Africa’s Democratic Moment?July/August 2019 141
AMERICA IN AFRICA
Just as the developments in Africa’s largest states can change how the
region deals with the rest o the world, they can also change how the
United States deals with the region. U.S. policy toward Africa has
long been decidedly risk averse, aimed at preserving relations with
predictable partners in the pursuit o stability. This is particularly true
when it comes to the region’s heavyweights. Washington has been
willing to lean forward when freedom is at stake in smaller countries—
for example, supporting the ouster o tiny Gambia’s longtime dictator
in 2017—but is much more restrained in countries with greater inÁu-
ence. The Obama administration shied away from making forceful
statements about democratic backsliding and repression in Ethiopia
and Uganda because the two countries were counterterrorism allies,
and it refused to abandon the narcissistic leaders o South Sudan even
as they led the country to ruin. The Trump administration declined to
call the military takeover in Zimbabwe in 2017 a coup and has taken a
hands-o approach to the protest movement in Sudan.
It is time for a bolder approach that embraces change. Opportuni-
ties to support such fundamental reforms in such strategically impor-
tant states are rare, and they give the United States a chance to endear
itsel to growing populations that are increasingly Ãnding their po-
litical voice. To start, the United States should increase its diplomatic,
Ãnancial, and technical support to those states doggedly reforming on
their own initiative, beginning with Angola and Ethiopia.
But the United States needs to target this support carefully: in-
stead o applauding individual leaders, it should seek to strengthen
institutions. Tempting as it may be for Washington to throw its po-
litical weight behind reform-minded leaders such as Lourenço and
Abiy, it must not feed into cults o personality. Those, after all, are
the lifeblood o dictators, and all the praise o the would-be reform-
ers o the 1990s probably ended up encouraging their authoritarian
turn. Rather, the United States should focus its attention on promot-
ing reforms in the most important parts o each state, such as the
security services, the Ãnance ministry, the judiciary, and the legisla-
ture. The goal should be reforms that outlive the reformers.
U.S. Ãnancial support should also be rebalanced. For now, the li-
on’s share is focused on public health and humanitarian relief, with
relatively little devoted to supporting democratic governance, pro-
moting human rights, or reforming regressive legislation. More aid