Legal Reforms Aim to Prevent Electoral Violence in Kenya
Soul searching triggered by Kenya’s 2007–08 electoral violence galvanized legal reforms aimed at mitigating future violence. Would they be effective in the August elections?
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Soul searching triggered by Kenya’s 2007–08 electoral violence galvanized legal reforms aimed at mitigating future violence. Would they be effective in the August elections?
Proposed justice measures in South Sudan—including the Hybrid Court—can be pursued despite disruptions in the implementation of the peace agreement.
Examples from Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, and Tanzania offer lessons of how ethical leadership is central to maintaining public trust in the security sector and ultimately preserving stability and peace.
Ghana’s elections offer lessons on how transparency and public trust in electoral institutions contribute to a peaceful transition of power, finds the Africa Center’s Dorina Bekoe.
Gambia narrowly averted a regional crisis when Yahya Jammeh stepped down. The coordinated action of neighboring countries and regional organizations could provide a model for future governance crises.
More often than not, African security institutions are designed to protect the regime, not the citizens. But there is a growing list of cases where leaders acted ethically to get democratic processes on track and ultimately save lives.
Part 2. The DRC’s oversight institutions have been actively undermined by the ruling party, dimming prospects for a genuine democratic transition.
Part 1. The DRC appears to be on a slow-motion path to tragedy. After 15 years in office, President Joseph Kabila will fulfill his term limits in December, but he has avoided organizing elections. Instead, he seems intent on holding onto power indefinitely.
Term-limit advocates are not framing their struggles within the context of Western norms. Rather, it is seen as an African normative framework that is being violated by the continent’s leaders.
Beyond the vote totals of Uganda’s competing presidential candidates, Uganda’s democratic progress is ultimately dependent on shoring up the institutions on which not only elections but day-to-day democratic governance relies. This review reveals a mixed record.
The ideological appeal of violent Islamist insurgencies in Nigeria predates Boko Haram. Without addressing the region’s grievances, extremism will live on.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Much of the debate about democracy in Africa focuses on the foreign, mostly Western origins of the concept and how it shapes Western, including American policies toward the continent, according to African and U.S. scholars. Little attention has been given to the concept’s African roots as well as the experiences, governance practices... Continue Reading