Soldiers received a rapturous welcome after they seized power in Guinea last year, This supporters of Mali's football team held a picture of coup leader Colonel Assimi Goita before a recent Africa Cup of Nations match, Sudanese protesters continue to risk their lives to demand an end to military rule, Rwanda markets itself as a high-tech hub but there is no room for criticism of the government, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Countries & Regions: Freedom in the World 2021 | Freedom House According to Opiyo, this involves using bots and trolls, computer programs, and paid users who use fake accounts to flood social media with posts favorable to the government. Ghanas President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Friday, It represents a threat to peace, security and stability in West-Africa.. by James McBride, Anshu Siripurapu and Noah Berman WebAs of early 2022, the countries of Afghanistan, Eritrea, North Korea, and Turkmenistan are the only nations in the world whose governments are generally considered to be Michele Cattani/Agence France-Presse Getty Images, governments failure to protect its people from violent extremists. Yet, Malawi offers a bright spot amid the pandemic. "If it did, it was punished. The pandemic is exacerbating a decline of democracy across sub-Saharan Africa. C.V. Starr & Co. What is more, despite growing frustration with the way that multiparty politics is performing, on average democracies generate higher economic growth and do a better job of providing public services, according to a study at the US's Cornell University. The United Arab Emirates, a rising There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. Dictatorship Countries Secondly, while the term "dictatorship" is widely understood to include inherent abuse of powerthere is arguably no such thing as a benevolent dictatorhistory offers several examples of autocrats who tried to do what was best for their people. More Africans live under fully or partially authoritarian states today than at most points in the last two decades. By 2009, two-thirds were considered free or partly free.. In March 2021, Magufuli diedhis death was attributed to heart disease but was likely brought on by COVID-19. [33] In turn, this is one reason that military juntas typically justify their actions by claiming that they were intended to reinstitute the rule of law and save democracy from itself. As in other parts of the world, it thus remains unclear whether the increasing prevalence and importance of the internet and social media, in their totality, will have a beneficial, deleterious, or ambiguous effect on democracy. Military dictatorship - Wikipedia To compare levels of democracy across different countries, Freedom House, a well-regarded nongovernmental organization, publishes an index that measures by standard criteria the degree of freedom enjoyed by people in countries and some territories and assigns to each a numerical score. "It will also take time for those in power to stop using surveillance and monitoring as a means to counter criticism. This has been seen in Nigeria, where #EndSARS protesters organized online to demand police reforms; in Uganda, where presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, better known as Bobi Wine, used social media to catalyze his People Power movement; and in Ghana, where Twitter users instigated a national discussion on illegal small-scale mining. Tanzania and Zambia, for example, have largely avoided the ethnic and religious conflicts that afflict Nigeria and Mozambique. Those criteria, and their application to a specific locale, are always subject to debate; the score can only be indicative, not definitive. Social media is becoming another tool of oppression.". Mr. Kufuor said any attempt by leaders in Africa to restrict the freedom of the citizenry will stifle progress in the region. Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development in Nigeria November 2021 Authors: Ope Oyedeji University of Southern Mississippi Preprints and early-stage Failing to counter crime and insurgency, some African leaders are seeking greater security involvement from the United States. Sudan is Africas third-largest country by area and straddles the Nile River. Multiple political parties may exist, but one dominates the government, makes all the rules, is free to disseminate propaganda, and controls every aspect of every election (which may offer voters only a single candidate), thereby ensuring they win every time. Things Fall Apart: Dictatorships, Development, and President Vladimir Putin is currently serving his fourth term as President of Russia. The situation could have been even more Egypt has close ties to Sudans military, which it sees as an ally against Ethiopia. However, Chinas model of developmental authoritarianism remains attractive to those who see democracy as an impediment to development. April 25, 2023 Most African regional organizations have a stated vocation of promoting democracy. Therefore, the entire country operates on the whims of that one person. However, many people in long-running dictatorships such as North Korea and Cameroon have never experienced anything else, so living