The Quest for Democratic Citizenship: Contestations and Geopolitical Contradictions

Introduction

The wave of democratisation and the rationale behind the claim that liberal democracy remains the best alternative for current civilisations compared to other political systems in history continue to influence the global governance culture. This chapter considered some attributes of liberal democracy as the best political system and examined why it also remains a strong alternative for Africa’s development. In their preamble, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, states that, “We are determined to foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development”. The quest for democracy and any efforts towards democratisation whether within governments or educational systems are critical for world peace and development (Przeworski, et al., 2012; Rudebeck, 2016). The democratic peace theory or democratic pacifism claims that liberal democracies hardly ever go to war with one another (Robbins, 1976; Ceadel, 1980), arguing that democracies tend to use democratic and diplomatic arbitration and that the accountability demanded of them by citizens often compels leaders to be less likely to use force (Bhuiya & Jahan, 2023). However, some have found this contentious given the so-called ‘just wars’ that have been waged by some democracies especially in the Middle East, oftentimes against wider public opinion. Nevertheless, since democracy is perceived as likely to bring peace, its ideology has found favour in many revolutions as seen in the last quarter of the 20th century (Dahl, 1989; Potter et al, 1997; List, 2022), where there has been an upsurge in democratisation.

The world’s population living under democracy have steadily increased since the 1900s and has taken root in most countries, however, in most African countries this is yet to manifest, except for a few states such as Mauritius (Oluwole, 2023). The 20th-century expansion of democracy has not taken the form of a slow transition in each country but as successive waves of democracy some associated with wars. In some cases, there was an explicit imposition of democracy, through external military force such as the Japanese case by America in the 1940s. The collapse of the Soviet Union followed by liberalisation and democratisation of the independent republics has undoubtedly added to world democratisation (Ostrovsky, 2015). In the recent past one can also refer to alleged externally induced ‘democratisation’ efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, despite glaring contradictions and contestations to such claims. To some supporters of democracy, this was liberation, implying that no prior consent was required. The nominally democratic states of Europe were mainly born out of the First World War. In Africa, the revolutionary struggles against colonialism also led to the establishment of partial and liberal democracies in some countries (Potter et al, 1997). Furthermore, it is noted that there has also been a general acceptance of illiberal democratic countries by liberal democracies (Dahl, 1989). This has broadened not only the number of countries subscribing to or appearing to be democratic but also the concept of democracy in citizenship.