Paper short abstract:

The paper argues the thesis that the decline of active advocay as a medium of check on democratic regimes in Africa is a product of a poor understanding of the nature of man.

Paper long abstract:

One of the assumed fundamental principles of democracy is that it coheres with the nature of man. Therefore, there is the tendency to believe apriori, that democratic regimes understand man and will, more often than not, act to safeguard the basic interests of citizens. However, there are reasons to doubt this assumption.

Unfortunately, we seem to push less forcefully in making democratic regimes act in accordance with fundamental principles of state policy as we should. The thinking is that by reason of its assumed 'moral high ground' standing, democratic regimes would act naturally in the interest of citizens. The paper raises questions about the nature of democratic regimes and how the illusion of responsibilty often associated with it has diminished active advocacy to check its excesses.