After independence many African countries abjured conventional patterns of political representation and democratic participation in the interest of creating a unified state and promoting economic development. Today, however, the dominant models of one-party democracy and African socialism are in terminal collapse as a result of internal pressures a

Introduction: Socialism or Democracy, Socialism and Democracy -- Controversies -- Economic Democracy, Socialism, and the "Market" -- The State, Civil Society, and Democracy in Africa: Some Theoretical Issues -- Taking Democracy Seriously: Democracy-Bureaucracy Relations -- Democracy and the Agrarian Question in Africa: Reflections on the Politics of States and the Representation of Peasants' and Women's Interests -- Discourses of Democracy in the South African Left: A Critical Commentary -- Cases -- The National Resistance Movement, "Grassroots Democracy", and Dictatorship in Uganda -- Inching Towards Democracy: The Ghanaian "Revolution", the International Monetary Fund, and the Politics of the Possible -- Pastoralists, Socialism, and Democracy: The Sudanese Experience -- The Peasantariat, Politics, and Democracy in Botswana -- Gender, Participation, and Radicalism in African Nationalism: Its Contemporary Significance -- Beyond the Nation-State? Democracy in the Regional Economic Context -- Conclusion: The Future of Democracy in Africa