S06E04: Ken Opa­lo on the Prospects of Democ­ra­cy Across Africa 

This episode explores the cur­rent state of democ­ra­cy across Africa. What are the main achieve­ments since the 1990s and what are the biggest inter­nal threats to con­sol­i­da­tion of democ­ra­cy? Why have demo­c­ra­t­ic gov­ern­ments failed to deliv­er? Lis­ten to how unful­filled promis­es and aspi­ra­tions for a bet­ter life have shaped the cur­rent context.

Guest fea­tured in this episode:

Trained in com­par­a­tive pol­i­tics and focus­ing on Sub-Saha­ran Africa, Opa­lo has a wide range of research inter­ests includ­ing leg­isla­tive insti­tu­tions and polit­i­cal devel­op­ment, sub­na­tion­al admin­is­tra­tion and decen­tral­ized gov­ern­ment, elec­tions and demo­c­ra­t­ic con­sol­i­da­tion in Africa.

His book, “Leg­isla­tive Devel­op­ment in Africa. Pol­i­tics and Post-Colo­nial Lega­cies”, inter­ro­gates the evo­lu­tion of African leg­is­la­tures in the wake of the tran­si­tion from autoc­ra­cy to democ­ra­cy. It pro­vides a com­par­a­tive and his­tor­i­cal expla­na­tion of vari­a­tions in the insti­tu­tion­al­iza­tion and strength­en­ing of leg­is­la­tures across the con­ti­nent. He is cur­rent­ly work­ing on two book projects, one on the process of “Colo­nial and Post-colo­nial State Build­ing and Decen­tral­iza­tion in Kenya,” and anoth­er on the “Pol­i­tics of Edu­ca­tion in Tanzania.”