Herbert F. Weiss is emeritus professor of political science at the City University of New York and senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Political Protest in the Congo (1968). In 2006, he served as a member of the Carter Center’s election-observation team in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The holding of competitive elections in this vast, strife-torn country must count as a significant achievement, even though voters signaled their disaffection with the entire array of political elites that had been ruling them.
At a time when democracy seems to be in retreat in many parts of the world, Africa presents a more mixed picture. Democratization in Africa: Progress and Retreat brings into focus the complex landscape of African politics by pairing broad analytical surveys with country-specific case studies.
