A Push Toward Autocracy? The Effects of US Security Cooperation on Democratic Development in Africa

Since the 2010s, security assistance to Africa has exploded while global democracy trends – including in Africa – have been in steady decline. How are these two empirical facts connected? This paper analyzes the relationship between US security partnerships and democracy trends in Africa from 2005 to 2020. Overall, our findings are mixed. There is either no significant relationship or a weakly negative relationship between many US security cooperative activities and democratic quality in Africa. We did find, however, that US military assistance can have a negative impact on two specific aspects of democracy: protection of freedoms and civil liberties and accountability and transparency.