The Democracy Barometers (Part I): Formal Versus Informal Institutions in Africa

A decade and a half after the first African regime transitions and despite growing popular disillusionment with democracy in practice, the general idea of "rule by the people" remains an attractive prospect for solid majorities of citizens. But popular attachment to the specific institutions of a democratic regime—and how willing citizens feel to apply formal criteria of institutional development to the evaluation of regime performance—is a much more varied and tentative matter.