Building Pluralist Democracy in Africa

In the last few years, African politics have begun to take a dramatic turn from single-party systems to the possibility of multi-party systems. However, there doesn’t seem to be a clear pattern of change emerging as governments in various countries are attempting to deal with the increased demand for popular participation. This paper argues that in order to understand the current demands for increased participation and the possibilities of multi-partyism, we need to analyze the origins of single-party systems and their consequence. The approach advocated here is that of political economy.