Democracy only in papers.

[Markinzo]

During the late 80's and 90's many countries all over the world started adopting the Democratic system of government to suit in with the trend of times world over. Africa countries included as a continent was not left behind in this adoption of the Democratic practice after much of subsequent military rules.

But as times goes on the supposed democracy as adopted by these African countries are explicitly not practice as it is in papers. In other words, it's not practice as borrowed from the West.

We at most times  discover powerful individuals with weak institutions, overriding of the judicial system by this very powerful individuals. Widespread police brutality with obvious blind eyes to it's effect on the citizens. Impunity of political office holders during and after their tenures.

Lack of the provision of social amenities and social welfare packages to her citizens, young and old.
All these leading to the decadence of moral behaviors, social values and more.

In all of this, it beat my imagination that I can't help but to ask, has the modern democracy really done a lot good to African countries than harm, owing to the fact that Africans had their very pattern of system system of governing and leadership administrative system before the coming of democracy which was sold out with so much painting of how best it is compared to any other systems of government or rulership that had ever exist, especially with those of the precolonial era.

Cause today there's much of underdevelopment of development in many African society's, Nigeria for example has become an epic centre for borrowing  and therefore indepted herself beyond expectations.
Infrastructural and human capital development is at it ebb.

Injustice and weak judicial system has pervaded the court system today unlike the precolonial or before the adoption of Democratic practice. The list is unending.
So my concern is why is the kind of democracy as practiced in African society's different from the kinds founds in the West, when it was actually from the Western world that this very pattern of governance was borrowed from? Or is it that democracy as a system of governance is incongruent to the African sociocultural ambient and such incongruency eludes the us as to why the difference in practice and in paper?

[Gyfts]

Well, ask yourself -- why is it the social structure in Africa is so wildly incompatible with the west that democracy would be incongruent to African countries?  I can't think anything, we're all people after all. Democracy works regardless of the social structure, which is why Asian countries practice democracy despite having different cultural systems than the US or even European countries. Japan, South Korea, just to name a couple. Democracy is only what you make of it. It's great on paper, but it's also fragile and malleable. Africa's had a long history of corruption and it doesn't change overnight. And there is some responsibility of the people to make sure democracy works. After all, the preamble to the US construction states "we the people."

[just_Alice]

The problem with democracy in certain African counties is that people still have no choice in there. They vote for the most democratic president, but the elections are set up and the nation ends up with dictators, and it's been going on and on for years. @Gyfts is right, corruption isn't something that can be easily broken, it can take decades and many revolutions

Why it's so much more difficult in Africa?
Honestly, it's a rather difficult question, but I can't think of a better explanation than simply geographical isolation from the West. It is well-known from the world's history that even thousands of years ago when people used to live in tribes the location was crucial. Often those closely situated could find a common language easier and form bigger groups together (which later became civilizations), as opposed to with those that were located far away and were always considered hostile.

See, when the democracy started to spread in the West, Africa was kind of left out, while other countries formed unions, arranged meetings, and discussed regulations, future directions. Maybe that is one of the reasons this system wasn't fully and accurately implemented in African countries.

In addition, things are complicated with the fact that many countries in this continent don't want to become democratic, many still run autocratic regimes, and this surrounding also has an impact and slows the movement in the democratic direction for other countries.

[semobo]

The problem is not with the democracy but the leaders and the officials are running the government so they decide which one is over, in Africa the leaders are rich enough to live a good life for centuries but those people are living with nothing. Democracy is important though or else your country also will be like North Korea under the rule of Kim where people are dying due to starving but the leader don't care about it.

[Mauser]

Calling yourself a democratic country probably helps a lot do receive international help from the UN and IMF. I would expect that western countries are not willing to pay a lot of money if the country is a dictatorship. So trying to make your country look as open as possible for the outside world is all about attracting new investors. Corruption also plays a big role in these countries.

[Xinarae*]

Democracy can only develop where the media can operate independently just as journalists protect our democracy we must protect them. We must protect the freedom of the media as a fundamental human right for the benefit of citizens all over the world autocracy is better than democracy in developing democracy for corruption. In the same way democracy does not create obstacles in the way of development.

[semobo]

Democracy can only develop where the media can operate independently just as journalists protect our democracy we must protect them. We must protect the freedom of the media as a fundamental human right for the benefit of citizens all over the world autocracy is better than democracy in developing democracy for corruption. In the same way democracy does not create obstacles in the way of development.

