Abstract

The debate concerning the dilemma, question and prospect of democracy in Africa is a topical, thematic and timely discourse among scholars both within and outside Africa. Indeed, the logic and language of these debates have always been a lingering and lively engagements. To this end, there are plethora of views concerning the nature and nurture of democracy in Africa. However, a large percentage of these treatments and analysis have focused more on methodological frameworks that are purely descriptive, sociological and empirically quantitative approaches. This paper attempts an understanding of these salient issues with respect to democracy in Africa from a different perspective which is philosophical method of hermeneutics which allows a free flow of the application of critical thinking and interpretation in the comprehension of the democracy question in Africa. The paper concludes that critical thinking and interpretation of the issue of democracy in Africa is necessitated by the need to understand that empirical details and data ought to rely on the relevance of theoretical hermeneutics that has been undeservedly omitted in researches about democracy in Africa.

Keywords: Democracy, Dilemma, Question, Prospect, Theoretical Hermeneutics