This
paper reviews critically the so called ‘ageing political syndrome’ in the
context of developing countries, and focuses on the case of sub-Saharan Africa.
It examines the structural, institutional and sociocultural processes that
allow political elites to hold onto their position of executive power long
after their “normal” retirement age, even though the region has a
young population. According to the study, modern African gerontocracy is not
just a cultural inheritance, but an intentionally engineered political system
that is maintained through constitutional trickery, patronage systems,
exclusionary measures, and blocking generational changes. It shows how the
systematic violation of term limits, the use of pre-colonial wisdom to justify
the authority of elderly leaders and the incorporation of younger elites in
unconditioned patronage networks all hinder the consolidation of democracy in
the context of the case studies presented here, in Cameroon, Nigeria and within
West Africa in general. The analysis shows how this syndrome creates cascading
effects: erosion of democracy and decay of institutions, intergenerational
conflict, and marginalization of young people, policy paralysis and
developmental stagnation, and the personalization of state institutions around
ageing incumbents. The paper argues that the significant difference between
Africa’s youth population (with a median age of around nineteen) and the old
age of the political leadership is a governance issue that jeopardizes
innovation, accountability and legitimacy of the state. The study recognizes
that the underlying causes of the above weaknesses lie not just in biological
age but also in the institutional strengths and weaknesses and authoritarian
political culture, but also points to the need for robust constitutional
mechanisms, judicial independence, and institutionalized processes for
generational leadership transition in order to realize sustainable democratic
governance. If these changes do not take place, Africa’s demographic dividend
will continue to be undermined by political economies of stagnation perpetuated
by the gerontocratic elites who hold power in these nations.
Keywords: gerontocracy, political ageing, power
retention, constitutional manipulation, Africa, authoritarianism, democratic
backsliding.
