National identity and democracy in Africa

National Identity and Democracy in Africa is the third companion volume in the series on Identity and Nation Building. The book consists of revised versions of selected conference papers presented during the March 1997 National Identity and Democracy conference held at the University of the Western Cape. The book discusses the often contradictory needs for emergent states to strengthen unity while simultaneously having to cope with political and ethnic pluralism. This has not always been resolved in ways favouring democracy. Interesting examples of the ideological processes of national identity formation are provided in the book from Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Angola, Finland, while five papers discuss South Africa. The other two volumes in the series are Identity, Theory, History, Politics and Shifting African Identities. These texts provide critical reflections on the vexing issues underpinning ethnicity, religion, gender and language as pivotal constructs informing contemporary debates and shifts in African debilities. The present volume adds a global comparative dimension and significantly extends the thematic range of the first two volumes.