Coups and elections in Africa (Pt. I)

The Economist recently published an article (with a thematic map and graph) about African elections and democracy and the emerging electoral norm in Africa which is closely related to an emerging anti-coup norm on the continent. Noting that the number of coups in Africa has dropped over the last decade, it references internal, people-power factors that have forced even despots, putschists and reactionaries to appease public discontent by way of elections, some pro forma others less so. The article further lays out the role of changes in the global scene that have made elections more frequent:

Rise & Fall, Push & Pull (Pt. VI, Addendum)

Brian Whitaker — author of What Really Wrong with the Middle East and one of the best Anglophone journalists writing on the the region — has made  a post in reply to “Rise and Fall, Push and Pull (Pr. VI)” as well as an interesting article from The Economist dealing with similar topics. Whitaker takes issue with some of the reasons offered in RFPP Pt. IV:

Rise and Fall, Push and Pull (Pt. VI)

On 18 April, 2010 Issandr El Amrani of the Arabist wrote:

“Late fascist”: A term I use to describe the political systems most of the Arab republics, in comparison to Franco’s Spain or Salazar’s Portugal in the late 1970s or similar regimes based on public mobilization where the original ideological edifice of the regime is spent. Will have to elaborate someday, but today it applies to Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Syria. Also in some respects Iran. I think it may well have applied to most Eastern bloc countries in the 1980s.

This accurately describes much of the situation. What else can be said?

Relocation

Many apologies to readers for the lack of posting of late. Till the end of July, this blogger will be in Geneva, Switzerland concerned with disarmament issues. Posting will be either brief and frequent or infrequent and long. The primitive series of posts, called “Rise and Fall, Push and Pull,” will continue and possibly conclude in the next several weeks. Postings about North Africa will continue as usual.