Can Civil Society Sustain Democratic Governance in Africa?

Democracy in Africa has experienced a turbulent trajectory over the past three decades. Activists celebrated a wave of transitions to multi-party democracy and the end of military rule across much of the continent in the 1990s. This gained fresh momentum with the Arab Spring in the early 2010s when popular protests ejected authoritarian rulers across much of North Africa. But this wave of democratic transitions has not been sustained. A return to authoritarian rule over the past decade has curbed the optimism of democracy activists and external actors. Civic space is increasingly constrained in many countries, including those which continue to hold elections. Governance reforms have faltered as democracy has stalled. Violent conflict has resurfaced in the Horn of Africa, along with jihadist insurgencies in the Sahel. This article considers how far civil society can play a constitutive role in sustaining democratic institutions and preserving civic space in the face of enduring threats to democracy and governance in Africa.