MSU professor speaks about democratization of Africa

March 27, 2006 —

Michael Bratton addressed campus on Tuesday and spoke positively of a region that receives scant media attention - Africa.

Bratton's lecture, titled "Elections, Democracy, and Public Opinion in Africa," was the second installment in the 2006 Africa Symposium, sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs.

A professor of political science and African studies at Michigan State University, Bratton is one of the world's foremost researchers in the nascent field of sub-Saharan African democratization.

Since February 1990, when Nelson Mandela was released from prison, effectively ending white apartheid rule in South Africa, democratization on the African continent has taken on a prominent role, with nearly all African governments experiencing some political liberalization.

Over the past 15 years, the rate of democratization in Africa has increased faster than any other world region; it has since passed Asia and the Middle East in terms of relative democratization.

Bratton pointed out that in the latest round of the Afrobarometer survey, 69 percent of Africans prefer living under a democracy rather than any other form of government. However, Bratton argued that democracy may be popular less because of changing attitudes toward democracy and more because of hesitant attitudes toward authoritarian regimes that left many nations teetering on the verge of failed states. Presently, only a minority of Africans surveyed support democracy and reject one-party rule and presidential dictatorships, which shows many democracies may be on shaky ground.

"Africans have grown weary of military rule and presidential dictatorships," Bratton said. But, as Bratton was quick to point out, being anti-authoritarian does not correlate directly to being pro-democracy. Several nations that had begun to liberalize politically have since experienced a backslide in popular opinion regarding democracy. This is most evident in Nigeria, the backbone of western Africa, where corrupt politicians and ethnic clashes between Christians and Muslims have left many harboring for a return to a stable regime, regardless of democratic position.

Looking at the Afrobarometer survey shows that political volatility - in both directions - is greatest when measuring the extent of democracy in each nation. The longer a regime stays in power, whether it is elected or not, the less support the populace is likely to accredit the regime. Bratton argued that the best test of a nation's democratic commitment occurs through the peaceful transfer of power, which has recently occurred in Ghana, one of the region's most ardent supporters of democracy. South Africa, on the other hand, is experiencing a backslide in democratic commitments, since the ruling African National Congress has been in power for over a decade.

Overall, Bratton concluded that peaceful, electoral turnover is one of the best present hopes for democracy in Africa. While Africa still has a long ways to go, Bratton believes its accomplishments of the past fifteen years will soon pay off for the region.

The author of more than 65 scholarly articles and books, Bratton is also the founder and director of the Afrobarometer (www.afrobarometer.org) survey that analyzes political happenings in eighteen African nations, mostly in southern or western Africa.