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Democratization in Africa conference

Category
Conference
Date
-
Date
Friday 4 - Saturday 5 December, 2009
Category

[tab:{About the Conference}]

Almost two decades have passed since the 'third wave' of democratization began to roll across Sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1990s, and while the holding of regular elections has become relatively well-established in many countries, perhaps most successfully in Ghana, electoral processes have also been deeply flawed in recent instances such as Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

It is also unclear how many African states are moving closer to 'democratic consolidation', or instead inhabit the 'grey zone' between democracy and autocracy as 'defective democracies' or 'electoral authoritarianism'.

It is thus timely to reflect back on the relative successes and shortcomings experienced, and to look forward to future prospects for democratisation on the sub-continent.

  • How does multi-party politics actually work on the sub-continent and how democratic are African 'democracies'?
  • Does a democratic façade merely conceal authoritarian leadership? Do results merely reflect an ethnic or religious census?
  • Are 'winner-takes-all' elections and centralised governments the best frameworks for Africa, or do broad coalitions and/or federalism provide a better way forward?

It is also appropriate to ask broader questions about the nature of democracy in Africa.

  • Is democracy only seen in liberal and procedural terms and is this simply the 'democracy of alienation', as suggested by Claude Ake?
  • Or are there prospects for more substantive forms of democracy that place participation and socio-economic inequalities at the centre of analysis?
  • To what extent is democratic sovereignty a sham, with economic policy still dictated by international financial institutions and Western governments?

These questions will provide the basis of a two-day conference to be held at the University of Leeds in December 2009, organised by Dr Gabrielle Lynch and Prof Gordon Crawford of the School of Politics and International Studies and the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS). Abstracts for papers have now been accepted and accepted papers will be organised into panels, with the following themes likely to be included in the programme (provisional).

  • Voting, Parties and Identity: Africa’s Curse?
  • Multi-Party Elections and Violence: Solution or Cause?
  • Decentralisation and Federalism: Effective or Failed Strategies?
  • Democracy in Post-Conflict Societies: A Sensible Choice?
  • Democracy and Traditional Authority: Compatible or Mutually Exclusive?
  • External Agents: Facilitators or Obstructionists?
  • Democracy as Second Liberation: Procedural or Substantive?

[tab:{Conference Programme}]

FRIDAY 4 DECEMBER

8.30 – 9.30 Registration and Introduction

Session 1: 9.30-11.00

Panel 1a: Electoral Authoritarianism in Africa

  • Wale Adebanwi (University of California) and Ebenezer Obadare (University of Kansas): 'The Abrogation of the Electorate: An Emerging African Phenomenon'
  • Shadrack Nasong'o (Rhodes College, Memphis): 'Multiparty Electoral Contests and Democratization in Africa: Change and Continuity in Kenya and Tanzania'
  • Justin Willis (Durham University): '"We changed the laws": practice and malpractice in Sudan's elections'

Panel 1b: Local politics and democracy in Southern Africa

  • Thomas Koelble (University of Capetown) and Edward Lipuma (University of Miami): 'The Politics of Service Delivery in South Africa'
  • Charlotte Lemanski (University College London): 'The voices of the poor in urban governance: overlapping and competing spaces of community-level political participation in Cape Town'
  • Eddy Mazembo Mavungu (University of the Witwatersrand): 'People's democracy versus government's democracy: lessons from provincial boundary disputes in the post-apartheid South Africa'

Panel 2b: Decentralisation and democracy in Africa

  • Asiyati Chiweza (University of Malawi): 'Decentralisation and state formation in rural Malawi'
  • I. W. Katono (Uganda Christian University) and Terrell Manyak (Uganda Christian University): 'Impact of Multiparty Politics on Local Government in Uganda'
  • Blessings Chinsinga (University of Malawi): 'The Interface between Local Level Politics, Constitutionalism and State Formation in Malawi through the Lens of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF)'

