Five years after the close of a horrifying civil war, Sierra Leone held the freest elections in its history. Voters turned out the party that had overseen the war's end,…
Contrary to the widespread perception that Mauritania has moved toward democracy, this troubled country faces continued ethnic tensions and the prospect of increasing repression.
The failure of the elections has been partly mitigated by the hope of judicial review of electoral malfeasance, the stabilizing ingenuity of ethno-regional power-sharing, and renewed national discussions of electoral…