Richard Joseph '65 said last night the dramatic end of the Cold War made 1989 a pivotal year for politics in Africa.
Joseph, a political science professor at Emory University, gave a speech titled "The Struggle for Peace and Democracy in Africa: A Personal View" to about 40 students and professors.
Joseph has been interested in African politics since his days as an undergraduate at Dartmouth. As a student he said he was "very much interested in the civil rights movement." A Rhodes and a Fulbright scholarship allowed him to further study Africa.
Traditionally, African countries were "police states of one form or another," Joseph said.
Joseph is the former director of the Carter Center's African governance department, and he said he traveled with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to newly democratized African nations to monitor elections.
The Carter Center, formed in 1982, brings people and resources together to try to resolve conflict, promote peace and human rights and fight disease, hunger, poverty and oppression through internal democratization and development, global health and urban revitalization.
"With the collapse of the Communist system and the end of the Cold War, the possibility of Africa moving to a more liberal system became possible," Joseph said.
As African nations evolved, Joseph said he and the Carter Center wanted to ensure that the democratic ideals that "apply internationally should apply to African nations as well."
Joseph said his efforts with the Carter Center achieved different levels of success. Certain countries, such as Ghana, have been slow to democratize due to dictators who "refuse to go away," Joseph said.
"Zambia is a very important breakthrough because it is the first large West African nation to democratize," Joseph said.
The party that opposed the former dictatorship is now in power, partly due to the fact that the elections held in Zambia were monitored by the Carter Center.
