A voter in the West African nation of Senegal casts his ballot in a general election on Feb. 25. Senegal is one of Africa's most stable and enthusiastic democracies. (Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press)

Civil wars. Economic crises. Postponed or disputed elections. Sometimes it seems as if the news from Africa is always bad.

That wasn't always the case. In the 1990s, democracy swept the continent like a tidal wave. South Africa's apartheid system fell. Dictators from Madagascar to Togo stepped aside or were pushed out by popular sentiment. Dozens of countries held elections and political optimism took hold.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela speaks to African National Congress supporters after his party swept to power in the first elections in South Africa in which the majority black population was allowed to vote. (Anacleto Rapping/AFP/Getty Images)

It looked as if the painful transition from colonial servitude to sovereign nation-states was over, but the intervening years have not been kind to much of Africa. Poverty has worsened in many areas and vast new petroleum discoveries haven't meant stability or better lives for the continent's people.

Has African democracy stalled?

"There has been some backsliding," says Peter Lewis, of the School of Advanced International Studies at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University. "Many of Africa's new democracies struggle on a daily basis with factional disputes, executive overreach and other issues that plagued them before the transitions of the early 1990s."

There are abiding success stories, Lewis says, where democratic institutions are robust and civil society had thrived. These include Ghana, Cape Verde and Mali, which have all held elections in recent years and transferred power peacefully from one party to another.

Veneer of democracy

But elsewhere the picture is far from rosy. Countries such as Cameroon, Togo and Ethiopia exhibit the "veneer of democracy," Lewis says, but function as authoritarian states. The ruling party holds elections but always wins.

"There's no political level playing field," he says. "It's little better than a sham."

A car burns after a student demonstration in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where elections last year brought at least a temporary end to years of violent unrest and civil war. (Eddy Isango/Associated Press)

Part of the explanation widespread democratic reform took place in the 1990s was pressure applied by Africa's aid donors and multilateral lenders like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Countries that introduced open politics were rewarded with preferential interest rates and generous support for building a free press, an independent judiciary and other institutions. According to Prof. Antoinette Handley, a South African-born political scientist at the University of Toronto, the international community has cooled on encouraging political reform in Africa.

"They [donors] discovered that democracy doesn't mean capacity to govern," Handley says. "More informal African ways of governing, through patronage or paying off local elites and key players, these survive democracy quite well. And if a country has resources that others want, that's a different story altogether."

To a certain extent, she says, countries with oil, diamonds or other valuable commodities suffer from the worst democratic deficits. In Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, governments dominated by strong, authoritarian leaders thrive because they use oil revenues to stay in power.

"In a more democratic state, leaders have to provide services, build roads and negotiate with different actors in society," Handley says. "In an oil or diamond economy, you just have to keep the big company happy. They'll build your roads for you, and you use the money to buy power."

Curse of resources

Vast newly discovered undersea oilfields off the west coast of Africa have changed the political equation in several states, especially Equatorial Guinea, where petroleum revenues have swelled local coffers. Statistically speaking, that oil wealth translates into the world's third-highest rate of per capita income, but little of it reaches the people. Despite oil revenues equivalent to roughly $50,000 US per person, Equatorial Guinea is still considered one of Africa's poorest countries, according to the U.S. State Department.

There are a few African exceptions to what political scientists and economists like to call "the curse of resources" — the mismatch between possession of natural resources and lack of accountable government. South Africa's mineral wealth exists alongside a thriving democracy. Nigeria is an OPEC member and holds elections. But those, Handley says, are exceptions that prove the rule.

Of growing concern to those that monitor democracy and human rights in Africa is China's role on the continent. Hungry for natural resources to fuel its expanding economy, China has leapt from almost nowhere to become Africa's third-largest trading partner in recent years. Chinese aid is building roads and government facilities from Zimbabwe to Uganda. Sudan sends two-thirds of the oil it produces to China's state petroleum company.

"They're pragmatic, the Chinese, and that means less pressure for democratic reform than the West might prefer," Lewis says. "The policy in Beijing is non-interference, aid with no strings attached."

China discovers democracy

On the other hand, Lewis says, China may find that potentially unstable authoritarian states aren't reliable partners. Political instability in places like Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea might interrupt commodity flows and have an adverse impact on economic growth.

"They (the Chinese) might just find that dealing with stable democracies, like South Africa or Ghana, makes them adjust their approach to other more dictatorial places, like Zimbabwe," he says.

In the end, most Africa experts agree that change on the continent has to come from within. External pressure can only achieve so much, as the current uncertain state of African democracy demonstrates.

Antoinette Handley puts forward the example of the end of apartheid in her homeland, a result of both international policy and domestic economic and political pressure.

"As a political scientist and as a South African, I know there's no substitute for local elites sitting down and bashing out a compromise," she says. "Local (political) actors have to negotiate among themselves and that means that local people have a voice. Outside pressure has a role to play, but it's not the most important thing."

Democracy in Africa has a long way to go, but the journey is far from over.

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