Africa Today articles from October 1996

Africa Today archives from October 1996

Where is the third wave? A critical evaluation of Africa's non-transition to democracy.(Reassessing Democratic Transitions, 1990-1995)
October 1, 1996... After raising hopes of a major political renewal, Africa's "second wave" of democratization seems to be running out of steam. Afro-pessimism is again in fashion and many feel that the emergent trends are better captured by the incessant...

Can democratic transitions tame political successions?(Reassessing Democratic Transitions, 1990-1995)
October 1, 1996... This article contends that since the dramatic disintegration of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, most of Africa has not experienced democratic transitions. Instead, in response to pressure from external donors, the changes in...

Revolutionary Islam in North Africa: challenges and responses.(Reassessing Democratic Transitions, 1990-1995)
October 1, 1996... Two potent forces - the rise of militant Islam and the resurgence of nationalism - have attracted attention to North Africa, the site of "some of the most active and powerful fundamentalist Muslim movements."(1) These forces have risen all over...

Democracy and Political Change in Sub-Saharan Africa.
October 1, 1996... The wave of movements for democratization that swept across Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s has continued to produce a proliferation of writings by Africanists attempting to explain this phenomenon. The pessimism about democracy on the...

Democracy and Development in Africa.
October 1, 1996... The wave of movements for democratization that swept across Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s has continued to produce a proliferation of writings by Africanists attempting to explain this phenomenon. The pessimism about democracy on the...

Directory of African Media.
October 1, 1996... The wave of movements for democratization that swept across Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s has continued to produce a proliferation of writings by Africanists attempting to explain this phenomenon. The pessimism about democracy on the...

Namibia: The Wall of Silence: The Dark Days of the Liberation Struggle.
October 1, 1996... Namibia's widely praised transition to market and democratic practices since independence has recently come under more critical scrutiny. Coinciding with the second national elections in December 1994, which brought the governing party of the...

Namibia's Liberation Struggle: The Two-Edged Sword.
October 1, 1996... Namibia's widely praised transition to market and democratic practices since independence has recently come under more critical scrutiny. Coinciding with the second national elections in December 1994, which brought the governing party of the...

The Lost May Day: Namibian Workers Struggle for Independence.
October 1, 1996... Namibia's widely praised transition to market and democratic practices since independence has recently come under more critical scrutiny. Coinciding with the second national elections in December 1994, which brought the governing party of the...

Protecting Human Rights in Africa: Strategies and Roles of Non-Governmental Organizations.
October 1, 1996... The dreary view of the deterioration of human rights in Africa presented by Robert Kaplan in the Atlantic Monthly (August 1994) and in his book The Ends of the Earth(1) is widely shared in political and intellectual circles. The debacle in...

Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority.
October 1, 1996... A leading scholar of negotiation and African politics, I. William Zartman has assembled a superior collection of essays on state collapse/state restoration, launched with his own stimulating theoretical overview. Although not indicated in the...

Ghana Under PNDC Rule.
October 1, 1996... Since before independence, Ghana has been a leader in Africa, a harbinger of trends both good and bad. Never has this been more true than in the period since 1981, under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) of Flight Lieutenant Jerry...

The Eritrean Struggle for Independence: Domination, Resistance, Nationalism, 1941-1993.
October 1, 1996... Ruth Iyob has produced an essential volume for the understanding of political development on the Horn. She declares that her book began as an effort to answer what appears to be a simple question: Why did it take so long for Eritrea to emerge...

The State and the Provision of Social Services in Sierra Leone Since Independence, 1961-1991.
October 1, 1996... One of the most prolific authors in Sierra Leone, C. Magbaily Fyle should be commended for editing the seven case studies in this book that examine the relationship between the state and the provision of social services in Sierra Leone over the...

The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya.
October 1, 1996... Is politics in the typical underdeveloped country a postmodern spectacle in which much may happen but nothing matters at the end? Exaggerated only a bit, this is one of the disquieting questions that lingers after finishing this gem of a book...