External impediments of effective popular participation in Africa : toward democratic development in the 1990s

Abstract

"The harsh reality of State formation in post-colonial Africa is that, in many countries, the apparatus of governance has begun to crumble before it has been fully consolidated. There is a crisis of political authority that is just as severe as the well-known crisis of economic production. State-society relations now stand at a crossroads in Africa. The post-colonial trend to expand political control has peaked, with economic crisis forcing the State to retreat from overambitious commitments… loosening regulations on “economic production inevitably gives rise to pressures for political liberalization. To date the enthusiasm of African political elites for economic reform does not seem to encompass a new commitment to civil liberties and democracy' Michael Bratton (1989a: 409 & 412. Emphasis added)