in a dictatorship is much less jarring and shocking to them. Countries under Dictatorship in 2021 DevelopmentAid Apr 9, 2021 | Tags: President | Category: 1 Africa dictators, Africa Leaders, All, Dictators. Even in the countries in which a coup has taken place, a majority of citizens want to live in a democracy and reject authoritarian rule. WebAs of 2020, there are 52 nations with a dictator or authoritarian regime ruling the country: Three in Latin America and South America, 27 in Asia and the Middle East, and 22 in Tanzania offers a stark example. The military also couldnt stop Chads president, Idris Dby, a retired general, from being killed on the battlefield as rebels tried to overthrow his government. The situation could have been even more alarming, because failed coup attempts have been reported in the Central African Republic (CAR) and, just days ago, Guinea-Bissau. Thus in total, almost 440 Ugandan social media accounts close to the Ugandan government have beenblocked by social media networks in the East African country to date. Ghanas President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Friday, It represents a threat to peace, security and stability in West-Africa.. Instead, presidents atrophied support because they undermined their own democratic credentials in a context of rising instability and - in the case of Burkina Faso and Mali - jihadist insurgencies. February 1, 2023 Is climate change killing Australian wine? Ukraine updates: Air defenses fend off attack near Kyiv, Ukraine: Russian troops edge closer to taking Bakhmut, Ukraine's counteroffensive: Goals, opportunities, risks, Truly revolutionary? Return of the military strongmen to West Africa, Why Burkina Faso's coup has prompted celebrations, Sudan protests: 'Did I just survive a massacre? Geography is not quite destiny, but similarly rated countries do tend to form clusters. Whats Happening to Democracy in Africa? However, Twitter deleted this call, and in reponse,Buhari's government banned Nigerians from accessing the micro-blogging site,"Franziska Ulm-Dsterhft, Africa expert atAmnesty International in Germany,told DW. Rwanda is often cited as an example of what a "strong man" can do in the African context - delivering economic growth while reducing corruption. - Council on Foreign Dictatorship That the same surveys also find that support for democracy stands at 77% in Guinea, 70% in Burkina Faso and 62% in Mali - further evidence that citizens backed military intervention in the hope that it would pave the way for a more effective form of civilian government, not because they aspire to live under authoritarian rule. and. Is social media becoming a threat to democracy on the continent? Like most dictators, they also often employ secret police and violence to silence critics. The leaders of dictatorships are not outwardly identified as dictators when other people are addressing them. During the presidents weekslong public absence prior, at least one man was arrested for questioning his health. In the last six years alone, at least 26 African countries have experienced transfers of power. Why Sudan's conflict matters to the rest of the world | AP News PMI, Presidents Malaria Initiative Strategy 2021-2026, 2021. June 2, 2022, Stopping Illegal Gun Trafficking Through South Florida, Blog Post Military Dictatorship: Definition and Examples Globally in 2000 there were a total of 108 endemic countries. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, and Joseph Krauss in Ottawa, Ontario, contributed. Military takeovers are unlikely to provide an effective way out of this dangerous spiral, because every coup weakens democratic institutions and reasserts the power of the gun at the expense of the power of the ballot box. Three years later, thatfigure had risen to 81 countries. However, within this category, increasingly populist governments are suppressing opposition groups, postponing elections, eliminating term limits, and abusing human rights to maintain power. To combat the trend, the United States and other partners should commit to the painstaking work of bolstering democratic institutions. by CFR.org Editors Republic of Congo. It's time for the United States to get serious about stopping the flow. Despite the decline, a plurality of countries (twenty-two) are considered partially free, in line with the sixteen-year average. November 8, 2022 by Will Freeman Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Sudan and Mali have all seen the government overthrown and replaced with a military junta. Democracy in decline in Africa? Not so fast - ISS Africa Powers farther afield havent done much better. African and international organizations have reacted with disapproving statements and sanctions, and in Mali, the threat that a regional standby force will invade but few take the latter very seriously. A president who had ruled for three decades was killed on the battlefield, and his son was quickly installed in his place a violation of the Constitution. ", Angelo Izama, a political consultant and journalist from Uganda, describesthe move rather as an "overreaction" rooted in deeply-held patriarchal beliefs. