I was struck by what the article reported about recent trends in democratization after years of economic progress in most of the many countries in Africa. "For now, the advance of democracy in Africa appears to have stalled. In 1990, just three of Africa’s 48 countries were electoral democracies, according to Freedom House, a Washington-based pro-democracy advocacy group. By 1994, that number had leapt to 18. Two decades later, only 19 qualify." What I like about the article is that it distinguishes the situations in differing countries on a continent of considerable diversity. Going to a recent Freedom House blog post[1] showed a map of which countries that organization identifies as "free" (green on the map), "partly free" (yellow), and "not free" (purple) by that organization's rating scale. Fortunately, some of the most populous countries in Africa are free (e.g., South Africa) or partly free (e.g., Nigeria and Kenya). The commentary in the post about ten different countries was also informative about key issues.
Yes, the main issue is freedom. The countries that additionally have democracy usually bring along with effective democracy such individual liberty features as an independent judiciary, a free press, and freedom of speech for the populace. That's important for people's daily lives. I lived in Taiwan both before and after that country's democratization, and life became much better with democracy. I'd like to see the same happen in many more countries around the world.
Yes, the main issue is freedom. The countries that additionally have democracy usually bring along with effective democracy such individual liberty features as an independent judiciary, a free press, and freedom of speech for the populace. That's important for people's daily lives. I lived in Taiwan both before and after that country's democratization, and life became much better with democracy. I'd like to see the same happen in many more countries around the world.
[1] https://freedomhouse.org/blog/10-positive-developments-afric...
https://freedomhouse.org/regions/sub-saharan-africa#.VIO9pDH...