Contents -- List of Tables and Figures -- Preface -- 1 INTRODUCTION -- The Role of Elections -- Why Africa? -- On Regimes -- On Elections and Democracy -- Preindependence and Postindependence Elections in African Nations -- Contemporary Africa's Track Record -- Outline of the Book -- 2 ON DEMOCRACY AND ELECTIONS -- Making a Conceptual Choice -- Defining Democracy -- Operationalizing Democratic Qualities of Elections -- Data Collection and Processing -- 3 ELECTIONS IN AFRICA OVER TIME -- Frequency and Number of Elections -- The Democratic Qualities, on Average -- Democratic Qualities of Elections over Time -- Conclusions -- 4 THE SELF-REINFORCING POWER OF ELECTIONS -- Going from Bad to Worse -- First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Later Elections -- A Panel-Group Comparison -- Conclusions -- 5 THE CAUSAL EFFECTS OF ELECTIONS -- Democratic Qualities in Society -- A Missing Factor of Democratization -- Hypotheses and Causal Links -- 6 DEMOCRATIZATION BY ELECTIONS? -- Elections Are Associated with Civil Liberties -- Analyzing by Countries -- Conclusions -- 7 COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES AND REFLECTIONS -- The Transition Paradigm -- Corruption and Democratization -- Stateness and Social Citizenship -- Lessons on Consolidation -- Policy Implications -- The Power of Elections in Unfavorable Conditions -- Appendix 1. Overview of Elections in Africa, by Year -- Appendix 2. Changes in Civil Liberties Rankings -- Appendix 3. About the Freedom House Civil Liberties Index -- Appendix 4. A Data Set on Elections in Africa -- Notes -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.