Citizenship, Political Violence, And Democratization in Africa (Global INSIGHTS‪)‬

The denial of full citizenship rights to selected individuals and groups in Africa has triggered political violence. In many instances, these conflicts have slowed down the democratization process, which is essential for pulling Africa out of poverty and placing it more firmly on the path of stability and sustainable development. This failure to democratize has implications for national, regional, and global governance. During the current wave of democratization, incumbents bent on prolonging their stay in power have used exclusionary notions of citizenship to bar their most challenging rivals from the electoral process. The best-known examples of this practice are the disqualification of former president Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and former prime minister Alassane Dramane Ouattara of Cote d'Ivoire from presidential elections in 1996 and 2000, respectively. Because one was a founding father and the other had served as head of government under the venerable Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the incumbent regimes felt compelled to resort to constitutional gymnastics to justify their political exclusion on the basis of citizenship.