Can they do any better? Elections in Guinea-Bissau

During the past decades international election observation and active international presence has increasingly become a trend in low-income countries, emphasising the importance of multi-party elections and democracy. Endorsed by academics it is argued that elections play several roles in rebuilding post-conflict societies. This has however not proven to be the case in many African countries; where post-conflict elections have been a source of tension and discontent. Influenced by realism some argue the increased interest of the international community is due to fear of spill-over affects. The aim of the study is to examine the opinions of the international community in Bissau and Bissau-Guineans on the countries’ ability to perform elections, as well as their views on post-conflict elections, their contribution to peace and democracy and the motives behind the international community´s presence in Guinea-Bissau. The study is based on ten weeks of fieldwork during and after the 2009 presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau. Methods used were semi-structured interviews and participant observations with Bissau-Guineans, representatives of international organisations, diplomats and journalists. The international interlocutors tended to underline the importance of well-performed elections, while at the same time they rejected the idea of a causal relationship between elections and democracy. The Bissau-Guineans emphasised the importance of establishing peace before elections, due to the fact that peace was a prerequisite for democracy, however, they believed that well performed elections would contribute to democracy.

Author dc:creator

• Guðrún Helga Jóhannsdóttir 1978-

Contributors dc:contributor

• Háskóli Íslands

• Þróunarfræði
• Gínea-Bissá
• Forsetakosningar
• Lýðræði

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1946/7299

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:skemman.is:1946/7299