11.00-11.30 COFFEE / TEA BREAK

Session 2: 11.30-1.00

Panel 2a: Imperialism and Democracy [ROAPE panel]

  • Yao Graham: ‘Democracy and Imperialism in Africa’
  • David Williams: 'Good Governance and the Liberal Project'

Panel 2b: The state of democracy in Southern and Eastern Africa

  • Greg Cameron (University of Edinburgh) and Sara Rich Dorman (University of Edinburgh): 'Problems of nationalism and democracy in Zimbabwe and Tanzania'
  • Anthony Lemon (University of Oxford): 'The implications for opposition parties of South Africa's 2009 general election'
  • Hermann Wasserman (University of Sheffield): 'Deepening democracy or widening the rift? The political role of media in South Africa and Namibia'

Panel 2c: Traditional authority and democracy in Africa

  • Henry Chingaipe (University of York & University of Malawi): 'State Formation, Traditional Leadership and Multiparty Democracy in Malawi'
  • Wolfram Laube (University of Bonn): 'Democratisation of Polycentric Governance Structures: Dynamics of local political arenas in northern Ghana'
  • Aslak Orre (CMI Bergen): 'Democracy and traditional authority: compatible or mutually exclusive?'

Panel 2d: Neo-patrimonialism, corruption and democratic politics

  • Lillian Cherotich (St. Anthony's College, Oxford University): 'Corruption and Democracy in Kenya'
  • Mufunanji Magalasi (University of Malawi): 'Malawian stage drama and post 1994 Democracy: From Du Chisiza's "Democracy Boulevard" to Nadzikambe's "Accidental death of Democracy"'
  • Stephanie Matti (La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia): 'An analysis of Congolese democratic institutions'

1.00-2.00 LUNCH

Session 3: 2.00 – 3.30

Panel 3a: Power sharing and democracy

  • Nic Cheeseman (University of Oxford): 'Power Sharing in Comparative Perspective: The Origins and Consequences of 'Unity Government' in Africa'
  • Lionel Cliffe (University of Leeds): 'Power-sharing in Kenya and Zimbabwe'
  • Christof Hartmann (University of Duisburg-Essen): 'Vertical Power-Sharing and Democratization in Africa'

Panel 3b: Religion and Democracy in Africa

  • Julia Leininger (German Development Institute, Bonn): 'Religion and Democracy in Africa: The Ban of Religious Parties and the Role of Islamic Actors in Mali’s and Senegal’s Democratizations'
  • Insa Nolte (University of Birmingham): 'No longer secular: Religion, democracy and the state in Nigeria'

Panel 3c: Traditional authority and democracy in modern Somaliland

  • Karl Sandstrom (University of St Andrews) 'Somaliland – Traditional Authority in Democracy'
  • Michael Walls (University College London) and Steve Kibble (Progressio): 'Somaliland: beyond the hybrid of 'traditional' and representative democratic systems'

3.30-4.00 COFFEE / TEA BREAK

Session 4: 4.00 – 5.30

Panel 4a: Power sharing in practice

  • George Omondi (African Research and Resource Forum (ARRF), Nairobi, Kenya): 'The challenges and prospects of coalition governments in Africa: examining the attempts by Kenya and Zimbabwe'
  • Philani Moyo (University of Fort Hare, South Africa): 'Zimbabwe’s Negotiated Inclusive Government: Is It a Messy Power-Sharing Experiment or a Positive Step Towards Democratisation?'