Most of the media channels are owned by the politicians indirectly so they are not going to support anything that people wanted to know, either they will be a favor of one leader and opposing other leader's opinions and the media always suppress a normal human but they are afraid of powerful people. Anyway, media is also a company looking to make profits so these morals are just for the sake of statement not for the practical life.

[Natsuu]

Democracy can only develop where the media can operate independently just as journalists protect our democracy we must protect them. We must protect the freedom of the media as a fundamental human right for the benefit of citizens all over the world autocracy is better than democracy in developing democracy for corruption. In the same way democracy does not create obstacles in the way of development.

Most of the media channels are owned by the politicians indirectly so they are not going to support anything that people wanted to know, either they will be a favor of one leader and opposing other leader's opinions and the media always suppress a normal human but they are afraid of powerful people. Anyway, media is also a company looking to make profits so these morals are just for the sake of statement not for the practical life.

The statement above can be true yet can also be false. There is no sufficient evidence to support that claims, as there are many sides in political and societal issues regarding the news that is broadcast publicly. Hatred towards media happens when you do not want to believe the data they collected as you supported the latter part of that news. Thus making it "Fake and controlled".

[semobo]

Democracy can only develop where the media can operate independently just as journalists protect our democracy we must protect them. We must protect the freedom of the media as a fundamental human right for the benefit of citizens all over the world autocracy is better than democracy in developing democracy for corruption. In the same way democracy does not create obstacles in the way of development.

Most of the media channels are owned by the politicians indirectly so they are not going to support anything that people wanted to know, either they will be a favor of one leader and opposing other leader's opinions and the media always suppress a normal human but they are afraid of powerful people. Anyway, media is also a company looking to make profits so these morals are just for the sake of statement not for the practical life.

The statement above can be true yet can also be false. There is no sufficient evidence to support that claims, as there are many sides in political and societal issues regarding the news that is broadcast publicly. Hatred towards media happens when you do not want to believe the data they collected as you supported the latter part of that news. Thus making it "Fake and controlled".

If you are watching the news from a common man's perspective then it may look neutral but if you are already a journalist and you know what is happening all around the world but media only focus on the people they have as targets even if the news is nothing, they keep portraying from different angles and will make it as headline but at the same time if someone did wrong who is in the favors of their political party then they won't give much attention to it.

[Natsuu]

Democracy can only develop where the media can operate independently just as journalists protect our democracy we must protect them. We must protect the freedom of the media as a fundamental human right for the benefit of citizens all over the world autocracy is better than democracy in developing democracy for corruption. In the same way democracy does not create obstacles in the way of development.

Most of the media channels are owned by the politicians indirectly so they are not going to support anything that people wanted to know, either they will be a favor of one leader and opposing other leader's opinions and the media always suppress a normal human but they are afraid of powerful people. Anyway, media is also a company looking to make profits so these morals are just for the sake of statement not for the practical life.

The statement above can be true yet can also be false. There is no sufficient evidence to support that claims, as there are many sides in political and societal issues regarding the news that is broadcast publicly. Hatred towards media happens when you do not want to believe the data they collected as you supported the latter part of that news. Thus making it "Fake and controlled".

If you are watching the news from a common man's perspective then it may look neutral but if you are already a journalist and you know what is happening all around the world but media only focus on the people they have as targets even if the news is nothing, they keep portraying from different angles and will make it as headline but at the same time if someone did wrong who is in the favors of their political party then they won't give much attention to it.

As I've said, it can be true and also be a false. It is on your perspective that makes you have this conclusion.

There are different news portal in each country, and there are small medias that can also be your guide to the truth. There are also this international medias that can be a source if you are looking for something big. By having this as your variables, you can now differentiate their content, and see if they're fake or not. You can even see if station A is bias to this political party in doing so.

This is just a recommendation I propose given that you entirely do not trust the media. Though I am doing this the long time in our local news and its been constant that the news have been giving the same news. "EXCLUSIVE" news maybe an hour or minutes faster to be broadcast by other stations in comparison to others, so  be wary.

