BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs \;Comparative Politics and International Relations presentsAfrica’s Democratic Outliers: Success Amid Challenges \;in Benin and South AfricaSub-Saharan Africa arguabl y poses some of the most challenging\nconditions for democratic emergence and survival. \; According to our\nexisting theories\, this is due to a number of structural conditions: low levels\nof economic development and industrialization\; regions of natural resource\nextraction\; increasing levels of inequality between political-economic elites\nand the masses\; l ow levels of state capacity related to colonial and\nneo-colonial predatio n\, and post-independence challenges to broadcast power\;\nmulti-linguisti c\, multi-racial\, multi-ethnic\, and multi-religious populations.\n \ ;Yet three decades of democratic endurance in significant\, key cases\nsug gest that the continent has much to teach us about how democracies maintai n\ndespite extremely challenging conditions. \; This chapter explores two\nmost-different cases – South Africa and Benin – with highly diverse c hallenges\nand yet strikingly similar pathways to establish and maintain d emocracy against\nall odds. In both countries\, extreme political\, econom ic\, and ideological\ncrises made incumbent elites perceive the need to co ncede their prior mandate\nfor dominant control. \; These concessions resulted in a bargain with rising\nopposition elites for security and futu re political inclusion. \; In these\ncases\, opposition elites realize d significant benefits to stability and order\nthat could be had with incl uding the old regime in the new ruling coalition.\n \; \;Despite t he challenges of a racially or ethnically cleaved society\nin South Africa and Benin\, the democratic bargain was maintained through\nself-intereste d and embattled incumbents staring down the precipice and opting\nfor inst itutional compromise given the infeasibility of maintaining the status\nqu o and opposition elites’ preferences for maintaining economic and social\n order that they could inherit when allowing the incumbent some enduring ro le.Rachel Beatty Riedl \;John S. Knight Professor of\nInternational St udies Cornell University \;Rachel Beatty Riedl is the\nDirector of th e Einaudi Center for International Studies and the John S. Knight\nProfess or of International Studies\, and a Professor in the Government\nDepartmen t at Cornell University. \; Her research interests include\ninstitutio nal development in new democracies\, local governance and\ndecentralizatio n policy\, authoritarian regime legacies\, and religion and politics\,\nwi th a regional focus in Sub-Saharan Africa. Riedl is the author of two\nawa rd-winning books and has published in the Journal of Politics\, Comparativ e\nPolitical Studies\, Studies in Comparative International Development\, African\nAffairs\, and American Behavioral Scientist\, among others.Click here to registerFor more information\, please contact Simon Weschle\,  \;swweschl@maxwell.syr.edu or Daniel McDowell\, \;dmcdowel@maxwell.syr .edu or to request additional accommodation arrangements\, please contact Morgan Bicknell\, mebickne@syr.edu. \; DTEND:20210219T183000Z DTSTAMP:20260512T081527Z DTSTART:20210219T170000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Africa’s Democratic Outliers UID:RFCALITEM639141561278935701 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs \;

Comparative Politics and International Relations presents


Africa’s Democratic Outliers: Success Ami d Challenges \;in Benin and South Africa


Sub -Saharan Africa arguably poses some of the most challenging\nconditions fo r democratic emergence and survival. \; According to our\nexisting the ories\, this is due to a number of structural conditions: low levels\nof e conomic development and industrialization\; regions of natural resource\ne xtraction\; increasing levels of inequality between political-economic eli tes\nand the masses\; low levels of state capacity related to colonial and \nneo-colonial predation\, and post-independence challenges to broadcast p ower\;\nmulti-linguistic\, multi-racial\, multi-ethnic\, and multi-religio us populations.\n \;Yet three decades of democratic endurance in signi ficant\, key cases\nsuggest that the continent has much to teach us about how democracies maintain\ndespite extremely challenging conditions. \; This chapter explores two\nmost-different cases – South Africa and Benin – with highly diverse challenges\nand yet strikingly similar pathways to e stablish and maintain democracy against\nall odds. In both countries\, ext reme political\, economic\, and ideological\ncrises made incumbent elites perceive the need to concede their prior mandate\nfor dominant control.&nb sp\; These concessions resulted in a bargain with rising\nopposition elite s for security and future political inclusion. \; In these\ncases\, op position elites realized significant benefits to stability and order\nthat could be had with including the old regime in the new ruling coalition.\n  \; \;Despite the challenges of a racially or ethnically cleaved s ociety\nin South Africa and Benin\, the democratic bargain was maintained through\nself-interested and embattled incumbents staring down the precipi ce and opting\nfor institutional compromise given the infeasibility of mai ntaining the status\nquo and opposition elites’ preferences for maintainin g economic and social\norder that they could inherit when allowing the inc umbent some enduring role.


Rachel Beatty Riedl&nb sp\;

John S. Knight Professor of\nInternational Studies

Cornell University \;


Rachel Beatty Riedl is the \nDirector of the Einaudi Center for International Studies and the John S. Knight\nProfessor of International Studies\, and a Professor in the Gover nment\nDepartment at Cornell University. \; Her research interests inc lude\ninstitutional development in new democracies\, local governance and\ ndecentralization policy\, authoritarian regime legacies\, and religion an d politics\,\nwith a regional focus in Sub-Saharan Africa. Riedl is the au thor of two\naward-winning books and has published in the Journal of Polit ics\, Comparative\nPolitical Studies\, Studies in Comparative Internationa l Development\, African\nAffairs\, and American Behavioral Scientist\, amo ng others.


Click here to register


For more informatio n\, please contact Simon Weschle\, \;swweschl@maxwell.syr.edu or Danie l McDowell\, \;dmcdowel@maxwell.syr.edu or to request additional accom modation arrangements\, please contact Morgan Bicknell\, mebickne@syr.edu.  \;

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