Abstract
The third democratisation wave that swept across Black African
countries in the 1990s has paradoxically engendered “strange”
forms of political system which have variously been described by
political ideologues as “democratic dictatorship”, “African
democracy” or “Black’s man democracy”; this, in clear contrast with
western conceptions of liberal democracy. In the specific cases of
Nigeria and Cameroon, this “African democracy” has consisted in
upholding few democratic precepts (notably the theoretical
institution of political pluralism and the promulgation of liberty
bills), while retaining various forms of autocratic cultures. Some of
these autocratic cultures have included the passing of anachronistic
and restrictive laws, the covert intimidation/elimination of
opposition parties and the systematic gagging of the antigovernment press among others. Using a critical exploitation of
secondary data and a comparative methodology, this paper
explores the extent to which the pro-democratic reforms of the
1990s and 2000s in Nigeria and Cameroon have been conducive to
freedom of the press and freedom of expression. The paper equally
examines the extent to which these political reforms have reduced
aspects of the authoritarian media theory in the two countries.
ENDONG, Floribert Patrick C.1. (2016) From Dictatorship to Black Man’s Democracy: How has Freedom of the Press Improved in Nigeria and Cameroon?, Journal of Media Studies, Volume 33, Issue 1.
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