The small, Portuguese-speaking island republic of Cape Verde offers a suggestive case study of successful democratic consolidation.
About the Author
Peter Meyns is professor of politics at the University of Duisburg in Germany. His recent publications include Konflict und Entwicklung im Südlichen Afrika (2000) and, as coeditor, Transformationsprobleme im portugiesischsprachigen Afrika (2001).
With longtime ruler Jerry Rawlings obeying constitutional term limits, the opposition won a narrow electoral victory, bringing Ghana its first peaceful transfer of power since independence.
Despite signs of a cautious willingness to allow more political competition, the regime of newly reelected president Yoweri Museveni fell back on familiar habits of brutal repression when public unrest…