Panel 4b: Political institutions and democracy in West Africa

  • Francesca Dau (University of Rome 1, Sapienza): 'On African Parliaments: Constitutional and Electoral engineering in Plural Societies. (The case of Francophone African countries)'
  • David Enweremadu (Univerity of Ibadan, Nigeria): 'Judicial Reforms and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: 1999-2009'
  • Stephen Akinyemi Lafenwa (University of Ibardan, Nigeria): 'The Legislature and the challenges of democratic governance in Africa: The Nigerian Case'

 

Panel 4c: Democracy and Local Power I [ROAPE Panel]

  • Janet Bujra: 'The Politics of the queue: PLHA Politicisation and AIDS activism in Tanzania'
  • Chambi Chachage: 'A Tale of Two Laws: Dual Democratization of Land Governance in Tanzania'
  • Giuliano Martiniello: 'Democratisation, traditional authorities and land rights in South Africa'

6.00 – 7.30 Keynote Lecture: Prof. Patrick Bond – 'African democratic currents during extreme economic crisis'

8.00 CONFERENCE DINNER

SATURDAY 5 DECEMBER

Session 5: 9.30-11.00

Panel 5a: Leadership and elections

  • Heather Deegan (Middlesex University, London): 'Revisiting elections in Africa'
  • Tom Hewitt (University of Birmingham): 'Elites and Elections in Africa'
  • Tom Lodge (University of Witwatersrand): 'Alternation and leadership succession in African Democracies'

Panel 5b: Democracy Promotion in Africa

  • Oda van Cranenburgh (Leiden University): 'Democracy Promotion in Africa: institutional issues'
  • Rachel Hayman (University of Edinburgh): 'When Good Performers Go Astray: Budget Support and Democratization in Africa'
  • Jelmer Kamstra (University of Nijmegen): 'What is it that NGOs contribute to democracy? The case of internationally-sponsored Research and Advocacy Organisations in Ghana'

Panel 5c: Democracy and Local Power I [ROAPE Panel]

  • Henning Melber: 'Democracy without democrats? Liberation movements as governments in Southern Africa'.
  • Lionel Cliffe (University of Leeds): 'The Promise of Liberation: Explaining the Failure - Comparisons of southern Africa and the Horn'

11.00-11.30 COFFEE / TEA BREAK

Session 6: 11.30-1.00

Panel 6a: Ethnicity and political mobilisation

  • Sebastian Elischer (GIGA Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg): 'It's Not the Economy Stupid! Structural Determinants of the Causes and Consequences of Ethnic Parties'
  • Ericka Albaugh (Bowdoin Col, Brunswick): 'Minority Recognition or Exclusion: Defining Citizenship in "Democratizing" Cameroon'

Panel 6b: Democracy Promotion in Africa II

  • Karen Del Biondo (Ghent University, Belgium): 'The EU approach to democracy promotion in Sub-Saharan Africa'
  • Olivia Rutazibwa (Ghent University, Belgium/EUI, Florence): 'How good intentions don’t seal the deal: The problematics of the EU’s ethical involvement in sub Saharan Africa'
  • Stephen Brown (University of Ottawa): 'Hybridity and Hypocrisy: Donor Discourse on Defective Democracy and Electoral Authoritarianism in Africa'

Panel 6c: Democracy and Local Power II [ROAPE Panel]

  • Gavin Hilson: 'A mouthpiece for the community? Chiefs and the "dual mining economy" in Ghana'
  • Miles Larmer (University of Sheffield): ‘Disciplined Democracy and Resource Nationalism in Zambia’s Third Republic: Results and Prospects

1.00-2.00 LUNCH

Session G: 2.00 – 3.30

Panel 7a: Elections and ethnic violence: The case of Kenya

  • Jørgen Elklit (University of Aarhus): 'Assessing the December 2007 Elections in Kenya'
  • Amukowa Anangwe (University of Dodoma, Tanzania): 'State, multi-party elections and ethnic violence in Kenya'
  • Mike Kuria (Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya) and M/S Wambui Wamunyu (Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya): 'Democracy and (de)tribalisation in Africa: Lessons from Kenya's Rift Valley Province'

Panel 7b: Donor Interests, Development Aid and Democratization

  • Warigia Bowman (University of Mississippi): 'The implementation of ICT policy in Rwanda'
  • Michael Keating (The American International University in London): 'The Politics of Democratization in Uganda: Donor Interests, Development Strategies, and Intra-Governmental Conflict'

