africa

Africa at a Fork in the Road: Taking Off or Disappointment Once Again?
that economic hardships are not shaping the way people value democracy. Thus
it is a hopeful indicator for the future of democratic governance on the continent.
Figure 11.1: Independence Movements and Democracy in Africa
How, then, does this all affect the quality of governance? To address this question,
we use the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. The Index, which produces an
annual assessment of governance quality, has four components: safety and rule
of law, participation in human rights, economic opportunities, and human development.
2 The upshot is that by and large the level of governance in Africa is low but
improving. Indeed, the Index has registered major improvements in health and
the rule of law, which is unsurprising given that there are fewer civil wars in Africa
today than before. However, the main issue—the real challenge to governance in
Africa—remains infrastructural provision, which is the lowest in the world. (For example,
only 24 percent of the population in Africa has access to electricity, versus
40 percent in low-income countries elsewhere.)
11.3 Harnessing democratic energy for better governance
Returning to the question of democracy, elections matter in Africa and they matter
more and more. Encouragingly, politicians are responding to electoral incentives
more than before. How, then, can we harness this democratic energy to produce
better governance? Three principal solutions stand out: first, decentralization and
improving bureaucratic capacity at the local level; second, improving the quality
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