This book explores public opinion in the parts of Africa that have recently experienced political and economic reforms. What views do Africans hold about democracy and a market economy? How do they behave in response to liberalization? Why do citizens think, feel, and react as they do? And what are the implications of mass opinion for the consolidation of fragile new regimes? In short, we explore the nature of public opinion — its content, origins, and outcomes — in all its glorious diversity in the leading reformist countries of the sub-Saharan subcontinent.

Needless to say, very little is presently known about these subjects. Thus, our first task is descriptive: to fill a gaping empirical hole and to help give voice to otherwise silent majorities of ordinary men and women. But we also harbor theoretical ambitions and an abiding interest in public policy. Why does public opinion vary cross-nationally and among different social and opinion groups within countries? What sort of theory — of interests, identities, or institutions — best explains African patterns of mass attitudes and action? By accounting for popular demands and satisfactions — or, more likely, dissatisfactions — this book enters evidence into long-standing, often heated, debates on the suitability of political democracy and market-friendly policies to African needs and conditions.

To introduce our topic, we present two vignettes — one apiece about democratic and market reforms — that illustrate the above preoccupations.