Panel 7c: Crises of democratisation

  • Jérôme Bachelard (University of Geneva): 'Pressure struggles behind elections and coups: Madagascar's 2001-2002 and 2009 democratization crises in comparative perspective'
  • Lauren Leigh Hinthorne (University of York): 'Democratic Crisis or Crisis of Confidence? What local perspective frames tell us about Madagascar's 2009 Political Crisis'
  • Cyril Obi (Nordic Africa Institute): 'Taking Back Our Democracy? The Trials and Travails of Nigerian Elections since 1999'

3.30-4.00 COFFEE / TEA BREAK

Session H: 4.00 – 5.30

Panel 8a: Voting behaviour in modern Africa

  • Matthias Basedau (GIGA Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg), Gero Erdmann (GIGA Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg) & Alexander Stroh (GIGA Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg: 'Ethnicity and Voting Behaviour in Africa. Survey Evidence from Eight African Countries'
  • Virginia Kamowa (University of Leeds): 'Changing Election Trends in Malawi: Hope for Democracy Consolidation?'
  • John Lwanda (Dudu Nsomba Publications): 'MCP to DPP: Democratising from Autocracy or Autocratising Democracy?'

Panel 8b: External Agencies and Elections in Africa 

  • Anders Sjögren (Stockholm University): 'A tale of one election, two commissions and plenty of external agents: the Kenya 2007 Presidential election and its aftermath'
  • Konstantinos Magliveras (University of the Aegean) and Asteris Huliaras  (Harokopion University): 'Multilateral Institutions as Agents of Democracy: African Union and SADC Reactions to the Zimbabwe and Madagascar Crises'

Panel 8c: Democracy, Ethnic Diversity and the Politics of Inclusion

  • José Adrián Garcia-Rojas (University of La Laguna, Tenerife): 'Troubles in a Microstate: Instability, Violence and Federal Arrangements in Comoro Islands'
  • Paul Austin Stacey (Roskilde University): 'Decentralization and ethnicity in Ghana'
  • Danielle Beswick (University of Birmingham): 'Democracy, identity and the politics of exclusion in post-genocide Rwanda: the case of the Batwa'

[tab:{Keynote Speaker}=Patrick Bond: African democratic currents during extreme economic crisis]

web-patrick-bondProfessor Patrick Bond is senior professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Development Studies, and since 2004 Director of the Centre for Civil Society.

A political economist, Patrick has longstanding research interests in issues of global governance and in national policy debates in South Africa. He has also undertaken applied research with urban communities and with economic and social justice movements in several countries. His work presently covers aspects of economic crisis, the environment (energy, water and climate change), social mobilization, public policy and geopolitics, with publications covering South Africa, Zimbabwe, the African continent and global-scale processes.

We are delighted to have the opportunity to host him as keynote speaker for the conference.

You can download the slides used in the Keynote speech here [PDF: 1.64MB]

You can also download an audio recording of the Keynote speech here [MP3: 23.7MB]

Patrick's books include:

