Democracy in Black Africa: Survival and Revival

(New York: Paragon House, 1990) 1557781400. 8vo; black cloth-backed brown boards, with metallic copper lettering to spine; laminated dustwrapper; pp. xii + 228, incl. index; tables. Near fine condition. "It has generally been assumed that democracy, involving competition between contending parties within a constitutional framework which allows a free choice for the electorate, is not a viable form of politics in Africa and is largely irrelevant in a continent dominated by the authoritarianism of single-party and military rule. In Democracy in Black Africa: Survival and Revival, John A. Wiseman argues in detail, for the first time, that such a view is not only unduly pessimistic but is at odds with the evidence. Concentrating on the continued existence of democracy in Africa rather than its collapse, on its successes rather than its failures, a reassessment of the role of democracy emerges which is at once both positive and realistic." .