DEMOCRATIC PATTERNS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN STATES TODAY

Many writers and political commentators erroneously consider the sub-Saharan region as a homogeneous region and as such talk of an African democracy. This article has come out with various patterns that can be observed today across the sub-Saharan region. The democratic snapshots taken show variants emanating from the 4 sub-regions, a states colonial history, the possession of oil, states suffering sanctions and the longevity of the president. Two democratic indexes Freedom House and Mo Ibrahim Index of Governance form the bases for the measurement of democracy in these states. In the majority of cases, both indexes have somehow given the same outlook of a countrys democracy thereby reinforcing the conclusions drawn in this article. In order to proceed to the democratic patterns of these states, prior analyses of the decolonization and the struggle for influence by the Superpowers in the sub-Saharan region was done. These earlier dynamics help us to understand the present democratic patterns better.