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, African leaders complain about 'wave of coups'. There is this notion that bad elections are worse than no elections at all, said Ms. Moderan. Egypt relies on the Nile to support its population of over 100 million, and Ethiopia is working on a massive upstream dam that has alarmed both Cairo and Khartoum. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Unfortunately, democracy is still shaky in many countries, a number of which are fighting violent religious insurrections, and the likelihood of any fallen dictator being quickly replaced by another dictator is high. WebThe country earned an 11-point score declinethe largest in Freedom in the World 2021 and its status declined to Not Free. The Presidents Malaria Initiative and Other U.S. Government President Hassan has shifted the country toward a more evidence-based approach to COVID-19 and reached out to the opposition. ', MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, Trevelyan relative 'would consider' famine payment, Four dead after suspected pigeon racer dispute, Adidas sued by investors over Kanye West deal, UK chip giant Arm files for blockbuster share sale, Suspected IS chief killed in Syria, Turkey says, Pope urges Hungarians to 'open doors' to migrants. With every country that gets added to this list, the voices claiming that democracy is not working - and cannot work - in Africa grow louder. Now, the central bank is back in the spotlight for its battle against inflation. In 2011, the Obama White House launched the Open Government Partnership, an initiative in which member governmentsover a dozen of them Africanmade concrete commitments to promote transparency, empower citizens, and fight corruption. 2021 West African leaders on Friday called an emergency summit on the situation in Burkina Faso, where the new military leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, told the nation in his first public address on Thursday night that he would return the country to constitutional order when the conditions are right., The resurgence of coups has alarmed the regions remaining civilian leaders. Religion and Foreign Policy Webinars, C.V. Starr & Co. My research suggests that the United States is investing in poor partners. In Burkina Faso, an attack last November that left almost 50 military police officers dead is considered a key event that led to the coup two months later. PMI, Presidents Malaria Initiative Strategy 2021-2026, 2021. Yet, only the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has devoted serious energy and resources to defending democracy: it has played a major role in rolling back military dictatorships in West Africa and opposing military coups, though it has been less effective in preventing third-term bids by incumbents. Facebook alsostatedthat as part of its strategy, the Ministry of Information had been using "fake and duplicate accounts" for propaganda purposes. Both Twitter and Facebook accusethe Ugandan government of using social media asa tool politicians to manipulate public opinion, spread disinformation, and intimidate the opposition. Eritrean troopsovertly or tacitly supported by the Ethiopian governmenthave reportedly committed a range of atrocities, while Abiys government stands accused of attempting to starve large swathes of the Tigrayan population into submission. Dictatorship Countries 2021 - New African Magazine Declan Walsh contributed reporting from Ouagadougou. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. From the outside looking in, life within a dictatorship appears akin to being in a toxic relationship or living situation. Since its postwar founding, the UN agency has garnered both praise and criticism for its response to international public health crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The external mediators risk becoming a traffic jam with no policeman, De Waal said. Rwanda is an exception: its social development indicators rank higher than its human rights standing, and its president, Paul Kagame, is relatively young at sixty-three years of age. Return to text. Whether or not Putin is a dictator is a matter of some debate. But when the countrys Supreme Court upheld incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addos victory, Mahama accepted the results, conceding that he was legally bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court. Large-scale violence was absent from the electoral process; five people, however, were killed in postelection violence. Chads military is considered one of the continents strongest, yet it has failed to stop deadly attacks by Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province, an insurgency that is now a decade old. Threats to democracy in Africa: The rise of the - Brookings To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video, At the time, Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa initially justified the move by saying that Facebook and Twitter had shut down government accounts, making the social media blackout sound like a retaliatory measure. The United Arab Emirates, a rising military power that has expanded its presence across the Middle East and East Africa, has close ties to the Rapid Support Forces, which sent thousands of fighters to aid the UAE and Saudi Arabia in their war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. by Olivia Angelino, Thomas J. Bollyky, Elle Ruggiero and Isabella Turilli Despite the fact that hundreds of people have been injured and at least 79 killed, the Sudanese people continue to demand their democratic rights. While autocratic countries are not always malevolent, they often still encounter resistance from citizens who would prefer to have a greater say in the government's policy-making process. