Democracy backsliding in West Africa: why it represents a threat to the region’s stability and prosperity; and what to do about it.
Annual John Burton Lecture by Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Afrobarometer co-founder and current board chair; co-founder and former executive director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana); retired professor, political science department, University of Ghana, Legon
In the 1990s and early 2000s, many West African nations embarked on democratization projects. They promulgated new constitutions and or amended existing ones to provide for some degree of independence for the judiciary and election management bodies; imposed constitutional limits on presidential tenure; relaxed restrictions on speech, associational and media freedoms; and allowed multi-party competition. The lecture explores the linkage between democratic governance progress across the ECOWAS region in the first decade and a half of the new century and the region’s relative political stability and economic prosperity within the same period. It also reflects on implications of the democratic governance backsliding taking place in countries of the region in recent years for the region’s overall peace, stability and socio-economic development in the 2020s. And makes recommendations for arresting the growing problem of democratic recession and related political turmoil and decelerating economic growth.
In conjunction with this year’s annual JB lecture we are holding CARC’s
Sandpit Workshop
Sub-Sahara Africa: Citizens, Democratization, Conflict and Beyond
Join Zoom Meeting
https://kent-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/6980030236
Meeting ID: 698 003 0236
Thursday 25th November
9:10-9:15 Neophytos Loizides Welcome and Introductions
9:15- 9:45 Bizuneh Yimenu ‘Implementing Federalism in a Developing Country: The Case of Ethiopia, 1995-2020’
9:45- 10:15 Alex Ntung, ‘The Hamitic hypothesis and the ‘Bantu race’ myth: drivers of the Rwandan genocide ideology and constructions of ethnic hatred in Africa’s Great Lakes region
10:15- 10:45 Kuziwakwashe Zigomo ‘Pentecostalism, Political Femininities, and Citizenship/Democratisation in Zimbabwe’
Coffee Break 10:45-11:00
11:00- 12:00 Josephine Sanny, Using Afrobarometer for Research and Teaching (Masterclass)
12:00 1:00 Lunch Break
1:00-1:30 Joshua Akintayo Sex Trafficking and Sex-for-Money: Terrorism and Conflict-related Sexual Violence against Men in North-eastern Nigeria.
1:30 – 2: 00 Nadine Ansorg ‘What determines Trust in Post-Conflict Police? Evidence from Latin American and African countries’
2:00:3:00 Annual John Burton Lecture by E. Gyimah-Boadi, Afrobarometer co-founder and current board chair; co-founder and former executive director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana); retired professor, political science department, University of Ghana, Legon
Democracy backsliding in West Africa:
why it represents a threat to the region’s stability and prosperity; and what to do about it.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, many West African nations embarked on democratization projects. They promulgated new constitutions and or amended existing ones to provide for some degree of independence for the judiciary and election management bodies; imposed constitutional limits on presidential tenure; relaxed restrictions on speech, associational and media freedoms; and allowed multi-party competition. The lecture explores the linkage between democratic governance progress across the ECOWAS region in the first decade and a half of the new century and the region’s relative political stability and economic prosperity within the same period. It also reflects on implications of the democratic governance backsliding taking place in countries of the region in recent years for the region’s overall peace, stability and socio-economic development in the 2020s. And makes recommendations for arresting the growing problem of democratic recession and related political turmoil and decelerating economic growth.
3:00-3:30 Break
3:30- 4:30 Roundtable on current projects and future funding possibilities
Anastasia Shesterinina, Civil War Paths Project (funded by UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship)
Edward Morgan-Jones, Citizen Preferences in the Design of Effective Peace Settlement (funded by US Institute of Peace)
Yvan Guichaoua, Interactions between Jihadists and Civilians in Mali and Niger (funded by Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office)
Special thanks to the US Institute of Peace funded Project Citizen Preferences in the Design of Effective Peace Settlements for supporting this event.