Reconstructing the Third World of Democratization in Africa (review)

This book consists of an introductory chapter and seven additional chapters spanning theoretical issues, "the waves of democratization" in Africa, and democratic consolidation. Authored by Michigan State University Associate Professor Rita Kiki Edozie, the book's central argument is that the current discourse on democratization in Africa does not reflect the new realities on the continent. The locus of these new realities is the transition from authoritarianism to democratic rule. The author, among other laudable details, asserts: "For so long Africa has been characterized as a continent-wide failure in democratic government. . . . [But] in 2007, most of the African political systems were either full or restricted democratic polities" (p. xii). Therefore, she argues, "The academic and policy communities need new analytical methods, conceptual frameworks, and classifications to explain these new political processes and ideas" (p. xiii).

Against this background, as a contribution to rethinking the discourse on democratization in Africa, Edozie examines how democratization has developed in Africa, and how it performs in dynamic and diverse ways. She uses the comparative method to examine the experiences of several African states and regimes. She begins with a detailed survey of the academic literature for the purpose of locating her contribution among the studies that have been done on the subject. She criticizes scholars and policymakers for imposing theoretical and empirical constructs that are externally driven and anchored on the assumptions of the neomodernization model of political development and its emphasis on patrimonialism and graft as the bedrocks of African politics. Similarly, she rejects culturalist analyses of democracy in Africa that prescribe the reversion to communitarian democracy rooted in African values. Her rationale is that African societies have changed beyond the scope of the precolonial polities; therefore, appropriate alternative modalities need to be developed. In this vein, she employs postcolonial democratic theory as her theoretical framework. Her approach revolves around local, national, and global factors based on precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial historical development. Importantly, it features the values of those experiencing democracy, instead of projecting the values of those who are performing the analysis (p. xvi).

Edozie examines five meanings of democracy in Africa: liberal democracy, consociational democracy, populist democracy, participatory democracy, and socialist democracy. This is followed by an analysis of the development of democracy on the continent through the crucible of three "waves of democracy." With regard to the third wave and the associated issues of democratic transition, she argues that it is shaped and conditioned by a broad array of domestic and external forces and factors.

She subsequently tackles the issue of democratic consolidation. She begins by examining the utility of electoral-authoritarianism and delegative-democracy models by applying them to eleven case studies, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. She concludes that the two models do not take into consideration the broad array of historical, internal, and external factors and forces that have shaped the pathways to democratization in these countries. Alternatively, she suggests a reconstructivist approach as the best framework for analyzing the paths African states have taken to democratization.

Finally, Edozie suggests that any discussion of the future of democracy on the continent must take into consideration two major sets of factors: the historical and social contexts of the democratization process in each African state. Next, the analysis must take cognizance of the variability in democratic experiences, rather than the use of one-size-fits-all models.

The book makes several major contributions to the development of the scholarly literature and the implementation of policies. First, it provides a reminder that liberal democracy is not the only model of democratization and democracy, contrary to the impression given in the scholarly literature and policy circles. Second, democracy can be conceptualized in multiple ways, depending on the form; hence, there is not a single definition of democracy. Third, democratic transitions are shaped and conditioned by various domestic and external forces and factors; this is in contradistinction to the common approach in the scholarly literature—which focuses exclusively on internal...