... the most definitive analysis to date of Africa's fraught transition towards local, national and regional democracies ... It should be required reading for all both on and off the continent concerned with the limitations of participation, especially election monitors and NGOs as well as candidates and donors.

- Timothy M. Shaw, ROUND TABLE

Cowen and Laakso's collection is particularly valuable because of its coverage of unusual cases. In addition to fairly standard cases such as Kenya, Malawi, Zambia,Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nigeria.... Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, and the Sudan are also given chapters of their own, along with a comparative study of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland...One analytic commonality running through most, if not all, of the contributions is a critique of the liberal project, defined as an emphasis on choice and an assumption that if the institutions are in place, then voters can make a free and fair choice. Critiques of this position include analyses of how deep-rooted gender socialization may exclude women from the political sphere (Ethiopia), how economics can affect voting decisions (Ghana), and how majorities can use elections to repress minorities (Sudan). Others emphasize that elections are not really about choice but about legitimation and/or closing off other arenas of political action to the masses (Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland)...

- Sara Rich Dorman, AFRICAN AFFAIRS

...this is a very useful book and it will be of much use not only for students of African elections, but also for comparativists seeking to identify what was unusual or notable about elections in the region in 1990s.

- Jeff Haynes, COMMONWEALTH & COMPARATIVE POLITICS