ABSTRACT
Power-sharing has a number of potentially detrimental effects on democratization, including elite-centrism, that are illustrated with examples around Africa, particularly Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Central African Republic (CAR). It might be surprising that power-sharing is still a recipe for many crisis situations on the continent given its dismal record. However, there are reasons why power-sharing (or rather the sharing of spoils) is still popular with political elites and international mediators aiming at terminating armed conflicts.
