TOPIC 7 foreign policy as part of the 2000 presi- dential election, the time is ripe for a reassessment of U.S.-Africa relations. Though the African mosaic is diverse, with 53 independent countries and a Africa: prospects for number of complex issues, one question stands out: Should the next U.S. Presi- dent draw upon America’s traditional the future role as aid-giver and play an activist role in the African renaissance, or will budgetary constraints and competing The renaissance in Africa presents its leaders with many interests in other regions reinforce what challenges. What are U.S. interests in Africa? What role is viewed by some as a policy of ne- should the U.S. play? glect, at best? Democratization Dozens of countries in Africa, Asia, by Peter J. Schraeder Latin America, and Eastern and South- ern Europe made transitions from authoritarian to more democratic forms of governance during the last quarter of the 20th century. This trend has prompted visions of a “third wave of de- mocratization” (the first began in the 1820s and the second in the 1940s). In AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS the case of Africa, this third wave coin- cided with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The collapse of single-party re- gimes throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union set powerful precedents for African pro-democracy activists who already had begun orga- nizing against human-rights abuses and political repression against the backdrop of severe economic stagnation in their respective countries. The most notable outcome, often referred to as “Africa’s second independence” or “Africa’s sec- ond liberation,” was the discrediting of more than 30 years of experimentation with single-party political systems in fa- U.S.-TRAINED MALIAN TROOPS listen to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright as she tells them of the importance of peacekeeping, October 1999. The troops, part of the vor of more democratic forms of gover- African Crisis Response Initiative, will be deployed in Sierra Leone. nance based on multiparty politics and the protection of human rights. N “AFRICAN RENAISSANCE” of his- of a new generation of leaders commit- In the early 1980s, truly competitive toric proportions is under way. ted to multiracial and multiethnic societ- elections were held in only five African A The 1994 inauguration of ies based on tolerance, universal human countries: Botswana, Gambia, Mau- Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first rights and the rule of law. Policymakers, ritius, Senegal and Zimbabwe. But be- democratically elected president sym- technocrats and private entrepreneurs tween 1990 and 1994, more than 38 bolized the efforts of thousands of pro- are also at the forefront of restructuring countries held competitive elections. democracy groups to instill democratic once moribund economies to unleash Most important, 29 of the multiparty practices throughout the African conti- the African entrepreneurial spirit. This contests of this period constituted nent. Mandela’s willingness to embrace renaissance is perhaps best captured by “founding elections” in which the office his former captors embodied the vision the flourishing of the media and litera- of the head of government is openly ture as they enjoy the progressive de- contested following a period during PETER J. SCHRAEDER is associate professor cline of state censorship. A new genera- which multiparty political competition in the Department of Political Science at tion of journalists, writers and scholars was impossible. Loyola University Chicago, and author, remains firmly committed to strength- most recently, of African Politics and Optimism or pessimism? Society: A Mosaic in Transformation ening the democratic achievements of (Boston/New York: College Division of the last decade of the 20th century. The prospect of a new wave of democ- Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000). As Americans begin debating U.S. ratization has fostered both optimism GREAT DECISIONS 2000 75 TOPIC 7 AFRICA the official opposition, the United Na- tional Independence party. Critics drew DAVID LADA parallels between Kaunda’s use of states of emergency during the 1970s and the 1980s to silence political oppo- nents and Chiluba’s use of them to curb rising criticism of his regime’s inability to resolve economic problems. Chiluba’s predicament illustrates Africa’s new authoritarian-democratic paradox. As with the first generation of African leaders, who took office be- ginning in the 1950s, Chiluba and the other newly elected leaders of the 1990s are confronted with popular ex- pectations that higher wages and better living conditions will be widely and quickly shared following multiparty elections. When the weak Zambian state was saddled with even the mini- mal checks and balances of a demo- cratic system, economic progress was stymied, and weariness and disen- chantment grew. Although largely trained within an authoritarian tradition, Chiluba is now expected to abide by the “rules of the game” of Zambia’s multiparty political system. When strict adherence to those rules threatened to seal his