The Accidental Democratisers: A Response to Gandois

Hélène Gandois makes a unique contribution to the academic literature by examining the effect of military intervention by Africa's regional organisations on the democratisation process. Her article distinguishes between two forms of intervention: in Sierra Leone, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) upheld democracy in the face of a destabilising coup d’état; in Lesotho and Burundi, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) intervened to encourage elections to take place. Even though both types of interventions supported democratisation in these conflict-ridden countries, Gandois concludes that the underlying causes of each of these military interventions were deeply rooted in geopolitical interests. While I found myself agreeing with the general thrust of her arguments, there are several normative and empirical assumptions made in her article that deserve closer examination. ...