Democracy, civil society and the media in Africa in the Nineties. a discussion of the emergence and relevance of some analytical concepts for the understanding of the situation in Africa

Between Hopes and Reality : About Civil Society and Political Participation in Hungary Between 1990 and 2010

“…Two novel advocates of this approach are John Keane (1988aKeane ( , 1988c and Ralf Dahrendorf (1990Dahrendorf ( , 1991. Other authors referring to this generalized type of model are usually much less detailed about it (see Ding, 1994;Eyal -Townsley, 1995;Goldstein, 1995;Joppke, 1994;Kolankiewicz, 1994;Krygier, 1990;Lengyel, 1987;Ronning, 1995;Schopflin, 1991;Stewart, 1990;Yanqi Tong, 1994;Y. Tong, 1995;White, 1993;Williams -Reuten, 1993).…”

Theorizing the Media—Democracy Relationship in Southern Africa

“…Third, the concepts are inconsistently utilized. 'Civil society', to take one example, is used by Ronning (1995) to assert that Zimbabwe had two civil societies (plural) under colonialism (settler and nationalist), but also that the nationalists were seeking entry to civil society (singular). Public sphere, as is shown in section 4, has been used by some writers to include state activities, and by others to exclude these.…”

“…As Ronning (1999: 88) writes: 'In order to be able to safeguard and develop democracy, the African state must not be rolled back so much that its basic function withers away, for it is through the state that human and citizens' rights are secured. ' Ronning (1995) acknowledges the important question as to whether in Africa the market is a civil society space (for keeping a balance of power with the state), or a sad expression of marginalization -a feeble product of a weak state and a lack of regulation. The implication here is that we may well need to dispense with assumptions that a strong civil society and a relatively weak state (read the USA model) is the best configuration for democracy in Africa.…”

“…Many writers (but not enough) have sounded warnings about lifting concepts like media and democracy from western conditions and applying them unthinkingly to Africa (see for instance, the cautions forwarded by Mafeje, 1995;Ronning, 1994Ronning, , 1995Ansah, 1991;Sachikonye, 1995a;Obeng-Quaidoo, 1985;Uche, 1991;James, 1990;Akioye, 1994;Anyang' Nyong'o, 1995). These warnings are distinct from the normative issue of whether democracy (or development) on western lines should or should not be present in Africa.…”

Towards an African Journalism Model

“…This article takes as its point of departure the pressing need to interrogate critically the widely held perception in the West, albeit shared by some African media scholars, that there is no journalism practice in Africa informed by African values. While media scholars have often expressed reservations about the applicability of the liberal democracy model of journalism to African countries, there have been few attempts to adapt it to existing conditions and structures (Akioye, 1994;Ansah, 1888;Anyang' Nyong'o, 1995;James, 1990;Mafeje, 1995;Obeng-Quaidoo, 1987;Ronning, 1994Ronning, , 1995Sachikonye, 1995;Uche, 1991).…”