Why Is Africa Still Copying Western Democracy?

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 05:43:44 +0200

Between the United States’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the European Union’s Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)-Global Europe, the West spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually in Africa to “support democracy”.

But what is the West really supporting, and why? What “democratic” African governments presently enjoy this “support”? What gives the West the moral authority to lecture Africa about good governance at all? And why do so many Africans subscribe to the idea that the Western conception of democracy is the best form of governance?

What danger does this unexamined belief pose to the African continent?

Barra Hart reports for the Spearhead.