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else.. But a military takeover doesnt necessarily lead to a more effective response against insurgencies continuing attacks in Mali are evidence of that, she said. Burkina Faso and 5 Other Coups in Africa, Explained - New York Given the degree of censorship and control China's government leverages over its citizens, most political experts would call it a dictatorship. Will They Make a Difference? From 2015 to 2020, the United States provided over $4.8 billion in SFA to sub-Saharan Africa. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. Examples might include King Cyrus the Great of Persia, who is thought to have created the first declaration of human rights, the Biblical King Solomon, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yue. Its an explosive cocktail. As vaccination campaigns continue around the globe, vaccine diplomacy by China could deepen its ties to the continent and potentially further erode African confidence in democracy. (The military) will want to take control of gold mines and smuggling routes. Young peoplein particular, he highlights, are now ablewith the help of the internetto react immediately to laws and bans, and make their opinions known about the performance of the government or of private institutions. It comes two years after they jointly carried out a military coup and derailed a transition to democracy that had begun after protesters in 2019 helped force the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. In some cases, this is because they enjoy the personal benefits of being in power and don't want to give them up. Its a recipe for the kind of prolonged conflict that has devastated other countries in the Middle East and Africa, from Lebanon and Syria to Libya and Ethiopia. Africa has been hit by a spate of coups that threaten to take it back to the 1980s and the era of military rule. Chart: Malaria: Progress and Challenges | Statista 2023 BBC. The same administrations Young African Leaders Initiative, which has been reinvigorated by the Joe Biden administration, seeks to groom future leaders in a democratic context. Arab Gulf countries have looked to the Horn of Africa in recent years as they have sought to project power across the region. Far from being a short-term Sudanese problem, this conflict between two rival centres of military power illustrates a common long-term problem in Africa. Arab Gulf countries have looked to the Horn of Africa in recent years as they have sought to project power across the region. by Lindsay Maizland and Eleanor Albert This was an unpopular strategy, particularly because neither the constitutional referendum nor the general election that he subsequently won were free and fair. Similarly, former Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keta was accused of rigging the 2020 legislative elections. Democracy is defined differentlyby the United Nations [PDF], academics [PDF], and politiciansand comes in various forms. Why Now? Dictators Yet, if a witchs brew of jihadi terrorists, criminal networks, and the disaffected destroy sitting governments, the human rights consequences certainly will be worse than the status quo. But COVID-19 has given them greater leverage, providing further pretext for postponing elections in Somalia and Ethiopia, muzzling opposition figures in Uganda and Tanzania, and imposing restrictions [PDF] on media across the continent. The #EndSARSmovement was initated by social media-savvyyoung Nigerians, who sought to put pressure onthe government to abolish Nigeria's controversial Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit. All three Sahelian countries with recent coups Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad are grappling with Islamist insurgencies that keep spreading, capitalizing on local tensions and grievances against political elites. WebOne-party dictatorships became prominent in Asia and Eastern Europe during the Cold War as communist governments were installed in several countries. October 6, 2022. Countdown to 2023: WHO report on global trans-fat elimination 2021 April 23, 2023 at 2:00 a.m. EDT. Sudans economic woes would seem to provide an opening for Western nations to use economic sanctions to pressure both sides to stand down. Where democracy stands in Africa today has myriad influences, including the legacy of colonialism and the emergence of the digital age. Resilient institutions offer the best tonic to unscrupulous elitespresent everywhere, but a particular scourge in sub-Saharan Africa, where institutions have been deliberately weakened during the colonial period and subsequently by big men and their associated militaries. COVID-19 presents a unique opportunity: were the United States to launch a vast vaccination assistance program, it would affirm to many Africans that democracy and good governance can address their ills. