South African Rugby Legends - Messages on democracy with John Smit
South African Rugby Legends - Messages on democracy with John Smit.
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South African Rugby Legends - Messages on democracy with John Smit - Video
Desmond Tutu press briefing on 20 years of Democracy
Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu held a press briefing on 20 years of Democracy.
By: sabcdigitalnews
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Desmond Tutu press briefing on 20 years of Democracy - Video
Excerpts from Afrobarometer's report, Demand for Democracy Is Rising in Africa, But Most Political Leaders Fail to Deliver:
What explains popular perceptions of the supply of democracy in Africa?
Based on analysis of public attitudes in 34 African countries in 2011-2013, the quality of elections is closely linked to the supply of democracy. If citizens see the last national election as largely free and fair, they are also likely to consider that political elites are supplying democracy. Indeed, fully 89% of those who perceive clean elections also regard their country as an extensive democracy.9 In short, ordinary Africans make a direct connection between the quality of elections and the nature of the resultant political regime.
Other factors also matter. In keeping with persistent personal rule in some places, people still also use the job performance of the national president to judge the degree of democracy. If they think the president has done a good job over the previous year, they are likely to give higher democracy ratings. And, given widespread poverty, they also often make reference to their material well-being; if the national economy has performed well, they tend to equate it with the delivery of democracy.
But which of these explanatory factors matters most? When a regression analysis on the supply of democracy was first done for 12 African countries in 2000, the most important factor was the performance of the president. Since that time, however, the situation has changed. Across 34 countries in 2011-2013, the leading explanatory factor is now the quality of elections.10 In other words, the order of the leading explanatory factors has been reversed.
This result can be read as evidence of gradual political institutionalization. Appraisals of the quality of an institution - elections - now trump the public's assessment of the behavior in office of a big man president. Thus, popular attachment to institutions is slowly but surely displacing mass loyalty to dominant personalities.
Moreover, the quality of political institutions (in this case, elections) continues to explain more variance in democratic supply than the condition of the national economy. As such, the results of the Afrobarometer's latest survey reconfirm that democracy building depends primarily on the delivery of political goods (like clean elections and good governance) and is less beholden to economic recovery than might conventionally have been thought.
Are there regional patterns of democratization in Africa?
...In East Africa, more than half of all adult citizens demand democracy (54%) and a similar proportion also think it is being supplied (52%). A case can be made that, on average, political regimes are relatively more democratic in this region than in other parts of Africa. But the level of democracy is intermediate at best. And because demand and supply are in rough equilibrium there are few pressures for further regime change in either a democratic or autocratic direction.
In Southern Africa, a similar pattern prevails. Supply (46%) and demand (47%) are in rough equilibrium, but at an even lower level than in East Africa.
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Africa: Africans Now Back Institutions More Than 'Big Men' - Afrobarometer
Cape Town Popular support for democracy and against one-party rule in Africa has risen substantially in the past decade, but most Africans don't think they are actually experiencing democracy.
These are among the conclusions which can be drawn from the latest analysis of the results of the 34-country public opinion survey conducted by Afrobarometer.
"Seven out of 10 Africans prefer democracy to other political regimes, and the proportion of deeply committed democrats that is, those who also reject authoritarian alternatives has risen steadily over the past decade," Afrobarometer says in a report released from Bamako, Mali today.
But, it adds, "People don't always think they are getting democracy... While ordinary Africans clamour for high-quality elections and leadership accountability, too many political leaders continue to manipulate the polls, challenge term limits, and even seize power by coup.
"In the most common pattern across African countries, popular demand for democracy exceeds the available supply, producing a deficit of democracy. "
The report also raises questions about the depth of Africans' support for democracy, suggesting that levels of support depend on whether citizens are experiencing democracy and whether they feel they are benefitting from it. And it finds military rule still has "a lingering appeal" among some Africans.
The report was authored by Professor Michael Bratton of Michigan State University in the United States and Richard Houessou of the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy (IREEP) in Benin.
It says that in 16 countries surveyed regularly since 2002, support for democracy has risen from 63 percent to 75 percent of adults. But only 43 percent both believe that their country is a democracy and say they are satisfied with the way democracy works.
Rejection of one-party rule has risen from 67 percent to 77 percent. Military rule is rejected by a high proportion of adults 79 percent but this figure is only two percent higher than in 2002.
Afrobarometer links the depth of survey respondents' commitment to democracy to whether they reject all forms of autocracy, whether one-party rule, military rule or a one-man dictatorship. Almost all 93 percent reject at least one of these forms, but only 58 percent reject all three.
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Africa: Africans Want Democracy But Are They Getting It?
Morning Express Discussion: Multiparty Democracy
Morning Express Discussion: Multiparty Democracy Watch KTN Live http://www.ktnkenya.tv/live Follow us on http://www.twitter.com/ktnkenya Like us on http://ww...
By: KTN Kenya
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Morning Express Discussion: Multiparty Democracy - Video