GLOBALISATION AND THE SEARCH FOR AN AUTHENTIC AFRICAN DEMOCRACY

Abstract

One major social trend that has accompanied the increasing interconnection of the world is the intensification in the spread of Western modernity. Consequently, the homogenising influence of globalisation has led to increasing similarities in the organisation of governance systems around the world, not the least because of the US policy of democratic promotion and the political conditionality foisted on debtor states by the international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. While Africa and Eastern Europe had experienced a resurgence of democracy particularly in the historical era that is now known as the third wave, the reality is that most of these new democracies are caricatures of the ideal, only exhibiting the form of democracy and lacking in the substance thereof. The overbearing influence of godfathers, manipulations of electoral outcomes, brazen disregard for the rule of law and the prevalence of antagonistic inter-ethnic relations as well as massive corruption among elected public officials seem to demonstrate, as argued by some sceptics that, being inconsistent with indigenous African political traditions, democracy is doomed to failure on the continent. The paper indirectly takes up the challenge of the sceptics by demonstrating that what has failed in Africa is the attempt to globalise the liberal democratic model, which is at odds with the socio-historical realities of post-colonial African societies. In closing, the paper highlights the basic elements which must inform an authentic African democracy.