  • Climate Change, Carbon Trading and Civil Society: Negative Returns on South African Investments (co-edited with Rehana Dada and Graham Erion for Rozenberg Publishers and the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2009)
  • A Pilhagem na África (South Links 2008)
  • Enclavity in African Economies: The Work of Guy Mhone (edited for Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa and International Development Economics Associates, 2007)
  • The Accumulation of Capital in Southern Africa: Rosa Luxemburg’s Contemporary Relevance (co-edited with Horman Chitonge and Arndt Hopfmann for CCS and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, 2007)
  • Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation (Zed Books and the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2006)
  • Talk Left, Walk Right: South Africa's Frustrated Global Reforms (UKZN Press, 2006)
  • Trouble in the Air: Global Warming and the Privatised Atmosphere (edited with Rehana Dada for CCS and the TransNational Institute, 2005)
  • Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa (UKZN Press and Pluto Press, 2005)
  • Fanon's Warning: A Civil Society Reader on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Africa World Press, CCS and AIDC, 2005)
  • Against Global Apartheid: South Africa meets the World Bank, IMF and International Finance (Zed Books and the University of Cape Town Press, 2003)
  • Zimbabwe's Plunge: Exhausted Nationalism, Neoliberalism and the Search for Social Justice (co-authored with Masimba Manyanya for UKZN Press, Merlin Press, Weaver Press and Africa World Press, 2003)
  • Unsustainable South Africa: Environment, Development and Social Protest (UKZN Press and Merlin Press, 2002)
  • Cities of Gold, Townships of Coal: South Africa's New Urban Crisis (Africa World Press, 2000)
  • Uneven Zimbabwe: A Study of Finance, Development and Underdevelopment (Africa World Press, 1998)

Biography

In service to the new South African government from 1994-2002, Patrick authored/edited more than a dozen policy papers, including the Reconstruction and Development Programme and the RDP White Paper. He held other positions with NGOs in Johannesburg (the National Institute for Economic Policy, 1996-97, and Planact, 1990-94); at the University of Zimbabwe's Department of Political and Administrative Studies (1989-90); and in Washington DC at the Institute for Policy Studies, and with several international trade unions (late 1980s). He was also active in the international anti-apartheid movement and US student and community movements.

Patrick currently also serves as visiting professor at Gyeongsang National University Institute of Social Sciences, South Korea. He is an external examiner at the University of Mauritius. He was visiting professor in 2009 at Suffolk University (Boston); in 2008 at State University of New York (Geneseo); in 2007 at Stellenbosch University; in 2006 at Chulalongkorn University's Focus on the Global South Course on Globalisation and Civil Society, Thailand; in 2005 at the Central European University Summer School, Budapest; in 2004 at the Africa University Institute for Peace, Leadership and Governance, Zimbabwe; in 2003 at York University's Department of Political Science and Faculty of Environmental Sciences; and in 1999 at the Yokohama National University Department of Economics. He lectured from 1997-2004 at the University of the Witwatersrand's Graduate School of Public and Development Management, and was assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in 1994-95. He has presented lectures at more than 50 universities.

Patrick earned his doctorate in economic geography under the supervision of David Harvey at Johns Hopkins University (1985-92), following studies at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance (Philadelphia, 1983-85) and an undergraduate economics degree at Swarthmore College (Philadelphia, 1979-83). He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1961.

[tab:Papers]

Selected papers were published in a special issue of the journal Democratization (2011; vol. 18, issue 2).

Abstracts of papers can be downloaded below. They are organised by order of surname.