[franky1]

democracy.. is only on the 4th or 5th year. and only for 1 day
after that its then capitalism, socialism or communism
                               ^                ^              ^_for the politicians benefit
                               |                  |_ for the citizens benefit
                               |_for the corporate elites benefit

true democracy is where citizens should get more input on a more regular bases

[Slow death]

I am African, I will speak as an African who has seen many elections in my country and every election was a joke.

what happens in africa is this:

most people vote for the political parties that liberated the country, for these people those parties Is the salvation of country's even though they know that the political parties that liberated the country have been in government for more than 50 years and have only created more poverty and corruption in the country.

so why does nothing change in africa?

It's funny that I see doctors, engineers, highly educated people voting for the corrupt parties that liberated African countries

these smart people vote for those political parties that freed the countries because of money. yes I said it well: money

if people want to have government jobs and earn more money they join political parties that have been in government for over 50 years, they corrupt justice, control the media, make the police their force to kill the opposition, all because they want to stay in power because of money.

funny that even the european and american governments support this because they also win

[semobo]

As I've said, it can be true and also be a false. It is on your perspective that makes you have this conclusion.

There are different news portal in each country, and there are small medias that can also be your guide to the truth. There are also this international medias that can be a source if you are looking for something big. By having this as your variables, you can now differentiate their content, and see if they're fake or not. You can even see if station A is bias to this political party in doing so.

This is just a recommendation I propose given that you entirely do not trust the media. Though I am doing this the long time in our local news and its been constant that the news have been giving the same news. "EXCLUSIVE" news maybe an hour or minutes faster to be broadcast by other stations in comparison to others, so  be wary.

The only platform where we may find actual things are social media platforms but where also lot of fake news are in the spread which initiated by the against party whether it can be a political party or rivalry company so no matter what news we see, we can't find the actual thing until we get knowledge about that field personally.

[yhiaali3]

I do not think that democracy in America and the West is very different from it in Africa. Do you think that there is real democracy in America and the West? You are wrong, because democracy is only on paper and within the provisions of the constitution, but is it actually practiced on the ground? I doubt this.
Look at America and Britain, for example. There are only two parties that rule the country, and no other party outside these parties is allowed to assume the presidency of the country!! Would you call this democracy? See also the racial discrimination that is practiced in the West in general and the United States in particular against citizens of African or Asian origin.
Of course, I do not say that there is no democracy at all in the West. There is, of course, a kind of democracy, but it is not perfect as the media tries to show, and it remains in any case much better than the dictatorships that exist in Africa and the third world countries.

[BlackPinker]

The world we live in now is centralized, so Democracy only in papers.It's not strange at all.

But now the situation may change. Bitcoin is the protagonist of this revolution, and decentralization will eventually change the undemocratic status quo. The prevalence of DAO will bring about a complete democracy controlled by smart contracts

[hornetsnest]

There is ONLY plutocracy and rule by the strong. The brutal laws of nature apply to the Satanic order 

[KingScorpio]

welcome to reality

[hornetsnest]

socialist distancing plutocratic stylz ..one rule for we (NEVER break rank) but endless rules for thee ;-) ;-)

[tvbcof]

socialist distancing plutocratic stylz ..one rule for we (NEVER break rank) but endless rules for thee ;-) ;-)

Adolf Hitler is conspicuously missing.  He was the figurehead of the National Socialists party in Germany, and it is absolutely true that he organized and exploited German _social_ apparatus for the benefit of the nation as he and his party (and a plurality of the population) saw it.

In Germany's case  the socialism was fascist.  It was 'fascist' insofar as it represented the merger of state and corporate power.  Today we would call this something like a 'public/private partnership.'  The 'efficiency' of 'Private industry' was leveraged, but the state harnessed it in the name of 'socialism.'  And IMHO, it certainly was.

In some ways Germany's National Socialism worked to well and had to be killed off, but the controllers just moved it to a different continent and did some narrative management to label it more 'kinder and gentler'.  And for a long time it kind of was, but that's rather faint praise.

[KingScorpio]

Democracy can only develop where the media can operate independently just as journalists protect our democracy we must protect them. We must protect the freedom of the media as a fundamental human right for the benefit of citizens all over the world autocracy is better than democracy in developing democracy for corruption. In the same way democracy does not create obstacles in the way of development.

thats actually not true, the media is never truly united, it is fragmented and biased according to their viewership and funderst interest and narrative.

like CNN (white people are always racist) or Al jazeera (muslims good Critical Race Theory right) etc.

thats why RT or CCTV was never considered free Media according to american and western Politicians, but only as propaganda tools.

in the future this will turn arround.