Publisher's Synopsis
John A. Wiseman, who has already established an international reputation for his writings on African democracy, here presents, for the first time in a book-length study, an examination and analysis of the struggle since 1989 for the democratization of African political systems. In a comparative manner, covering all the 48 states of sub-saharan Africa, he analyses the complex series of factors which brought about pressure for change of existing authoritarian systems and assesses the results of those pressures to date. Although stressing the broadly common pattern of pressures for change, Wiseman also emphasizes the great diversity of outcomes of this struggle for democracy in different African states. He concludes with a cautiously optimistic assessment of the prospects for the consolidation of democracy in African states.
