Africa's generational war on the horizon

Get Ready for Africa’s Generational War

The past few months have suggested that Africa is undergoing a “deepening of a democratic recession…driven by elites’ development of new and subtle forms of political and electoral manipulation,” John Githongo writes for Foreign Policy. But the growing pressure for change from Africa’s youthful population is a better barometer of the continent’s future.

“In several countries, institutions that were once firmly under the thumb of elites are showing glimmers of independence—from the media (including social media) to the church and the judiciary,” Githongo argues. “The question now is whether this grassroots democratic consolidation, exemplified by the massive anti-Mugabe protests and the armies of lawyers and human rights campaigners fighting for transparency in Kenya, can check or begin to reverse the tide of authoritarianism being unleashed by elites from above.

“In the long term, demographic shifts make democratic change seem inevitable. Africa’s population is the youngest, fastest growing, and, in many places, the most rapidly urbanizing on the planet. The individuals driving this youth bulge are increasingly globalized in their aspirations, more digitally savvy than preceding generations, and far more impatient with the authoritarian leaders their parents long ago learned to tolerate.”

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