Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-221) and index.

Introduction. The role of elections ; Why Africa? ; On regimes ; On elections and democracy ; Preindependence and postindependence election s in African nations ; Contemporary Africa's track record ; Outline of the book -- On democracy and elections. Making a conceptual choice ; De fining democracy ; Operationalizing democratic qualities of elections ; Data collection and processing -- Elections in Africa over time. Frequ ency and number of elections ; The democratic qualities, on average ; D emocratic qualities of elections over time ; Conclusions -- The self-re inforcing power of elections. Going from bad to worse ; First, second, third, fourth and later elections ; A panel-group comparison ; Conclusi ons -- The causal effects of elections. Democratic qualities in society ; A missing factor of democratization ; Hypotheses and causal links -- Democratization by elections? Elections are associated with civil libe rties ; Analyzing by countries ; Conclusions -- Comparative perspective s and reflections. The transition paradigm ; Corruption and democratiza tion ; Stateness and social citizenship ; Lessons on consolidation ; Po licy implications ; The power of elections in unfavorable conditions.