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Twitter said in a statement, however, that "(i)n most cases, the accounts were suspended for various violations of our platform manipulation and spam policies.". And that's the relationship between the state and the citizen," Izama told DW. January 29, 2021 at 5:00 a.m. EST. By 2021 this had dropped to 84, yet nearly half of the world's population was still classified as 'at risk' of malaria. Sudan became an international pariah when it hosted Osama bin Laden and other militants in the 1990s, when al-Bashir had empowered a hard-line Islamist government. Africas Leaders for Life - Council on Foreign Relations The military rulers, seen as standing up to self-interested foreigners, now have overwhelming support, according to analysts and local news reports. The terms "autocrat" and "autocracy" are often used interchangeably with "dictator" and "dictatorship". Renewing America, Timeline The People's Republic of China is currently ruled by President Xi Jinping, who also serves as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the country's Vice President, the President of the Central Party School, and the 1st ranked member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee. Last November, 49 military police officers and four civilians were killed in the northern outpost of Inata. The military took advantage of public anger at a stolen parliamentary election and the governments failure to protect its people from violent extremists, and arrested President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and forced him to resign on state television. Such turmoil will grow as elites compete for power and citizens resist oppressive regimes, and will, in turn, inhibit social and economic development, to the disadvantage of the continents rapidly growing population. with Alice C. Hill, Carmichael S. Roberts Jr. and Jennifer Wilcox Are military takeovers on the rise in Africa? Yet, these movements have frequently been met with an equal and opposite reaction: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni cracked down on activists and implemented a social media ban; in Nigeria, protesters were massacred by army and police forces. The rights of the people are typically suppressed in a dictatorship, sometimes to a great degree. EXPLAINER: What Is Happening in Sudan, and How Does it Littoral states are also, on average, freer than landlocked ones, likely benefitting from increased interactions with foreigners from democratic societiesa factor more important prior to the advent of the digital age. That, along with the war in Ukraine and global inflation, sent the economy into free-fall. The military takes control of the country (usually through a direct coup), installs the dictator of its choosing (typically the highest-ranking military officer), and uses force of arms to preserve its power. During a 2009 visit to Ghana, U.S. President Barack Obama famously said in an address to the parliament, Africa doesnt need strongmen, it needs strong institutions. But institution-building requires time and patience. Theres a belief that strongmen can better face the security risks, especially in the Sahelian countries where violence is spiraling, said Anna Schmauder, a research fellow focused on the Sahel in the conflict research unit of the Dutch think tank Clingendael. In 2021, five sitting African heads of state had been in power for more than three decades each: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Equatorial Guinea, Paul Biya The leader may be supported by a party or military, but still retains the overwhelming majority of power, especially regarding whom to place in which governmental roles, and relies heavily upon their own charisma to maintain control. Hes also believed to have been well-paid by Gulf countries for the RSFs service in Yemen battling Iran-aligned rebels. Nolan Quinn. "We documented this last year for Togo and Rwanda, for example. Back in Uganda,the government in the capital Kampala has also been trying to make itharder for Ugandans to get independent information online by imposing taxes on mobile data. "The spread of fake news is a real problem," said Ugandan human rights activist Nicholas Opiyo in a DW interview. The Five Kinds of Dictatorship 1. John Campbell and On a similar note, a dictatorship's regular citizens have no voice in most matters. A dictator may have a team of officials who advise him or her and help keep the government running, but these officials ultimately have very little control or influence. Leonard Mbulle-Nziege is a research analyst at Africa Risk Consulting (ARC) and Nic Cheeseman is a professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham in the UK. the military took back full control of the government. More broadly, digital repression has become commonplaceespecially around electionsas leaders seek to throttle the opposition and influence popular discourse, frequently through disinformation.
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