Recent Books
190 «¬® ̄°±² ³««³°® ́
have strong civil societies and, especially
in the case o Zimbabwe, political
oppositions. Informative chapters
examine the evolution o each o these
six states. Are these enough states to
add up to a continental trend toward
totalitarianism? Since the return o
multiparty electoral politics in the early
1990s, the most typical kind o regime
in Africa seems to be an electoral
autocracy, a system that combines many
authoritarian practices with regular
elections. Peterson recognizes that this
kind o system cannot be de¥ned as
totalitarian but argues that totalitarian
tendencies continue to appeal to auto-
crats in the region. He worries that the
developmental success o¤ Ethiopia and
Rwanda will make a harder-edged
authoritarianism attractive to both
international donors in search o eco-
nomic e¾ciency and budding autocrats
who wish to entrench their power.∂improve its security and welfare. Her
study o the South Sudanese legal
system—and the small band o activists
who work in sometimes extremely
di¾cult conditions to support it—is often
inspiring: what is taken for granted in
peaceful countries becomes more explic-
itly important and worth ¥ghting for in
war-torn countries such as South Sudan.
The book describes the workings o the
country’s formal legal system and ana-
lyzes the largely failed attempts to put in
place stronger legal mechanisms to
protect individual rights. Enlivened by
fascinating case studies, her book gives a
voice to the lawyers, volunteers, and
activists (such as hersel) who, in tough
circumstances, have tried to make the
system work better for average citizens.
Africa’s Totalitarian Temptation: The
Evolution of Autocratic Regimes
BY DAVE PETERSON. Lynne Rienner,
2020, 279 pp.
In a lively and wide-ranging study o
authoritarianism in Africa, Peterson
de¥nes as “totalitarian” any regime that
creates political institutions to dominate
society, espouses an all-encompassing
utopian ideology, and attempts to
mobilize its citizens on a mass scale. He
identi¥es three contemporary African
countries as totalitarian (Eritrea, Ethio-
pia, and Rwanda) and another three as
having strong totalitarian tendencies
(Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, and Zim-
babwe). The latter set o regimes are not
viewed as totalitarian because they often
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