Introduction: A Continent in Transition

Abadir M. Ibrahim
Additional contact information
Abadir M. Ibrahim: St. Thomas University School of Law

Chapter Chapter 1 in The Role of Civil Society in Africa’s Quest for Democratization, 2015, pp 3-15 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Africa was the last battle ground of colonial ambition, of the cold war, and today finds itself inching towards being a new battle ground for what has been described as the “war on terror.” Behind the shadow of these phenomena that dominate headlines and histories were African activists who fought for liberation and democratization. While independence would come first, a major breakthrough in democratization came at the end of the cold war, when Africa was ridding itself of a swarm of communist, capitalist, nationalist, and apartheid dictatorships, and the call for democracy had become more audible than ever before. This shift was partly induced, on one hand, by the inability of the falling communist bloc and the loss of Western incentive to sustain dictatorships. On the other hand, a uniquely African call for democracy, a call that had been silenced by cold war politics, was once again resurfacing. A combination of these factors led Africa to glide onto what has been dubbed the “third wave” of democratic transition (Huntington, 1991). The same call also resonates behind the recent wave of revolution and transition that hit North Africa.

Keywords: Civil Society; Civil Society Organization; Democratic Transition; Democratic Consolidation; Associational Life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:aaechp:978-3-319-18383-1_1

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783319183831

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-18383-1_1

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().