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Political Change and Political Research in Africa; Agenda for the 1990s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Edmond J. Keller
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Extract

The decade between 1963 and 1973 was heralded by some observers as liberal democracy’s darkest hour in many parts of the non-Western world. During this period seven Latin American democracies collapsed; one African country after the other rejected multi-party liberal democracy in favor of either single-party or military regimes; Soviet hegemony prevailed and seemed to be growing stronger in communist Eastern Europe and parts of the Third World; and pockets of authoritarianism could even be found in Southern Europe (e. g., Spain, Portugal, Greece). Such developments led scholars to concentrate their research efforts on trying to understand why democracy had failed to either take hold or to survive in those places where it had been successfully introduced.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , Winter 1991 , pp. 50 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1991 

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Footnotes

*

Edmond J. Keller is President of the African Studies Association. He is Professor of Political Science at UCLA and the author of numerous books and articles on political change in Africa.

References

Notes

1. See, for example, Diamond, Larry, Linz, Juan and Lipset, Seymour Martin, eds.. Democracy in Developing Countries, Volume Two: Africa., Boulder, Col., Lynne Reinner, 1988 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ronen, Dov, Democracy and Pluralism in Africa, Boulder, Col., Lynne Reinner, 1986 Google Scholar; Wiseman, John A., Democracy in Black Africa: Survival and Revival, New York, Paragon House, 1990 Google Scholar; and, et. al., Walter Oyugi, Democratic Theory and Practice in Africa., London, James Currey, 1987 Google Scholar.

2. See, Meyns, Peter and Nabudere, Dani Wadada, eds., Democracy and the One-Party State in Africa, Hamburg, Institut Fur Afrika-Kunde, 1989 Google Scholar; Hayward, Fred M., ed., Elections in Independent Africa. Boulder, Col., Westview, 1987 Google Scholar; and Nyong’o, PeterAnyang’, ed.. Popular Struggles for Democracy in Africa, London, Zed Press, 1987 Google Scholar.

3. See for example, Hyden, Goren and Bratton, Michael, eds., Politics and Governance in Africa. Boulder, Col., Lynne Reinner, 1991 Google Scholar; Center, Carter, “Beyond Autocracy in Africa,” Working Papers for the Inaugural Seminar of the Governance in Africa Program, February 17-18, 1989 Google Scholar; and. Center, Carter, “African Governance in the 1990s,” Working Papers from the Second Annual Seminar of the African Governance Program, March 23-25, 1990 Google Scholar.

4. See, Dye, Thomas. Understanding Public Policy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1978 Google Scholar.

5. Freedom in the World 1989-90, New York, Freedom House, 1990.