Démocratie

Throughout the history of social and political movements in African societies, generations of women have, in one way or another, worked to oppose patriarchal domination, laws and practices in the pursuit of gender equality; advocating for their equal participation in all aspects of social, economic and political life. Despite this tradition of women- centred and anti-patriarchal organising, it is only in the last few decades, partly due to efforts to entrench women’s emancipation and gender equality in development goals, that feminism in Africa has evolved as an explicit ideological and political concept.

Since the third wave of democratisation swept through the continent in the 1990s, the majority of African states have replaced military dictatorships and one-party-dominant systems with more democratic forms of governance. Today, 61 percent of sub-Saharan countries are “free” or “partly free” according to Freedom House’s 2018 survey – although this is down from a high of 71 percent in 2008.

This edition of Perspectives seeks to explore how actors in the state, political parties, and civil society have been able to make those in government less certain about the future balance of power through and outside of the ballot box.  

Sexual and gender-based violence seems to be inherent in the surroundings of extractive projects. More than often, it is on the instruction of the mother companies in the global North that security forces commit atrocities and severe human rights violations in communities affected by extractive projects and very often sexual and gender-based violence are among them. How is it possible to hold the mother companies accountable? How can the intentionality and foreseeability of those crimes be proved? How do you find and secure evidence? What do non-judicial company grievance mechanisms do for the victims?

Cette édition de Perspectives cherche à explorer la manière dont les acteurs dans un Etat, les partis politiques et la société civile ont été en mesure de rendre les gouvernants moins certains du futur équilibre du pouvoir à travers et hors des urnes.