Democracy in Africa: Successes, Failures, and the struggle for political reform
本书考察非洲民主化的成功与失败，分析历史碎片中的民主可能性，对比恶性循环与良性循环，指出选举动员可能带来煽动和恐惧，但民主仍是摆脱精英统治的唯一出路。
Nic Cheeseman is a skeptical believer. He rejects the arguments that democracy is unsuitable for Africa or that Africans are unsuited for democracy. He does not think that democracy can be imposed from outside. Nor does he romanticize African village politics into a model for democratic states. He does believe that Africa's history is “dotted with fragments of democracy” (3). He finds in these fragments possibilities for the future, and in those possibilities the only real alternative to the self-aggrandizing, self-perpetuating elites who have dominated many African countries. He sees democratization as a process, and along the way there are not only obstacles but dangers, for the mobilization of popular sentiment in electoral campaigns can entail demagoguery, fear-mongering, and scapegoating. Democracy in Africa is a concise survey of African political history, but Cheeseman lingers long enough over his major examples to bring out their complexities. He points to the variety of experiences and tendencies that generalizations about “Africa” obscure. Cheeseman contrasts vicious circles – a leader who had significant resources to control, who enriched himself and his cronies in visible ways, and who therefore clings to power by all means – with situations where elites, while lacking a legitimate electoral mandate, had less to lose or balked at plunging their societies into violent conflict. He raises the possibility of a virtuous circle, as tentative moves toward political openness create confidence in the possibility of winning elections by offering something to citizens.