Third Wave Democracy and Africa

Mr Fradreck begins his talk by throwing light on the third wave of Democratisation, a concept given by Samuel P Huntington. He speaks about the factors that were responsible for the spread of democracy and globalisation in Africa which are dictators losing their legitimacy to rule, the emergence of the catholic church with an emphasis on moral values and the role played by the US and EU in spreading democracy. He opines that Africa has been a victim of globalisation and that globalisation has not benefitted Africa. He substantiates by giving instance as to how African nations face unfair competition at the WTO. Mr Fradreck says that the rules of the WTO have been inequitable to the African Nations. He points out that the developing nations have been increasing their presence in Africa under the banner of globalisation, and this has led to the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources. According to him, there exists a lot of instability in Africa because of maladministration. From 1960 to 2020, Africa countries have had 2013 heads of states, and out of 55 African nations, 40 of them have had coups. He cites Greg Mills—a South African author—by saying that the African people have to make the right choices to eliminate the social, economic and political hurdles that hinder them from developing. The speaker further adds that the overgrown reliance of African nations on aid from other countries and institutions has been detrimental to its progress. He then quotes Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda by saying that the implementation of globalisation has not been favourable to Africa, and the continent has figured itself in the agendas of other countries for more than a century, without any African Nation being part of it. Furthermore, Africa faces problems of migration, climate change and governance crisis. These factors have driven investors away from Africa. He concludes by saying that Africa must focus on its demographic challenges, governance crisis, inequality and the role of youth to achieve development. Report compiled by Yaqoob Saleem