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Article
Author(s)
Edoh Agbehonou
Full-Text PDF XML 1087 Views
DOI:10.17265/2328-2134/2020.03.001
Affiliation(s)
Savannah State University, Savannah, USA
ABSTRACT
After four decades of
military dictatorship, Togo is still facing a dilemma of whether to break with the
past and take a path of democratization or make changes in the continuity. The death
of the former President Gnassingbe Eyadema in 2005 was seen by the Togolese community
at home and around the world as a window of opportunity or a step toward the emergence
of the political liberalization in the country. Unfortunately, with the backing
of the Togolese army, Faure Gnassingbe, one of the sons of Eyadema, was enthroned
as the country’s new President since 2005. The international economic sanctions
on Togo in the aftermath of the death of Eyadema, due to continuing human rights
abuses and violations by the authoritarian regime, have accentuated the already
acute suffering and poverty of the Togolese population. However, the 2006 Global
Political Agreement reached between the traditional political opposition parties
and the government paved the way to the normalization of the international cooperation
with Togo and hence the lifting of economic sanctions by the international community.
Drawing from Solow-Swan growth model and a cross-national causality test of the
development-democracy-growth hypothesis of Abbas Pourgerami, this paper investigates
the impact of foreign aid on the democratization process since 2005 and argues that
foreign aid played a paramount role in consolidating electoral authoritarianism
instead of establishing a viable democracy in Togo.
KEYWORDS
Togo, foreign aid, political agreement, democratization, authoritarianism, human rights
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