  • Delphine Abadie: 'Democracy without demos: The mining interests of a "gloomy Canada" in Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 14KB]
  • Wale Adebanwi and Ebenezer Obadare: 'The Abrogation of the Electorate: An Emerging African Phenomenon' Download abstract [PDF: 23KB]
  • Ericka Albaugh: 'Minority Recognition or Exclusion: Defining Citizenship in "Democratizing" Cameroon' Download abstract [PDF: 11KB]
  • Amukowa Anangwe: 'State, multi-party elections and ethnic violence in Kenya' Download abstract [PDF: 11KB]
  • Jérôme Bachelard: 'Pressure struggles behind elections and coups: Madagascar's 2001-2002 and 2009 democratization crises in comparative perspective' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Matthias Basedau, Gero Erdmann & Alexander Stroh: 'Ethnicity and Voting Behaviour in Africa. Survey Evidence from Eight African Countries' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Charles Bélanger: 'Democratization and liberalization in Africa: the case study of Ghana' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Danielle Beswick: 'Democracy, identity and the politics of exclusion in post-genocide Rwanda: the case of the Batwa' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Warigia Bowman: 'The implementation of ICT policy in Rwanda' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Stephen Brown: 'Hybridity and Hypocrisy: Donor Discourse on Defective Democracy and Electoral Authoritarianism in Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Janet Bujra: 'The ‘politics of the queue’: PLHA politicisation and AIDS activism in Tanzania' Download abstract [PDF: 12KB]
  • Greg Cameron and Sara Rich Dorman: 'Problems of nationalism and democracy in Zimbabwe and Tanzania' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Chambi Chachage: 'A Tale of Two Laws: Dual Democratization of Land Governance in Tanzania' Download abstract [PDF: 15KB]
  • Nic Cheeseman: 'Power Sharing in Comparative Perspective: The Origins and Consequences of 'Unity Government' in Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 11KB]
  • Lillian Cherotich: 'Corruption and Democracy in Kenya' Download abstract [PDF: 12KB]
  • Henry Chingaipe: 'State Formation, Traditional Leadership and Multiparty Democracy in Malawi' Download abstract [PDF: 11KB]
  • Blessings Chinsinga: 'The Interface between Local Level Politics, Constitutionalism and State Formation in Malawi through the Lens of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF)' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Asiyati Chiweza: 'Decentralisation and state formation in rural Malawi' Download abstract [PDF: 43KB]
  • Lionel Cliffe: 'Power-sharing in Kenya and Zimbabwe' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Lionel Cliffe: 'The Promise of Liberation: Explaining the Failure - Comparisons of southern Africa and the Horn' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Oda van Cranenburgh: 'Democracy Promotion in Africa: institutional issues' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Francesca Dau: 'On African Parliaments: Constitutional and Electoral engineering in Plural Societies. (The case of Francophone African countries)' Download abstract [PDF: 20KB]
  • Heather Deegan: 'Revisiting elections in Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Karen Del Biondo: 'The EU approach to democracy promotion in Sub-Saharan Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Sebastian Elischer: 'It's Not the Economy Stupid! Structural Determinants of the Causes and Consequences of Ethnic Parties' Download abstract [PDF: 49KB]
  • Jørgen Elklit: 'Assessing the December 2007 Elections in Kenya' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • David Enweremadu: 'Judicial Reforms and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: 1999-2009' Download abstract [PDF: 21KB]
  • José Adrián Garcia-Rojas: 'Troubles in a Microstate: Instability, Violence and Federal Arrangements in Comoro Islands' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Christof Hartmann: 'Vertical Power-Sharing and Democratization in Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Rachel Hayman: 'When Good Performers Go Astray: Budget Support and Democratization in Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 13KB]
  • Tom Hewitt: 'Elites and Elections in Africa' Download abstract [PFD: 9KB]
  • Lauren Leigh Hinthorne: 'Democratic Crisis or Crisis of Confidence? What local perspective frames tell us about Madagascar's 2009 Political Crisis' Download abstract [PDF: 11KB]
  • Isaac Katono and Terrell Manyak: 'Impact of Multiparty Politics on Local Government in Uganda' Download abstract [PDF: 8KB]
