Nigeria: An End to the Permanent Transition

With longtime ruler Jerry Rawlings obeying constitutional term limits, the opposition won a narrow electoral victory, bringing Ghana its first peaceful transfer of power since independence.

A review of Civil Society and the State in Africa, edited by John W. Harbeson, Donald Rothchild, and Naomi Chazan.

Ghana has won praise for its steady progress toward democratic consolidation,  in late 2010 it joined the ranks of the world’s oil producers. Will the  democratic institutions be able to…