Samuel Sharp

Thesis Title: Dynamics of African democratic resilience

In the last decade, several established democracies have faced challenges from illiberal, populist forces. This has turned scholarly and public attention to 'democratic backsliding' and, relatedly, resilience to such backsliding. Currently, however, theorisations and analysis of democratic resilience are mostly informed by experiences of more consolidated liberal democracies.

This research instead explores democratic resilience from the perspective of contemporary African democracies. Several African states have demonstrated an ability to sustain democratic politics, yet do not neatly fit dominant characterisations of democratic resilience. For one, the link with populism is less clear: episodes of populism in Africa have arguably been fleeting, not usually linked to attacks on liberal democratic values, nor associated with cases of democratic backsliding (Ariolla et al. 2022). And key dynamics of African democratic politics, including state weakness, institutionalised personalised rule and competitive clientelism, may be underappreciated if Western liberal democracies are foregrounded.

This research will use existing datasets to identify cases of attempted executive aggrandizement in African democracies since 1990. This will include cases both where executive aggrandizement has led to democratic breakdown and others that have displayed a substantial degree of democratic resilience. Through comparative case analysis, utilising process tracing and qualitative comparative analysis, the research will test how existing explanations of democratic resilience apply, in various combinations, to these cases and the implications for theorisations of democratic resilience.

Biography:

Prior to his doctoral studies, Sam’s career centered around policy-focused research on the politics of international development. He is a Research Fellow in the Politics and Governance programme at ODI Global, a leading global affairs think tank, where his research explores contemporary challenges to democracy and civic space and how these manifest in emerging democracies. These themes are expanded on in his doctoral research.

Other recent research projects include exploring how civil society navigate shifting civic spaces; the contribution of women’s movements to resisting attacks on democracy; and the politics that shape the role of social movements in democratic resilience. His policy and advisory work focuses on the implications for international democracy, civil society and governance support. Sam's other previous research asked how public organisations can better navigate the politics of development challenges and work in more adaptive and politically smart ways.

Sam’s work explored how adaptive approaches intersect with bureaucratic politics and processes, both within aid donors and the public sector more broadly. He has extensive experience documenting and advising the attempts of development programmes to ‘think and work politically’. He also has conducted political economy analyses in various sectors, particularly on the political economy of domestic resource mobilisation.

He holds an MA in Development, Governance and Public Policy from the Institute of Development Studies, where he previously worked as a research assistant, and a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford. He has fieldwork experience in Malawi, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania and Nepal.

Sam's policy research, working papers, blogs and comment are available here: https://odi.org/en/profile/samuel-sharp/

Department of Political Science and International Studies

University of Birmingham

2025 Cohort

Email:

X: @samtsharp

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Supervisory Team:

Professor Nic Cheeseman

Professor Tim Haughton