Nic Cheeseman is Associate Professor of African Politics of the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. He is the coeditor of the collections Our Turn to Eat (2010) and The Handbook of African Politics (2013). He is also the editor of the journal African Affairs, a member of the advisory board of the UNICEF Chair on Communication Research (Africa) and an advisor to, and writer for, Kofi Annan's African Progress Panel.

'Accessible yet authoritative and often provocative, Nic Cheeseman's book provides an exceptional history of contemporary democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. His book's great strength is to combine attention to the varied historical and cultural roots of issues that emerged in the 1990s with a keen grasp of the political implications of the institutions that have been chosen to rule the countries of the region. Buttressed by compelling examples and statistics from seemingly every country in the region, this book is must-reading for anyone interested in African politics.' Nicolas van de Walle, Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government, Cornell University, New York

• Introduction; 1. Fragments of democracy; 2. Cultures of resistance; 3. The second liberation; 4. Exporting elections; 5. Subverting democracy; 6. The democratic dividend; Conclusion.

Nic Cheeseman is Associate Professor of African Politics of the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. He is the coeditor of the collections Our Turn to Eat (2010) and The Handbook of African Politics (2013). He is also the editor of the journal African Affairs, a member of the advisory board of the UNICEF Chair on Communication Research (Africa) and an advisor to, and writer for, Kofi Annan's African Progress Panel.

'Accessible yet authoritative and often provocative, Nic Cheeseman's book provides an exceptional history of contemporary democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. His book's great strength is to combine attention to the varied historical and cultural roots of issues that emerged in the 1990s with a keen grasp of the political implications of the institutions that have been chosen to rule the countries of the region. Buttressed by compelling examples and statistics from seemingly every country in the region, this book is must-reading for anyone interested in African politics.' Nicolas van de Walle, Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government, Cornell University, New York

• Introduction; 1. Fragments of democracy; 2. Cultures of resistance; 3. The second liberation; 4. Exporting elections; 5. Subverting democracy; 6. The democratic dividend; Conclusion.