Democratization in Africa: African Views, African Voices (1992)
Chapter: Front Matter
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Frank Press is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
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The National Research Council was established by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with the general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Frank Press and Dr. Robert M. White are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
The work that provided the basis for this volume was supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 92-62337
International Standard Book Number 0-309-04797-8
First Printing, October 1992
Second Printing, March 1995
B046
Available from: Panel on Issues in Democratization, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418
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Copyright 1992 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
PANEL ON ISSUES IN DEMOCRATIZATION
PHILIP CONVERSE (Chair),
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California
ROBERT DAHL,
Department of Political Science (emeritus), Yale University
ALBERT FISHLOW,
Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
JAMES LOWELL GIBBS, Jr.
Department of Anthropology, Stanford University
ALEX INKELES,
Hoover Institution and Department of Sociology (emeritus), Stanford University
ADAM PRZEWORSKI,
Department of Political Science, University of Chicago
PHILIPPE C. SCHMITTER,
Department of Political Science, Stanford University
ALFRED STEPAN,
Department of Political Science, Columbia University
IVAN SZELENYI,
Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
SIDNEY VERBA,
Department of Political Science, Harvard University
DAVID M. TRUBEK,
Department of International Studies and Programs and School of Law, University of Wisconsin
JO HUSBANDS, Project Director (through March 1992)
SABRI SAYARI, Project Director
SAHR JOHN KPUNDEH, Senior Research Associate
MARY E. THOMAS, Senior Program Associate
Preface
The Africa Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development (A.I.D.) requested assistance from the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council in obtaining the views of leading African scholars, intellectuals, and political activists on the broad question of democratization in Africa and how A.I.D. might most appropriately support that process. In responding to this request, the National Research Council organized three workshops in Africa, drawing participants from most countries on the continent. This was an unusual and challenging undertaking for the National Research Council, and it could not have succeeded without the support and cooperation of the U.S. Department of State, particularly the embassy and A.I.D. officials in the countries that hosted our workshops, Benin, Ethiopia, and Namibia.
We are indebted to the Africans who accepted our invitations to the three workshops. The difficulties of travel in Africa required not only a very significant time commitment from the participants, but also, often, airline flights of several days' duration and multiple stops. More important, a large number of participants came at considerable personal risk—the very act of attending a meeting on democracy being an act of political defiance in their home countries. For these sacrifices of time and comfort and acts of bravery, we are very grateful.
There are also those individuals and organizations whose contributions were so important to our ability to organize the meetings and conduct them successfully that we wish to express special thanks. The University of
Benin provided support in co-organizing the first workshop; the rector of the university, Dr. Jean Pierre Ezin, was especially helpful. Tessy Bakary offered a summary of the Benin workshop on national television, in French, with less than an hour's notice. Dr. J. Isawa Eliagwu, professor of political science at the University of Jos in Nigeria, and Dr. Dele Olowu, professor of political science at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, attended two of the workshops and provided invaluable cross-fertilization from the Benin meeting to the meetings in Ethiopia and Namibia, respectively.
The Inter-Africa Group in Addis Ababa was instrumental to assuring the success of the meeting in that city, and Abdul Mohammed was tireless and unfailingly innovative in overcoming major and minor crises. Asmelash Bayene of the Economic Commission for Africa paved the way for our use of the Africa Center in Addis Ababa and in many other ways contributed to the success of the workshop. Dr. Hugh Africa of the University of Namibia provided invaluable advice and introductions that overcame many potential problems in Namibia, and Dr. Peter Katjavivi, vice chancellor designate of the University of Namibia, was not only a participant in the Windhoek meeting, but cleared many obstacles to its success that would have otherwise proved very difficult to manage.
Dr. Christopher Clapham of the Politics and International Relations Department of Lancaster University in the United Kingdom gave generously of his time to attend both the Addis Ababa and Windhoek meetings, and in both he played key roles as rapporteur and chair of several small group sessions. His insights moved the discussions along on many occasions. Teresa Smith de Cherif dazzled participants in both Addis Ababa and Windhoek with her comprehensive and accurate summaries of the daily sessions; she also contributed significantly to the writing of the workshop report, particularly the section on institutions needed to sustain democracy. Finally, Mary Thomas of the National Research Council staff proved to be a magician in accomplishing impossible logistics and solving the myriad—and totally unpredictable—problems that arose in transit and at the meeting sites. Without her unflagging efforts, the project could never have succeeded.
The Africa workshops were developed by Jo Husbands, the project director for the panel. Sahr Kpundeh was the staff officer in charge of the execution of the project and of writing the summary report. The project was conducted under the supervision of Susanne A. Stoiber, director of the Division of Social and Economic Studies of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Philip Converse, Chair
Panel on Issues in Democratization
