FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W1965566471> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W1965566471 endingPage "75" @default.
• W1965566471 startingPage "64" @default.
• W1965566471 abstract "African AmbiguitiesThe Gambia-From Coup to Elections John A. Wiseman (bio) Explaining the readiness of his fellow Nigerians to accept the contrived and limited process through which their country was supposed to return to democracy in 1993, Nobel prizewinning author and dissident Wole Soyinka observed that “Nigerians made up their minds that even a moldy loaf was better than nothing and that the immediate target . . . was to get rid of the military [dictatorship].” 1 In the event, of course, the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the 1993 presidential election tout court. Instead of a moldy loaf, Nigerians ended up with nothing at all. Although the circumstances surrounding the 1996–97 legislative and presidential elections in the Gambia differed in some ways from those a few years earlier in Nigeria, Soyinka’s metaphor vividly captures the character of the political change that did occur in that much smaller West African state, which contains slightly more than a million people in a territory, virtually surrounded by Senegal, running for about two hundred miles along the lower reaches of the Gambia River. The elections, which were supposed to mark a democratic transition from military to civilian rule, were deeply flawed and left the military head of state, Colonel Yahya Jammeh, still in charge as a nominally civilianized president. Yet despite the sharp limits and serious distortions besetting the whole exercise, there was genuine movement in a democratic direction. This was owing largely to the activism of Gambian civil society and the decision of domestic opposition groups to put aside their [End Page 64] thoroughly justifiable misgivings in order to take part in the electoral process. Until the army coup led by then-Lieutenant Jammeh on 22 July 1994, the Gambia had had a multiparty democracy that dated back to independence from Britain in 1965—the longest-surviving such regime in Africa. For nearly three decades after the country’s peaceful acquisition of self-rule, it had been governed by President Dawda Kairaba Jawara and his People’s Progressive Party (PPP). Free and relatively fair multiparty elections were regularly held. It was ironic that the military takeover came just as most other African states were moving in precisely the opposite direction, reintroducing more democratic and competitive party systems after decades of authoritarian rule. The coup was the work of a group of young officers calling themselves the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC). Jammeh, their leader, promptly promoted himself to colonel and promised “a new era of freedom, progress, democracy, and accountability.” Meanwhile, he was banning all existing political parties and ordering the arrest of most political leaders who had not already fled the country, as well as many senior army and police officers. Lawyers’ and doctors’ groups, trade unionists, the independent press, and most Western nations condemned the takeover, but could not prevent Jammeh and his cohorts from embarking on 30 months of increasingly authoritarian rule. 2 The AFPRC’s media policy, for instance, significantly restricted open discussion of political matters. The newly established national television station and government-controlled newspapers such as the Gambia Daily and Upfront (the latter’s masthead proudly styled it “The Voice of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council”) specialized in undiluted praise for Jammeh and unadulterated attacks on anyone who appeared to be a critic. From the start, Jammeh showed extreme hostility toward the independent press. Restrained from banning it outright by fear of international opprobrium, he used a number of strategies to harass and intimidate journalists. That newspapers such as the Observer, the Point, and Forayaa managed to keep publishing and maintain even a cautiously critical stance testifies to the determination, and in many cases the personal courage, of their editors and staffers. Since 1994, independent journalists have regularly been arrested and beaten or abused in other ways by members of the security forces (one I spoke to on a recent visit had been the victim of a suspicious house fire, set while he was sleeping). Many journalists have been hauled into court on the flimsiest of charges, sometimes under colonial laws dating to the Second World War. In many cases, judges have exercised independence in dealing with politically motivated charges. Yet even if..." @default.
• W1965566471 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W1965566471 creator A5058443651 @default.
• W1965566471 date "1998-01-01" @default.
• W1965566471 modified "2023-10-04" @default.
• W1965566471 title "The Gambia: From Coup to Elections" @default.
• W1965566471 cites W1983966347 @default.
• W1965566471 cites W2070992113 @default.
• W1965566471 cites W2329215143 @default.
• W1965566471 doi "https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.1998.0035" @default.
• W1965566471 hasPublicationYear "1998" @default.
• W1965566471 type Work @default.
• W1965566471 sameAs 1965566471 @default.
• W1965566471 citedByCount "18" @default.
• W1965566471 countsByYear W19655664712014 @default.
• W1965566471 countsByYear W19655664712017 @default.
• W1965566471 countsByYear W19655664712020 @default.
• W1965566471 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W1965566471 hasAuthorship W1965566471A5058443651 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C111472728 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C11413529 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C136815107 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C138921699 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C144024400 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C162324750 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C17744445 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C197487636 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C199539241 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C2778182931 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C2779274809 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C2780668109 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C2781243023 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C41008148 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C47768531 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C48103436 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C48327123 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C555826173 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C83009810 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConcept C94625758 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C111472728 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C11413529 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C136815107 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C138885662 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C138921699 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C144024400 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C162324750 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C17744445 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C197487636 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C199539241 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C2778182931 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C2779274809 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C2780668109 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C2781243023 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C41008148 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C47768531 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C48103436 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C48327123 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C555826173 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C83009810 @default.
• W1965566471 hasConceptScore W1965566471C94625758 @default.
• W1965566471 hasIssue "2" @default.
• W1965566471 hasLocation W19655664711 @default.
• W1965566471 hasOpenAccess W1965566471 @default.
• W1965566471 hasPrimaryLocation W19655664711 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W1965566471 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W2142290953 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W2145051423 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W2154135503 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W2945352787 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W3012063711 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W3123650650 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W4210447402 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W4210918873 @default.
• W1965566471 hasRelatedWork W630373484 @default.
• W1965566471 hasVolume "9" @default.
• W1965566471 isParatext "false" @default.
• W1965566471 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W1965566471 magId "1965566471" @default.
• W1965566471 workType "article" @default.