How does polarization help would-be authoritarians to win elections? Will Ethiopia’s political opening lead to lasting change? Why are Europe’s center-left parties doing so poorly?
A cluster of six articles in the July 2019 issue of the Journal of Democracy looks at recent political trends in sub-Saharan Africa:
- Peter Lewis highlights democracy’s resilience in the region and examines the challenges it faces;
- E. Gyimah-Boadi argues that the “supply” of democracy by political elites has not kept up with popular demand;
- Rachel Beatty Riedl and Ndongo Samba Sylla explore how Senegalese president Macky Sall secured reelection;
- Ayo Obe assesses the new anti-fraud measures and solidifying two-party system that shaped Nigeria’s recent elections;
- Pierre Englebert explains how an apparent last-minute deal with an opposition contender allowed the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s outgoing president to prolong his influence; and
- Jon Temin and Yoseph Badwaza analyze rising ethnic tensions and the prospects of liberalization in Ethiopia.
Plus: Five years after the EuroMaidan protests drove a corrupt president from power, how is Ukraine’s democracy faring?
- Joanna Rohozinska and Vitaliy Shpak lay out the factors leading to a political outsider’s surprise presidential victory; and
- Lucan Ahmad Way considers the impact of the ongoing war in the east on freedom of speech and expression.
Also in the July 2019 issue:
- Sheri Berman and Maria Snegovaya on the decline of the social-democratic left in Europe;
- Milan Svolik on how voters may be trading off democratic principles for partisan interests;
- Jørgen Elklit and Michael Maley on ballot secrecy in the age of remote voting;
- Adel Iskandar on how digital satire is keeping dissent alive amid Egypt’s hardening authoritarianism;
- Forrest Colburn on the political fatigue and waning popularity of Central America’s leftists; and
- Didi Kuo reviewing Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself, by Frances McCall Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro.
View the full Table of Contents at www.journalofdemocracy.org.
