Title: The Movement Toward Democracy in Africa | Democratization in Africa: African Views, African Voices | The National Academies Press
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The Movement Toward Democracy in Africa

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The Movement Toward Democracy in Africa
IMPACT OF NEW EXTERNAL ACTORS
COLONIAL LEGACY AND DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICAN SOCIETIES
DEMOCRACY AND AFRICAN VALUES
POLITICAL LIBERALIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION

Content: In addition, long, drawn-out wars for self-determination such as the Eritrean and West Saharan conflicts have terminated hostilities and are now engaged in preparation for referendum. Competitive politics also has reemerged in some states with the democratic replacement of leaders through the ballot box, as the cases of Benin, Sao Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, and Zambia illustrate. For these reasons, the workshop participants expressed some degree of confidence that the changes taking place would have a better opportunity for success than the transitions from colonial rule. IMPACT OF NEW EXTERNAL ACTORS
Although pressures for change had been building in a number of countries, it was widely agreed that the ending of the cold war served as a catalyst for action. During the cold war, some countries capitalized on superpower competition, seeking military and development assistance from either the Soviet Union and its allies or from the West in exchange for strategic considerations. The Soviet Union, like the People's Republic of China, also provided an alternative development model for African states to emulate. The end of the cold war has left the leaders of these countries exposed and scrambling to establish a new set of relationships on the continent and in the world community. One person observed: " For the African heads of state who played Western and Eastern support against each other, the collapse of the Soviet Union came as a shock. . . . African states now have to either rely on themselves or submit to external pressures for democratic reforms."