UN CONTINENT EN MOUVEMENT. REGIMES POLITIQUES ET ELECTIONS EN AFRIQUE

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It has sometimes been suggested, with a certain intellectual levity, that democracy is a political practice foreign to Africa and that the “graft” would not have taken! Thus, democracy in Africa is spoken of not as a deep aspiration and a demand of the people, as a sine qua non of good governance and the rule of law, but as a process imposed from outside. Moreover, it is not uncommon for this “outside” itself to give the impression of being the master and ultimate decision-maker of the democratic life of African societies.
Is democracy possible in Africa? Is democracy compatible with African traditions? And to this is added an even more curious question: is democracy desirable in Africa? These are some of the most frequently asked questions about democracy in Africa, and based on certain purely circumstantial and/or partial answers, we often end up declaring nothing less than the incompatibility of democracy with African cultures.
However, beyond the essential deconstruction work required with regard to these theses and other popular ideas, it is high time that the debate on democracy in Africa be rationalized and that reflection be focused more on the model of democracy best suited to observable African realities.