However, legitimate promotion of international pluralism can open the way for authoritarian leaders to reject pluralism at a level. In such cases, the assertion of sovereignty, domestic while the right of all states, can be subverted and may work to the advantage of authoritarian leaders. An interview with former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on the eve of Gambia’s recent celebrations of 50 years of independence exemplifies the way in which pro-sovereignty, anti neo-colonialist arguments can be used for authoritarian legitimation by linking democratic states in West Africa to neo-colonial powers. Jammeh suggests that all Gambians should ask themselves is democracy’ and then answers his question by stating that: is not the ‘what ‘it [sic] where I am here, but representing foreign interest, and I allow them to ‘derimocracy’ rob my country of her resources and later you call me one of the leaders of Africa and paste He suggests that a number of ECOWAS states are led by and me on their mass media’. funded by powers’ and argues that this is negative trend that affects both ECOWAS ‘Western and the AU (Jammeh 2015). ECOWAS, according Jammeh (2015) works against African leaders who have a sense of dignity and pride [and] who want Africa to ‘independent be something better than what we are today’ (with the implication being that he is one of these independent leaders). Here Jammeh sets himself in partial opposition to ECOWAS, and employs a de-legitimation of ECOWAS as a means of self-legitimation (in a strategy that is not dissimilar to some British Governments’ approaches to the EU). Reflecting his anti (neo) colonialist legitimation strategy, Jammeh presents himself as opposed to some ECOWAS decisions that he argues are neo-colonial impositions, noting, you look at most of the ‘when ECOWAS decisions that we always object to are decisions that did not come from us but that came from outside the West, the same thing they are trying to do with AU’ (Jammeh 2015). – Overall, the West African/ECOWAS position on resisting the West is less strident than that of the AU as a whole. But this middle ground, however, puts ECOWAS in an unenviable
However, legitimate promotion of international pluralism can open the way for authoritarian leaders to reject pluralism at a domestic level. In such cases, the assertion of sovereignty, while the right of all states, can be subverted and may work to the advantage of authoritarian leaders. An interview with former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on the eve of Gambia’s recent celebrations of 50 years of independence exemplifies the way in which pro-sovereignty, anti neo-colonialist arguments can be used for authoritarian legitimation by linking democratic states in West Africa to neo-colonial powers. Jammeh suggests that all Gambians should ask themselves ‘what is democracy’ and then answers his question by stating that: ‘it is not the ‘derimocracy’ [sic] where I am here, but representing foreign interest, and I allow them to rob my country of her resources and later you call me one of the leaders of Africa and paste me on their mass media’. He suggests that a number of ECOWAS states are led by and funded by ‘Western powers’ and argues that this is negative trend that affects both ECOWAS and the AU (Jammeh 2015). ECOWAS, according Jammeh (2015) works against ‘independent African leaders who have a sense of dignity and pride [and] who want Africa to be something better than what we are today’ (with the implication being that he is one of these independent leaders). Here Jammeh sets himself in partial opposition to ECOWAS, and employs a de-legitimation of ECOWAS as a means of self-legitimation (in a strategy that is not dissimilar to some British Governments’ approaches to the EU). Reflecting his anti (neo) colonialist legitimation strategy, Jammeh presents himself as opposed to some ECOWAS decisions that he argues are neo-colonial impositions, noting, ‘when you look at most of the ECOWAS decisions that we always object to are decisions that did not come from us but that came from outside – the West, the same thing they are trying to do with AU’ (Jammeh 2015). Overall, the West African/ECOWAS position on resisting the West is less strident than that of the AU as a whole. But this middle ground, however, puts ECOWAS in an unenviable
AUTHORITARIAN_REGIMES_IN_DEMOCRATIC_REGIONAL_ORGANIZATIONS_revised_.docx