 POLITICAL LIBERALIZATION OR ARMED CONFLICTS? POLITICAL CHANGES IN POST–COLD WAR AFRICAThe Developing Economies, 2007, vol. 45, issue 2, 172-193 Abstract: The African political scene after the end of the Cold War has been characterized by two major issues: the development of political liberalization and frequent outbreaks of armed conflict. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the relationship between these two issues. Although political liberalization cannot directly explain the outbreak of armed conflicts, the relationship can be understood by taking patrimonial characteristics of the post‐colonial African states into account. The economic crisis and the change of the international environment after the 1980s compelled African states to launch the transformation, during which three results emerged: countries advancing successfully toward transformation into “polyarchy”; countries having fallen into severe armed conflicts; and countries in which authoritarian rulers managed to survive through introducing superficial measures of political liberalization. The characteristics of political change after the end of the Cold War can be therefore understood as transition processes of the post‐colonial African states. Date: 2007 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:deveco:v:45:y:2007:i:2:p:172-193 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article The Developing Economies is currently edited by Katsuji Nakagane More articles in The Developing Economies from Institute of Developing Economies Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.