Voice and Power in Africa's Democracy: Institutions, Participation and Accountability

Description

Africa has made notable progress in its nascent democracy but with uneven performance across countries. However, across the board, challenges abound. Central to Africa’s checkered democratic narrative is the weakness of its democratic institutions, participatory mechanisms and accountability platforms. This book interrogates these elements with the role and capacity of the parliament, political parties, media, freedom of information law, trade union movements, gender empowerment mechanisms and accountability methods and processes all under examination. The weakness of democratic institutions has had a corrosive effect on political accountability and limits the scope for popular participation in governance. In many countries, innovative practices, and new social and political encounters are emerging that challenge old institutional cultures, promote reforms and demand accountability from the governing elite. The book captures these varied, innovative patterns of democratic change. With first hand knowledge and expertise of the continent, the contributors analyze the issues, trends, problems and challenges in these critical areas of Africa’s democratic growth. The conclusion is that strengthening democratic institutions, opening up the political space for enhanced political participation and ensuring political accountability will determine the course, prospects and quality of Africa’s budding democracy. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of tables Notes on contributors Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1 Unbundling liberal democracy: institutions, participation and accountability Part I Institutions, accountability and reforms 2 African presidentialism revisited: between ‘Big Man metaphor’ and institutional politics 3 Presidentialism in Ghana: examining institutional effectiveness for horizontal accountability between the legislature and the executive 4 The presidency and democratic developmentalism in Southern Africa 5 Explaining the mixed fortunes of African opposition parties in their quest for state power: an institutional and strategic analysis 6 Political parties and democratic development in Africa: Nigeria and South Africa in comparative perspectives 7 Promoting accountable governance in Africa: issues, challenges and policy reforms Part II Popular participation 8 Rethinking organised labour’s engagement with the political process in Nigeria: issues in alliance building and popular participation 9 Political representation in the Mauritian democracy: analyzing the gender deficit 10 From the newspaper to Facebook: new media, intermediality and political participation in Africa 11 The role of access to information for democratisation and governance in Africa Index