Book: Liberal Democracy and Its Critics in Africa

Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo is the editor of a volume on "Liberal Democracy and Its Critics in Africa: Political Dysfunction and the Struggle for Social Progress" (Zed Books, 2005):

www.zedbooks.co.uk/book.asp?bookdetail=3839

Publisher's description: "The institutional forms and processes of democracy are spreading in Africa as dictatorial regimes have been forced to give way. But democratic form and democratic substance are two different things. Western-derived institutional forms are neither necessarily the most approprate [sic] nor the most practical in the current African context, and rooting democratic norms in African political cultures raises socio-cultural questions. This book draws on the experiences of particular African elections and countries to explore [...] whether democratic processes as currently practised in Africa are really making any difference."

The book is fully searchable on Google Book Search (including list of contributors and table of contents):

http://books.google.com/books?id=s09OMQN5UPoC&printsec=frontcover

"New Agenda" commended: "An important, well-grounded and stimulating contribution to current debates on democratisation, both in Africa and globally."

Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo is Professor of Political Science at Wells College.