What Does the State of Global Democracy Mean for Africa?

In the aftermath of the recent global recession, populism, protectionism and corruption are on the rise globally. A series of populist electoral and referenda victories have swept the world, most recently in Turkey. What does this seeming retreat of democracy mean for Africa?

In 2016,  not a single region in the world registered improvement by The Economists Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index. Researcher John Filitz  asks what this seeming retreat of democracy means for Africa, in an op-ed published in the Daily Maverick. The single greatest threat, argues Filitz, to both new and established democracies is complacency by citizens to hold elected leaders to account.