Why Senegal’s Democracy Survived

In 2024, Senegal faced a severe constitutional and electoral crisis. The presidential vote was postponed, tensions escalated, and fears of democratic breakdown intensified. Yet democracy held. Why?

In this episode of People Power Politics, Temitayo Odeyemi speaks with Catherine Lena Kelly and Ibrahima Fall and about their Journal of Democracy article, “Why Senegal’s Democracy Survived.” They examine how the Constitutional Council asserted its independence under executive pressure, how civil society mobilised to defend constitutional norms, and how what they call democratic “muscle memory” shaped citizen response.

The discussion situates Senegal’s experience within a wider regional context of coups and democratic regression. What explains Senegal’s divergence? Are its institutional safeguards transferable, or deeply context-specific? And what lessons does this case hold for democracies worldwide facing executive overreach?

Catherine Lena Kelly is Director of Engagement at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies and author of Party Proliferation and Political Contestation in Africa: Senegal in Comparative Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). Ibrahima Fall is Director of Studies at the School of International Commerce, Communications, and Business Techniques (ETICCA) in Dakar and a leading analyst of Senegalese governance and constitutional politics.

Temitayo Isaac Odeyemi is a Research Fellow in Democratic Resilience at the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR). His research examines institutions, actors, and democratic engagement in Africa.

The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Election, Democracy, Accountability and Representation at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Join us to better understand the forces that promote and undermine democratic government around the world. Transcript here.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(600)

Lily Geismer on the Democratic Party in the 1990s

In this episode, hosts Lee Vinsel and Ben Waterhouse, along with producer Joe Forte, chat with historian Lily Geismer. Their conversation covers the evolution of the Democratic party, what it means to...

16 Sep 1h 23min

Why Voters Support Politicians Who Undermine Democracy

Why do so many citizens continue to support politicians who undermine democracy? And why have nationalist appeals become such a powerful tool for democratic backsliding? In this episode of the People,...

14 Sep 34min

Nora Fisher-Onar, "Contesting Pluralism(s): Islamism, Liberalism and Nationalism in Turkey and Beyond" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

Contesting Pluralism(s): Islamism, Liberalism and Nationalism in Turkey and Beyond (Cambridge UP, 2024) challenges a widespread tendency to limit studies of Turkish - and Muslim - politics to 'Isla...

14 Sep 1h 8min

Voices from North Korea: Refugees Tell Their Stories

n this podcast, North Korean refugees who visited the University of Bradford share their harrowing experiences of life in North Korea, escape, and the challenges of building new lives in freedom. They...

8 Sep 39min

Robert Shum, "Democracy or Carbon Oligarchy?: Climate and Energy Politics between Crisis and Decarbonization" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026)

Democracy or Carbon Oligarchy?: Climate and Energy Politics between Crisis and Decarbonization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026) tackles a critical question. Why has the world struggled so much to coordinate...

5 Sep 25min

Meghan Garrity, "Mass Expulsion: The Politics of Forced Population Removal" (Oxford UP, 2026)

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, governments around the world have expelled, en masse, more than 30 million people. Yet despite its prevalence, mass expulsion remains an understudied phen...

5 Sep 40min

Jieun Baek, "Privileged But Powerless: How North Korean Elite Grievances Reveal the Regime’s Greatest Weakness" (Yale UP, 2026)

What do the people closest to power really think about the system they serve? That’s perhaps one of the most important questions one could ask about North Korea, still one of the world’s least underst...

4 Sep 50min

Nikhil Kalyanpur, "Legal Weapons of the Wealthy: The Offshoring of Elite Conflict in Emerging Markets" (Cornell UP, 2026)

In Legal Weapons of the Wealthy: The Offshoring of Elite Conflict in Emerging Markets (Cornell University Press, 2026), Dr. Nikhil Kalyanpur examines a striking feature of today's global legal order:...

4 Sep 29min