BRATTON, Michael <br/><br/>
Support for democracy in Africana :  intrinsic o instrumental? 

 -  2001 
<br/><br/> Comparative analysis of original survey data from Ghana, Zambia and South Africa is used here to assess the attitudes of African citizens towards democracy. Is democracy valued intrisically (as an end in itself) or instrumentally ( for example, as a means tor improving material living  standards)? We find as much popular support for democrcy in Africa as in other. Third Wave regions but less satisfaction with the performance of elected governments. The fact that Africans  suport democracy while being discontented with it s achievements implies a mesure of intrinsic support  that supersedes instrumental considerations. At the same time, approval of democracy  remains performance-driven; but approval hinges less on the government`s capacity at delivering economic goods than its ability to guarantee basic political rights. Our findings extend recent  arguments about the importance of political goods in regime consolidation and call into question the conventional wisdom that government in new democracies legitimate themselves mainly through economic performance