Transition Types and Democratic Consolidation: Ghana, Guinea, and the Gambia in Comparative Perspective

Multiple factors including historical heritage, literacy, socio-economic, cultural, and religious reason have been cited by scholars as the main reason why democratic consolidation is finding it hard to find a permanent home in West Africa, and Africa in general. Unlike previous studies on the subject, this study has look to the type of transition as the reason for the poor performance of democracy in West Africa. The study employs a comparative case study approach to evaluate the effectiveness of Bottom up and top down transitions in West Africa focusing on the first two sub-Saharan African independent countries, Ghana, Guinea, and one of West Africa's most cosmopolitan country, the Gambia. The findings show that despite the slow process, and tedious and compromising nature of a top down transition to democracy, it is more effective in the consolidation of democracy. The author argues that the effectiveness of a top down transition is due to the fact that this type of transition is a planned one, and negotiation on the nature and scope of the transition involves both the outgoing regime and the entering government, handover of power is a gradual process not a sweeping move, both parties have total control over their followers, and the outgoing authoritarian regime members are giving amnesty if necessary.