Democratic Progress and Retreat in Africa: The State and Institutions of Good Governance

Abstract

Current debates on democratization are overshadowed by the possible retreat of democracy and causes for the democratic backslide worldwide. This paper seeks to shed some light on these issues in the African context. Is democracy on a retreat in the region? It seeks to assess the general trends of democracy and its major challenges in Africa. First, I draw a picture of democracy in the region during the last decades since when the slowdown began in the second half of the 2000s, by looking at variations in performance across major domains of democracy as well as in performance across regions. Second, I examine deeper challenges to democracy that have received marginal attention in democratization studies. I argue that (i) an effective state able to claim a monopoly on legitimate violence, secure the rule of law, and provide basic public services as well as (ii) a “good” government relatively clean from widespread corruption, accountable to the public, and promote economic growth and social welfare are critical to the deepening of democracy over the long-run. I draw data from Freedom House, the Mo Ibrahim Index on Governance in Africa, and the Afrobarometer to measure several of these indicators across countries. At the end, through a short survey of Kenya and Botswana I show how success and failure to achieve effective states and good governance institutions are critical requisites in the consolidation of democracy.

Keywords: democracy, the state, state capacity, good governance, service delivery