Abstract
The study of five African nations’ civil society and political history in the preceding chapters has found surprisingly similar results. Civil society was found to have generally positive effects on democratization although that was not always the case. In whichever democratic direction the country went, the trends in civil society were consistent. This correlation is consistent enough that one could predict the democratic direction of the state based on an observation of the strength and composition of its civil society. One could also tell what kind of characteristics in civil society supports democratization. Civil society organizations played a central role in bringing about all the successful transitions and have also played a positive role in consolidating democracy. This chapter summarizes the common trends observed in these states and highlights differences between them. In this process, key findings and arguments made in the previous chapters regarding the study’s hypothesis are restated and elaborated in comparative mode.
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Ibrahim, A.M. (2015). Civil Society in Transition, Consolidation, and Regression: A Comparative Analysis. In: The Role of Civil Society in Africa’s Quest for Democratization. Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18383-1_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18383-1_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
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