Speculation about the disciplining power of financial globalization has been taking place for quite some time now. During election violence in Ivory Coast earlier in 2011 we may have seen this happening. West Africa is according to some people perhaps the most financially integrated region in the world other than the Eurozone. This integration proved to provide some level of discipline during the Ivory Coast election violence.

According to the Centre for Democracy and Development, Niger is an example of a successful multiparty democracy where the opposition acted as a safeguard against the ruling party turning dictatorial.

"The presidential elections in the Republic of Niger presents a ... scenario in which the opposition demonstrated a cohesiveness that ensured a victory for their leaders, Mahamadou Issoufou of the PNDS party against Seini Oumarou of MNSD who was said to have strong ties to Mohmoud Tandia the ousted former president.

West Africa, due to unrest and other issues, has a very high rate of migration between countries. Add to that the issue of borders having been created across ethnic and tribal lines and you have an interesting set up for western style democracy.

Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina, who seized power in a March 2009 coup, has agreed to attend talks in South Africa over a transition to democratic governance. The military, which backed Rajoelina’s coup, has been pressing for a resolution to the sustained political crisis which followed his seizure of power. The South Africa Node writes that “the army gave Rajoelina until the end of April to come up with an acceptable way out of the political impasse.”

Implications:

the Institute for the Future writes:

The Center for Democracy and Development writes,

"[One] realm of the use of technology in elections is in electronic voting machines. This is a system in which voters are expected to key their vote preferences into a computer which then adds up the votes as they are cast. Upon close of voting, the machine could then immediately produce the result of the elections at each polling station, these scores are then added up electronically at the collation centers within short time and the results are announced.

The Centre for Democracy and Development writes,

"Putting behind the long history of military involvement in politics, Ghana has conducted three impressive elections in 2000, 2004, and 2008. What stood out in these elections is the ability of this West African nation of about 20 million inhabitants to conduct relatively free and fair elections with each election seen to be an improvement on the previous one."

Centre for Democracy and Development writes,

Sudan held presidential elections in April of 2010, the first in 10 years. President Omar al-Bashir came to power in 1989 after a bloodless coup and has managed to stay in power. Since then the 2010 election will have been his 3rd. The first held in 1996 took place with 40 candidates and zero political parties. Incumbent al-Bashir won with more than 70% of the vote. The next election in 2000 lead al-Bashir to victory as the main opposition parties dropped out. The recent election lead al-bashir to victory with about 68% of the vote.

Rwanda has come under attack in the past year or so, particularly around the time of reelection for post genocide President Kagame in August of 2010. Allegations of limiting free press, eliminating the opposition, and keeping a tight grip around the country with extremely high arrest rates entered the global discussion. Has President Kagame, who initially managed to bring peace and reconciliation to a war torn country while pushing forward immense development and a vibrant business and ICT culture, turned into another power hungry dictatorial African leader?

FORO writes, "Two decades after a wave of democratization swept Latin America, public trust in democratic institutions continues to be low. Not coincidentally, perceptions of corruption are high while high-profile corruption scandals constantly occupy headlines. In 2010, the highest echelons of government in several countries are being affected by corruption scandals and are condemned by a sizeable sector of public opinion." Numerous scandals have swept through the region, affecting Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Paraguay, and Brazil.