examined empirically the impact of third-wave democratisation processes on social policies in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Through a diachronic comparison, this paper examines the effects of Ghana's democratisation process on the evolution of its health policy. It shows that the emergence of democratic competition played an important role in the recent adoption of a crucial health reform. A policy feedback effect on politics and a process of international policy diffusion were additional but secondary factors.

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3. Institutional Perspectives

Politics in the Developing World ◽

10.1093/hepl/9780198737438.003.0003 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Lise Rakner ◽

Vicky Randall

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Informal Institutions ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Sociological Institutionalism ◽

The Third ◽

Rational Choice Institutionalism ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Electoral Quotas

This chapter examines the role of institutions and how institutionalism is applied in the analysis of politics in the developing world. It begins with a discussion of three main strands of institutionalism: sociological institutionalism, rational choice institutionalism, and historical institutionalism. It then considers political institutions in developing countries as well as the interrelationship between formal and informal institutions. Three cases are presented: the case from sub-Saharan Africa illustrates the salience of neo-patrimonial politics and competing informal and formal institutions, the second case relates to campaign clientelism in Peru and the third is concerned with electoral quotas in India. The chapter concludes by addressing the question of the extent to which the new institutionalism is an appropriate tool of analysis for developing countries.

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Understanding School Fees in Relation to both Access and Quality

10.1093/oso/9780192896865.003.0007 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 103-122

Author(s):

Sarah Kabay

Keyword(s):

Education Policy ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Secondary Analysis ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

National Education ◽

The Third ◽

National Education Policy ◽

Research Questions ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Access And Quality

Between 1990 and 2007, sixteen different countries in sub-Saharan Africa used national education policy to formally abolish school fees. Implementing its Universal Primary Education Policy in 1997, Uganda was the third country in sub-Saharan Africa to do so. School fee abolition is typically understood along a single dimension: access. Any cost associated with attending school is seen as discouraging access; conversely, efforts to reduce costs are seen as improving access. Little to no research has investigated the connection to quality. In this chapter, analyzing a school savings program presents the opportunity to investigate how an intervention that encouraged the payment of school fees relates to both access and quality. Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial and research questions on mediation and moderation are used to explore this issue.

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Informal repression, zero-sum politics and late third wave transitions

The Journal of Modern African Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022278x00003396 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 383-405 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Linda Kirschke

Keyword(s):

Political Reform ◽

Third Parties ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Third Wave ◽

Southern Europe ◽

Unique Combination ◽

Ruling Elites ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Zero Sum ◽

Multiparty Politics

Transitions to multiparty politics occurred throughout Sub-Saharan Africa with remarkable speed in the early 1990s, linking the region to the broader ‘third wave of democratisation’ which, from 1974, progressively marked many areas of southern Europe, Latin America and post-communist Europe. Unlike most earlier cases of political reform, however, the changes in Sub-Saharan Africa demonstrated a strong external orientation. A unique combination of donor pressure, internal opposition and ‘snowballing’ led regimes to rapidly introduce multiparty politics regardless of whether ruling elites in fact supported democratisation. The particular constraints surrounding these transitions place much of Sub-Saharan Africa at high risk of civil violence. Drawing on the cases of Cameroon, Rwanda and Kenya, this article argues that, during transitional periods, the greater the conflict between ruling elites and opposition forces, and the greater the pressure which regimes face to proceed with reform, the greater the likelihood that states will sponsor ‘informal repression’, covert violations by third parties, to regain political control.

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POPULATION GROWTH, EMPLOYMENT, AND LIVELIHOODS: THE TRIPLE CHALLENGE

Journal of Demographic Economics ◽

10.1017/dem.2016.15 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 83 (1) ◽

pp. 51-61

Author(s):

John Cleland

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Population Growth ◽

Age Structure ◽

Total Population ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Foreign Investors ◽

The Third ◽

Family Enterprises ◽

Favorable Change ◽

Sub Saharan

AbstractOver the next 35 years, the total population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to increase by 118%, with a greater rise of of 156% of people in the prime working ages. To cope with population growth and exploit the slowly unfolding, favorable change in age structure, countries face a triple challenge. Agricultural productivity has to improve. Prospects are good, though climate change remains a threat. Manufacturing jobs need to be created on a far larger scale than hitherto. Success is uncertain because much depends on foreign investors and the actions of competing low-wage countries in Asia. The third challenge concerns the non-agricultural informal sector, which, even under optimistic assumptions about manufacturing, will continue to provide livelihoods for a large segment of the population. Entrepreneurship needs to be encouraged so that an increasing proportion of family enterprises evolve into larger businesses. There is no blueprint to achieve this evolution and much will depend on the hard work and ingenuity of individuals.

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Radiocarbon Dates for Sub-Saharan Africa: VI

The Journal of African History ◽

10.1017/s0021853700009336 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 149-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Brian M. Fagan

Keyword(s):

Iron Age ◽

Fourth Century ◽

Eighth Century ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Third Century ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

European Contact ◽

The Third ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Eastern And Southern Africa

The Sixth List contains many dates from Eastern and Southern Africa. An important sequence of dates from Malawi is published, indicating that the Iron Age there had begun as early as the third century A.D. The beginnings of the Zambian Early Iron Age are well established by the fourth century, while important new dates for ‘Dimple-based’ wares in Rwanda and Kenya place that pottery type within the same time span.The Palabora dates from the Transvaal indicate that the Limpopo valley was settled by Iron Age people by the eighth century, and numerous isolated samples are recorded. The five dates from Ife in Nigeria confirm that the terracotta sculpture there was being made before European contact, while numerous samples for earlier sites are published.

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Kaleidoscope

English Today ◽

10.1017/s0266078400004922 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 39-41

Keyword(s):

Third World ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

The Third ◽

Economic Progress ◽

Bank Accounts ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Third World

‘All other regions of the Third World made economic progress in the 1980s; not sub-Saharan Africa. Arms are not the only reason. Every year at least $15 billion in capital leaves Africa. Much of it is booty, siphoned off by vampire elites. For example, last April the Christian Association of Nigeria revealed that more than 3,000 Nigerians operated Swiss bank accounts and that Nigerians were near the top of the list of Third World patrons of Swiss banks.

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