The State of Democracy: Democracy in Retreat in East Africa

By Tigere Chagutah, PhD.

Democracy is on the decline in East Africa. Despite opinion polls showing that democracy remains the preferred system of governance in the region, the last few years have seen supply side deficits marked by failure of leaders to deliver and further entrenched by a steady decline in key indicators of democratic norms and practices.

For the most part, authoritarian rule continues to thrive in East African countries with multiple systemic flaws in the structure and practice of democracy, and severe limitations to civil liberties, electoral processes and pluralism, government functions, and political participation. The BTI Transformation Index, for instance, characterizes nine (Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) of the ten East Africa countries it surveys for political transformation within its 2024 Regional Report for Southern and Eastern Africa, as autocracies. The tenth (Kenya) is characterized as a ‘highly defective democracy’ which “still faces many challenges, such as ethnic polarization within the party system and entrenched patronage structures.”

This is an excerpt from our State of Democracy in Africa 2024 Report. Read the East Africa chapter here.

Read the full report here.