“The organizer of a republic must find an arrangement which allows charges to be made against any citizen in the republic without fear and without respect to the individual’s position, and after a charge has been made and thoroughly examined, he must severely punish those making false accusations. Wherever this element is not well organized, great disorders always follow, because false accusations irritate but do not punish the citizens, and those who are irritated think about proving their worth by hating rather than fearing the things that are said against them.”
- Machiavelli, [Discourses, I.8]
Introduction: A Challenge to Democracy
The small West African nation of Senegal has been facing a wave of political unrest which has turned deadly, in a repeat of a nearly identical internal dispute just over a decade ago. At issue is the upcoming 2024 Pr…
