A Re-Discussion On The Causes Of Democracy Building And Democratic Reform Failure In Africa:The Case Of Zambia

This study assessed the factors that contribute to the failure of democracy consolidation and the rise of authoritarianism in Africa.It considered the mainstream submissions which cite factors linked to:i)preconditions for democracy such as poor economic growth,an un educated populace,poor civic culture,and other characteristics associated with the continents lack of modernisation ii)colonialism and the continent's historically entrenched failure to develop and nurture formal institutions iii)elites who have failed to use their agency to build democratic states.The study finds that these factors do not provide a satisfactory answer to the question of why Africa is failing to consolidate its democracy,which ultimately feeds into the authoritarianism that is currently manifesting on the continent.However,the answer lies in the approaches that have been used in western backed democracy building and democratic reforms that African countries were compelled to undertake when the West led by the US began the democracy-building project after the collapse of the Soviet Union.African countries had to undertake these reforms as a pre-condition for receiving western financial aid particularly in the 1990s.Zambia was used as a case study and the study specifically focused on constitutional reforms.Findings therefore show a linkage between the absence of clear and comprehensive democracy building and reform approaches and negative democratic outcomes.Such a result goes against the intentions of the liberal democracy agenda,which is to turn the world into a community of democracies that enjoy peace and all the other benefits that come with such a world order.Consequently,this study encourages democracy practioners to pay attention to approaches used when engaging in democracy building and supporting democratic reforms in countries that are democratising.