Democracy and the Challenges of Security in Selected Countries

Abstract

The Western-style democracy is still trying to get a foothold in many African countries. After a series of promising starts, the concept of Western-style democracy is becoming more appealing to Africans and African states. However, while still grappling with the challenges of adapting to the Western system of governance, some African countries have been embroiled in various forms of security challenges including civil wars, armed conflicts, terrorism, money laundering, drugs, human and arms trafficking. These challenges threaten the growth and development of democracy on the continent. This paper is a comparative analysis of African democracies and non-African democracies with an emphasis on their concepts of security and how each country has dealt with these security concerns. Adopting a purely doctrinal research methodology and using selected developed (mature) democracies as case studies, this paper examined these challenges and the effect on democracy in Africa. Taking a cue from the experience of the developed democracies, the paper concludes that African countries (broadly) need to adopt measures to overcome these challenges to ensure stability and growth of democracy on the continent. Keyword: Democracy, Security, Terrorism, Africa, WarMatthew T. Bradley, Associate Professor, Indiana University Kokomo;  Email: mtbradle@Iuk.edu Christiana E. Attah, Lecturer, Joseph Ayo Babalola University;  Email: ejuata90@gmail.com