political fate in the 1996 presidential elections, how- ever, he put them aside, especially after and pessimism: optimism generated by breakdowns in this century—and the Kaunda accepted opposition backing a host of democratic successes that cul- difficulties of consolidating new democ- and entered the race. To fend off his op- minated in what numerous observers racies—must give serious pause to those ponents, Chiluba oversaw the ratifica- have referred to as the South African who would argue . for the inevitabil- tion of two constitutional amendments “miracle,” and pessimism based on the ity of global democracy,” explains Larry that harked back to the authoritarian ex- simple reality that several transitions Diamond, a senior research fellow at the cesses of his predecessor and under- resulted in “democratic decay,” often Hoover Institution. “As a result, those mined the very democratic political sys- ending in military coups d’état and a concerned about how countries can tem he had sought to create. The first return to authoritarianism. Colonel move ‘beyond authoritarianism and to- requires that the parents of any presi- Ibrahim Maïnassara Baré of Niger talitarianism’ must also ponder the con- dential candidate be Zambians by birth. achieved the dubious honor of leading ditions that permit such movement to The second limits presidential candi- the first successful coup d’état against a endure . To rid a country of an au- dates to two terms of office. Since democratically elected government in thoritarian regime or dictator is not nec- Kaunda’s parents were born in neigh- francophone West Africa since the be- essarily to move it fundamentally be- boring Malawi, and he had ruled Zam- ginning of the third wave of democrati- yond authoritarianism.” bia for 27 years (1964–91), he was zation. In a throwback to an earlier reign, forced to withdraw from the race. Colonel Baré announced that there The authoritarian- Chiluba’s political maneuvering re- would be multiparty elections in 1996, democratic paradox moved the only serious challenge to his presented himself as the “civilian” can- In 1991 Zambia made a successful rule and ensured his reelection. didate of the ruling party and won what transition from a single-party system Some proponents of democratization international observers agreed was a headed by President Kenneth Kaunda to argue that the true test of Africa’s newly grossly flawed electoral contest. a multiparty system under the leader- established systems is their ability to Even when a successful transition to ship of President Frederick Chiluba of foster an “alternation of power” be- more democratic governance is made, the Movement for Multiparty Democ- tween rival political parties. Benin newly elected leaders are confronted racy. Eighteen months after achieving stands out as the best example of a with the long-term challenge of ensur- victory, Chiluba reinstated a “state of newly established, multiparty democ- ing the consolidation of democratic emergency” that had existed throughout racy that has successfully weathered an practices in still-fragile political sys- Kaunda’s rule, and arrested and de- alternation of power via the ballot box. tems. “The frequency of democratic tained without charges 14 members of Following a 1990 national conference, 76 GREAT DECISIONS 2000 TOPIC AFRICA 7 founding elections were held in 1991 in Botswana, Djibouti, Cape Verde, AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS which a technocrat, Nicéphore Soglo, Eritrea, Namibia and South Africa— was elected president. Mathieu Ké- have never faced armed challenges rékou, the former Marxist dictator, gra- from their military, police or other se- ciously accepted defeat and retired from curity personnel. Nonetheless, the com- politics only to return as the leading mon assumption in Africa is that civil- opposition candidate in the 1996 presi- ian-dominated systems constitute the dential elections. With Soglo’s reelec- norm. Even military leaders intent on tion campaign severely hampered by staying in power are forced to offer, at the poor performance of the economy minimum, rhetorical support for an and public perceptions of his disregard eventual “return” to civilian rule, usu- for the average citizen, Kérékou over- ally accompanied by some sort of time- came the odds, emerged victorious and table. The notion of “demilitarization,” now serves as a powerful example of sometimes referred to as promoting the the consolidation of democratic prac- “civilianization” of military regimes, tices on the African continent. became increasingly important in the Whether democratic consolidation post-1989 era as policymakers and citi- will overcome democratic decay largely zen movements sought firmer transi- depends on how the newly elected elites tions to democracy. respond to the authoritarian-democratic In contrast to the 1960s, when mili- paradox. Will they graciously accept tary coups reached their peak, the sec- defeat and join the ranks of the “loyal ond half of the 1980s and the 1990s opposition,” as was the case in Soglo’s have witnessed a sharp decline in mili- defeat in 1996, or will they increasingly tary intervention.