Patrick QUANTIN - In Africa Democracy is in Search of a Model

Pouvoirs n°129 - avril 2009 - La démocratie en Afrique - p.65-76

Keeping its distance from discourses about the possibility or impossibility of democracy, this article tries to show that today Africa is not confronted with a single rigid exterior model, i.e. “imported democracy”. It can choose from a variety of models that it can adapt taking into account particular constraints. This situation might be puzzling for the outside observer but it does not necessarily lead to the imposition of pure authoritarianism on the long term. Over a century, different conceptions of democracy have appeared, corresponding to particular circumstances such as colonial dependency and under-development, which form a number of strata whose accumulation offers a frame of reference. Résumé

Référence électonique : Patrick QUANTIN, "In Africa Democracy is in Search of a Model", Pouvoirs, revue française d’études constitutionnelles et politiques, n°129, 2009, p.65-76. Consulté le 01-06-2012. URL : http://www.revue-pouvoirs.fr/In-Africa-Democracy-is-in-Search.html