Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:15:41.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Conclusions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2009

Michael Bratton
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Robert Mattes
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
E. Gyimah-Boadi
Affiliation:
University of Ghana
Get access

Summary

Some say there is little new under the African sun. After all, Africa's semidemocracies and informal economies are actually mixtures of old and new. The family tree of African regimes includes not only colonial rule — which sought to restrict popular politics to a traditional realm and acknowledged minimal state responsibility for public welfare — but also one-party hegemony — which aimed at the opposite: periodic electoral mobilization and planned social transformation. Between these extremes, and overlaid recently with a thin veneer of liberalizing reforms, lie the hybrid systems of Africa today.

Contrary to the view that nothing ever changes in Africa, our study of public opinion challenges sacrosanct assumptions about Africans and their beliefs. We find, for example, that Afrobarometer respondents understand democracy in largely liberal and procedural terms; that popular demand for democracy depends more on the delivery of political rights than on economic performance; that a majority of people extend conditional support to the principle of market pricing for consumer goods and public services; that occupational identities are supplanting ethnic identities in many places; that Muslims are no less supportive of democracy than non-Muslims; that national identity is strong almost everywhere on the continent; and that the Africans we interviewed base their political judgments more on rational calculation than on group loyalty. As their awareness of public affairs increases, and based on their own adult experiences, Africans are learning about reform.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Conclusions
  • Michael Bratton, Michigan State University, Robert Mattes, University of Cape Town, E. Gyimah-Boadi, University of Ghana
  • Book: Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617324.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Conclusions
  • Michael Bratton, Michigan State University, Robert Mattes, University of Cape Town, E. Gyimah-Boadi, University of Ghana
  • Book: Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617324.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusions
  • Michael Bratton, Michigan State University, Robert Mattes, University of Cape Town, E. Gyimah-Boadi, University of Ghana
  • Book: Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa
  • Online publication: 15 December 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617324.015
Available formats
×