In early 2025, as the United States announced wide-ranging aid cuts that predominantly affected African nations, there were fears that Western interest and influence on the continent was receding. Along with it, support for bolstering democratic norms and conventions.
Considerable funding through multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the African Union comes from Western democracies, as well as observer missions around elections. Without this, or with less of this, how would Africa’s democracies — which already often face significant challenges — fare?
Is the West getting too much credit?
Many observers regard the upcoming elections in Tanzania and Uganda as formalities, rather than fair contests. Tanzania’s opposition party Chadema has been banned from competing, its leader Tundu Lissu is in detention facing treason charges, and pro-democracy activists from Kenya claimed to have been abducted and tortured.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is seeking to extend his four-decade rule, and prominent opposition figures like Kizza Besigye and Bobi Wine have warned of increased oppression.
“In the context of democratization overall, one of the trends that we’ve picked up in East Africa is suppression of political opposition, and the targeting of political parties and leaders who are trying to upset the status quo,” said Seema Shah, head of the Democracy Assessment Unit at International IDEA, a Sweden-based intergovernmental organization that advocates for democracy worldwide.
Kenya too has experienced a crackdown on youth protests and politically motivated abductions. President William Ruto’s regime has faced criticism for its heavy-handed approach.
“It takes a lot of time to get into a rhythm of peaceful turnover and people accepting that a certain amount of friction, debate and opposition is natural and healthy, and we have to look at elections and the perks of being in power,” Shah told DW.
Trump election emboldens authoritarians
Cassandra Dorasamy of Amnesty International South Africa claimed that the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House has impacted how democracies are perceived.
“In the past few years, authoritarian practice has been emboldened and fast-tracked by the election of President Trump,” she told DW.
Trump’s actions to undermine institutions aimed at furthering human rights and democratic values abroad have alarmed observers in the US and abroad. This included effectively shuttering USAID, and cutting funds to broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.
But Dorasamy points out that democracy is not just under attack in the US, but in Europe, too: “The rise of anti-rights movements across the world and from Europe to Africa, we are seeing a strengthening of narratives that emboldened the anti-migrant sentiment, anti-democratic sentiment.”
Still, according to Shah, studies show democracy is the most popular form of governance.
“But they [citizens] are unhappy with the way that their democracies function,” she said, pointing to violence around election times, and the suppression of opponents after a campaign is won.
For South African artist and activist Lindelani Mnisi, reinvigorating belief in democratic ideals starts at grassroots level teaching: “Educate the civil society on their political rights, educate them on the intent of certain parties so that they’re voting knowledgeably,” he told DW, noting that this aspect is important in holding leaders to account.
Dorasamy calls for courage in the face of challenges to democracy, especially with elections coming up in Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Uganda.
“Our response as civil society needs to be emboldened enough to call for free and fair elections. But also to call for a rethinking of the structures that are used to hold power to account when it comes to elections, be that the SADC [Southern African Development Community] or African Union mechanisms. Observation of elections shouldn’t just come from European or northern countries, but within Africa,” she said.
Changing voting trends
Voting habits have changed in African democracies, most notably South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, where longtime ruling parties saw their voting shares nosedive.
Patricia Bekoe, who advocates for environmental justice, told DW that she has witnessed voting priorities and habits shift in her home country, Ghana.
“Previously we did a lot of tribal politics. If this person is coming from my tribe, and they are contesting, then I have to vote for that person,” she told DW.
“But I think in the span of eight years, Ghanaians became so wise they looked actually at the economy. They looked at policies that the government had promised to put in place that were not done. And we voted massively for change.”
Ghana has seen multiple peaceful transitions of power, and is regarded as a stable democracy in West Africa. In 2024, John Mahama returned to the presidency. His National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party have provided Ghana’s leaders since the reintroduction of democracy in 1992.
Power from within
“Of course it’s terrible that so much aid has been cut, but we should also think about what kinds of opportunities it opens for local organizations and people,” said Shah.
When asked if African democracies should still look to the West as a guide for democracy best practices, Cassandra Dorasamy said: “Absolutely not. The notion that the West is the holder of democracy is something that we really need to challenge. We need to look within our spaces, within our own democratic structures and institutions, within our own movement.”
For Lindelani Mnisi: “That’s a flat-out no. Our world is quite different from the West, not so radically that we can’t learn anything from them, but we should start from our own home.”
For Shah, the self-owned, self-made democracy is the most powerful form.
“There are lots of really motivated and mobilized groups who already want those changes and are working for them in very unsafe environments,” she told DW.
With specific reference to the challenges to democracy in East Africa, which has seen increasing pressure on pro-democratic voices, she says: “It’s not like that energy isn’t there. If support can come from within the region, all the better, because then it will have greater legitimacy and provide more of a chance to be sustained into the future.”
Dianne Hawker in South Africa contributed reporting
Edited by: Keith Walker
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