Overview

Why has it been so difficult to sustain democracy in Africa? At the end of colonialism, the liberation movements promised so much in the name of freedom and democracy. Over the last fifty years, however, most of the governments that sprang from these movements have behaved in ways that are markedly undemocratic. The opposition parties which came to power after the end of corrupt and authoritarian regimes have not done much better. For ordinary citizens, the cost of this 'democracy gap' has been devastating - uncountable numbers have lost their lives, there has been a staggering loss of human potential, development has been stunted and societies have imploded. William Gumede's timely and powerful analysis of the fate of democracy across the continent is essential reading.

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9781848130418

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William M Gumede is Senior Associate and Oppenheimer Fellow, St. Antony's College, Oxford. He is on the faculty of the Graduate School of Public & Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He writes a blog on global politics for the Washington Post. He was Deputy Editor of The Sowetan newspaper in Johannesburg. He is a contributing author to the New History of South Africa, Tafelberg Publishers, 2007, and the author of Thabo Mbeki: The Battle for the Soul of the ANC, new edition, Zed Books, 2007.

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