  • Virginia Kamowa: 'Changing Election Trends in Malawi: Hope for Democracy Consolidation?' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Jelmer Kamstra:'What is it that NGOs contribute to democracy? The case of internationally-sponsored Research and Advocacy Organisations in Ghana' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Michael Keating: 'The Politics of Democratization in Uganda: Donor Interests, Development Strategies, and Intra-Governmental Conflict' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Thomas Koelble and Edward Lipuma: 'The Politics of Service Delivery in South Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Mike Kuria and M/S Wambui Wamunyu: 'Democracy and (de)tribalisation in Africa: Lessons from Kenya's Rift Valley Province' Download abstract [PDF: 11KB]
  • Stephen Akinyemi Lafenwa: 'The Legislature and the challenges of democratic governance in Africa: The Nigerian Case' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Miles Larmer: 'Disciplined Democracy and Resource Nationalism in Zambia’s Third Republic: results and prospects' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Wolfram Laube: 'Democratisation of Polycentric Governance Structures: Dynamics of local political arenas in northern Ghana' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Julia Leininger: 'Religion and Democracy in Africa: The Ban of Religious Parties and the Role of Islamic Actors in Mali’s and Senegal’s Democratizations' Download abstract [PDF: 26KB]
  • Charlotte Lemanski: 'The voices of the poor in urban governance: overlapping and competing spaces of community-level political participation in Cape Town' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Anthony Lemon: 'The implications for opposition parties of South Africa's 2009 general election' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Tom Lodge: 'Alternation and leadership succession in African Democracies' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • John Lwanda: 'MCP to DPP: Democratising from Autocracy or Autocratising Democracy?' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Mufunanji Magalasi: 'Malawian stage drama and post 1994 Democracy: From Du Chisiza's "Democracy Boulevard" to Nadzikambe's "Accidental death of Democracy"' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Konstantinos Magliveras and Asteris Huliaras: 'Multilateral Institutions as Agents of Democracy: African Union and SADC Reactions to the Zimbabwe and Madagascar Crises' Download abstract [PDF: 15KB]
  • Giuliano Martinello: 'Democratization, traditional authorities and land rights in South Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Stephanie Matti: 'An analysis of Congolese democratic institutions' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Eddy Mazembo Mavungu: 'People's democracy versus government's democracy: lessons from provincial boundary disputes in the post-apartheid South Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Philani Moyo: 'Zimbabwe’s Negotiated Inclusive Government: Is It a Messy Power-Sharing Experiment or a Positive Step Towards Democratisation?' Download abstract [PDF: 12KB]
  • Shadrack Nasong'o: 'Multiparty Electoral Contests and Democratization in Africa: Change and Continuity in Kenya and Tanzania' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Insa Nolte: 'No longer secular: Religion, democracy and the state in Nigeria' Download abstract [PDF: 11KB]
  • Cyril Obi: 'Taking Back Our Democracy? The Trials and Travails of Nigerian Elections since 1999' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • George Omondi: 'The challenges and prospects of coalition governments in Africa: examining the attempts by Kenya and Zimbabwe' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Aslak Orre: 'Democracy and traditional authority: compatible or mutually exclusive?' Download abstract [PDF: 41KB]
  • Egbert Pos: 'The African Union and the Malawi 2009 general elections' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Danielle Resnick: 'Political Party Linkages to the Urban Poor in African Democracies: The Case of Senegal and Zambia' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Olivia Rutazibwa: 'How good intentions don’t seal the deal: The problematics of the EU’s ethical involvement in sub Saharan Africa' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Karl Sandstrom: 'Somaliland – Traditional Authority in Democracy' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Anders Sjögren: 'A tale of one election, two commissions and plenty of external agents: the Kenya 2007 Presidential election and its aftermath' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • Paul Austin Stacey: 'A case study in decentralization' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Michael Walls and Steve Kibble: 'Somaliland: beyond the hybrid of 'traditional' and representative democratic systems' Download abstract [PDF: 14KB]
  • Hermann Wasserman: 'Deepening democracy or widening the rift? The political role of media in South Africa and Namibia' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]
  • David Williams: 'Making a liberal state: 'good governance' in Ghana' Download abstract [PDF: 9KB]
  • Justin Willis: '"We changed the laws": practice and malpractice in Sudan's elections' Download abstract [PDF: 10KB]

