Author: Rachel Beatty Riedl | Journal of Democracy

Rachel Beatty Riedl is professor of public policy and government at Cornell University and the Peggy J. Koenig ’78 Director of the Brooks Center on Global Democracy. Her latest book (edited with Valerie Bunce, Thomas Pepinksy, and Kenneth Roberts) is Global Challenges to Democracy: Comparative Perspectives on Backsliding, Autocracy, and Resilience (2025).

Democracy Wins in Senegal

Rachel Beatty Riedl

The president wanted to remain in power, but the people’s demands prevailed in the end.

July 2019, Volume 30, Issue 3

Aspirations and Realities in Africa: Senegal’s Vigorous but Constrained Election

Rachel Beatty Riedl
Ndongo Samba Sylla

In Senegal, voters, civil society, and the media remain active and engaged, but as the reelection of Macky Sall showed, the president’s ability to limit competition and centralize power remains formidable.