From “Virtual Democracy” to Authocracy or Regime Diversity? Prospects for Democratisation in Africa

Abstract

Much has been written about the nature of democracy in Africa, particularly in recent decades. After the end of the “first” Cold War, large parts of the continent appeared to be part of the “third wave” of democratization (Huntingdon, 1991). During the “unipolar moment” of US/Western dominance after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc there were strong incentives for African states to present themselves to the “international community” as democratic, in order to access aid flows for example. In many cases however regimes were Janus faced – outwardly democratic, but inwardly authoritarian – what are sometimes termed “hybrid” regimes (Diamond, 2002). Joseph (1997) coined the term “virtual democracy” to account for this phenomenon. However, the global context is changing as the world has transitioned to multipolarity and (Suri, 2024) and a “new” Cold War (Leoni, 2024). The oftentimes liberal contradiction (Berryhill, 1994) between “free” markets (and their iniquities) and electoral democracy in Africa, climate disruption and multipolarisation has given rise to alternative dynamics. The chapter discusses the nature and roots of democracy in Africa. It argues that whereas virtual democracy might have been the modal regime type for the early part of the twentieth first century, a “new, hybrid” genus has recently (re)emerged and presents a challenger to this state form. Election interference has also become more common, along with the rising influence of China and Russia. However debt crises have recently contributed to a resurgence of power of the international financial institutions (IFIs). The chapter concludes with a discussion of barriers to effective democratisation.