[tab:Sponsors]

The conference organisers are very grateful to the following for financial contributions that have made this conference possible.

LUCAS

LUCAS is the Leeds University Centre for African Studies. LUCAS aims to bring together people from different academic backgrounds who share an interest in Africa.  LUCAS aims not only to promote African studies within the University, but also in the city of Leeds and further afield. Academic modules with African content run in various faculties of the University. With this interdisciplinary approach students are introduced to different aspects of Africa, encompassing, for example, political, anthropological, economic, development, linguistic or artistic issues. LUCAS furthermore hosts about ten open seminars and other events on African topics in each academic year, culminating in the Annual Lecture by an eminent speaker.

In 2005, LUCAS set up its 'Schools Project', offering schools in Leeds a unique opportunity to enhance their educational provision. Within this scheme, post-graduate African students promote greater awareness of Africa amongst young people in Leeds. The pilot project was very successful and is now being extended to all primary schools.

EADI

EADI, the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, is the leading professional network for development and regional studies in Europe. Its membership includes a wide range of development research and training organisations, think tanks, national bodies and researchers throughout Europe.

EADI pursues the following objectives:

  • to promote quality in research and education in development studies
  • to promote contacts among affiliated members, inter alia, by disseminating information on research in progress or on studies and experiments in training and on new training schemes
  • to establish or facilitate exchanges, working relations and useful cooperation between the affiliates on the one hand and the regional associations, institutions of research and/or training and individual researchers in African, Asian and Latin American countries on the other
  • to cooperate with governments, development agencies, and international organisations, in development training and research activities
  • to communicate and disseminate research and training results on development to government and private development agencies, international organisations, as well as to policy-makers and the mass media.

EADI organises workshops, seminars and conferences bringing together academics and policy-makers, and provides training and networking opportunities for students and young researchers. EADI furthermore has several publishing outlets, such as through their European Journal of Development Research (EJDR) and their book series.

For more information on EADI, please consult the EADI website

Taylor and Francis

Building on two centuries' experience, Taylor & Francis has grown rapidly over the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher. With offices in the UK, in the USA and in Singapore and Melbourne, the Taylor & Francis Group publishes more than 1000 journals and around 1,800 new books each year, with a books backlist in excess of 20,000 specialist titles. For two centuries Taylor & Francis has been fully committed to the publication of scholarly information of the highest quality, and today this remains the primary goal.

For more information on Taylor & Francis, please have a look at the Taylor & Francis website.

Among the many journals published by Taylor & Francis, two titles are of special interest to the Democratization in Africa Conference. They are Democratization and the Review of African Political Economy.

Democratization Journal

Democratization is a peer reviewed academic journal that aims to promote a better understanding of democratization. Democratization is defined as the way democratic norms, institutions and practices evolve and are disseminated both within and across national and cultural boundaries. While the focus is on democratization viewed as a process, the journal also builds on the enduring interest in democracy itself and its analysis. The emphasis is contemporary and the approach comparative, with the publication of scholarly contributions about those areas where democratization is currently attracting considerable attention world-wide. There is special reference to democratization in the developing world and in post-communist societies, but not to the exclusion of other relevant areas such as North America, Australasia, and the European Union and its member states. The journal aims to encourage debate on the many aspects of democratization that are of interest to policy-makers, administrators and journalists, aid and development personnel, as well as to all those involved in education.

Since taking over in January 2008, the two general editors, Professor Jeffrey Haynes and Professor Gordon Crawford, have aimed to continue the upward trend started by their predecessors, by maintaining a high standard of quality for publication.

For more information, please consult the Democratization journal website for instructions on how to submit an article, access to free sample copies and contact information.

The Review of African Political Economy, ROAPE Journal

The Review of African Political Economy, ROAPE, is a peer reviewed journal committed to encouraging high quality research and fostering excellence in the understanding of African political economy. Published quarterly by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group for the ROAPE international collective it has since 1974 provided radical analysis of trends and issues in Africa. It has paid particular attention to the political economy of inequality, exploitation and oppression, whether driven by global forces or local ones (such as class, race, community and gender), and to materialist interpretations of change in Africa. It has sustained a critical analysis of the nature of power and the state in Africa.

Please check out the ROAPE journal website for more information, instructions on how to submit an article, and free sample copies.

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