Lessons learnt so far on African democratisation

The consensus it seems amongst scholars of African conflict is that following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the US as the global super power, Africa experienced a wave of democratisation. However, opinion diverges on whether or not Africa has benefited from this democratisation. Some argue that Africans wanted democratisation following their experiences with one party governments and autocratic dictators, whereas others argue that democratisation was imposed on Africa through structural adjustment loans from Western governments, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The situation in many African countries following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s was one of transition. African people, recovering from the economic mismanagement of their dictator governments, who in turn stopped receiving funding and support from the Soviet Union, took advantage of the changing times, and challenged their governments, leading to a number of major civil wars, such as the one in Zaire. Zaire, in this particular case though was run by Mobutu Sese Seko, a US sponsored dictator, supported as a bulwark against Communism during the Cold War. In any case, the politics of the Cold War ended, and African countries were left to rely on loans from international financial institutions and Western governments. The debt acquired from these loans, in addition to the debts accumulated during the Cold War, resulted in an extremely difficult economic situation in Africa. It is for this reason, that scholars such as Zach Williams argue that Africans turned to democracy. It really is a combination of these factors though which enabled opposition groups to seize power in many African countries. The debate though is whether or not democratisation in Africa is a good thing. The consensus it seems is that democratisation in Africa is not working, as corruption is too ingrained within political culture in many African countries. This, and the fact that though some African countries adopted multi party democracy, this remains a facade, as the governments of these countries simply quash the opposition parties through, for example, the nationalism and state ownership of the media and amending constitutions to allow for governments to enjoy unlimited terms in office. My view at this stage, is that limited democratisation as it is experienced in many African countries is better than no democratisation at all. Some may argue that the culture in Africa is not suited to democracy. However, so long as power remains in the hands of autocratic dictators who abuse the trust of those they govern, the energy and creativity of the African people cannot be brought to fruition.