Search Results for: Afrobarometer

Neighbors’ lesson for Algeria: transitions are uncertain, unpredictable – and reversible

     

  Algeria’s interim leader Abdelkader Bensalah said an election to choose a successor to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will take place on July 4. Bouteflika, in power for twenty years, stepped… Read more »

Algeria’s transition scenarios: ‘dreams of democracy tempered by fear of Islamism’?

     

President Bouteflika’s resignation has left Algeria facing a period of uncertainty replete with hope and fear, The (London) Times reports. The hope is that, at long last, this oil and gas-rich… Read more »

Inequality, insecurity, China threaten Africa’s democratization

     

Nearly one in three people living in West and Central Africa fear losing their homes and land in the next five years, according to a survey of 33 countries, making… Read more »

Nigeria’s flawed poll, corruption, state capture… Africa’s uneven democratic performance

     

Africa’s citizens demand democracy but do not think they are getting it, observers suggest. Afrobarometer [a partner of the National Endowment for Democracy] describes this sub-category as “dissatisfied democrats.” According… Read more »

Ethiopia: reform needs assistance to overcome ‘stiff resistance’

     

After more than two years of protests, power changed hands in Ethiopia last April. Under the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia is shedding its reputation as a country that… Read more »

Africa’s ‘dissatisfied democrats’ – potential bulwarks against authoritarianism

     

What’s going on with democracy in Africa? asks Robert Mattes, a professor in the University of Strathclyde’s School of Government and Public Policy. The research network Afrobarometer [a partner of… Read more »

Winning back trust in Nigeria’s rescheduled elections?

     

  The two major parties contesting Nigerian presidential and parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for last weekend but delayed at the last moment, have said they will continue campaigning despite a… Read more »

Nigeria’s election: ‘competition in a time of transition & terror’

     

Nigerians will go to the polls to cast votes in national elections on Saturday, February 16. The country has a long history of vote rigging and it has evolved over time. In earlier… Read more »

Projecting Islamic ‘soft power’ in wake of failed Arab Spring

     

U.S. disengagement from the daily irritations of Middle East politics has encouraged Arab allies—particularly Saudi Arabia—to adopt more aggressive foreign policies, which has in turn required an ideological language for… Read more »

Do international observers ‘go easy’ on African elections?

     

  Anecdotal evidence of observers accepting low-quality elections in Africa is easy to find. Yet systematic, empirical evidence has been absent — until now, argues Susan Dodsworth, a research fellow in… Read more »