Elite-led democratisation in aid-dependent states: the case of Mauritania

Why did Mauritania, an Arab League member, undergo a short-lived democratic transition after a successful coup in 2005? Mauritania's democratisation is puzzling because it occurred despite the presence of two conditions that are thought to hinder the prospects of democracy: poverty and strategic importance to the West. We trace the democratisation process undertaken by Mauritania's successful coup leaders in 2005 by focusing on the regime's foreign aid sources. We find that because coup leaders overthrew a Western ally, they feared aid flows would decline. The coup leaders therefore calculated that democratisation would shore up ties by signalling that the new regime was committed to maintaining a strong relationship with Western donors. Our findings have important implications for top-down democratisation in North Africa and the Middle East. Strategic importance appears to be a matter of degree, and states with modest importance to donors, such as Mauritania, may use democratisation as a means to posture themselves as valuable to powerful external actors. Democratic reforms, however, can have sticking power and trap future aid-dependent elites who attempt to strategically manipulate domestic reforms.