Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-297) and index.

Chapter 1. Approaches to democratization --- Chapter 2. Neopatrimonial rule in Africa --- Chapter 3. Africa's divergent transitions, 1990-94 --- Chapter 4. Explaining political protest --- Chapter 5. Explaining political liberalization --- Chapter 6. Explaining democratic transitions --- Chapter 7. The prospects for democracy ---- Conclusions: Comparative implications.

"Efforts to install democracy in African countries are powerfully shaped by the continent's recent political and institutional legacies. In this book, Michael Bratton and Nicolas van de Walle analyze the significant political reforms undertaken by some 40 out of 47 sub-Saharan countries in the early 1990s, which included the first competitive elections in a generation. How can this wave of political liberalization be explained? Why did some countries complete a democratic transition, whereas others sustained only limited political reform or suffered authoritarian reversals? What are the long-term prospects for democracy in Africa? In the first study of its kind for sub-Saharan Africa, the authors propose systematic answers to these questions from a cross-national, comparative perspective and in the light of prevailing theories of democratization."--Jacket.