Lessons Learned from Power-Sharing in Africa

The document examines power-sharing in Burundi, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, concluding that while such arrangements are effective for establishing peace and preventing escalation, they provide less clear support for improving long-term good governance.

• Power-sharing institutions have been more successful in establishing peace than in promoting good governance. The most positive outcomes regarding peace were observed in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
• Inclusive power-sharing arrangements, such as grand coalitions, are most effective when they are designed as transitional governments with a defined termination date, known as a sunset clause, leading to free and fair elections.
• Third-party involvement is critical for durable peace, particularly when acting as security guarantors. In Liberia and Sierra Leone, heavy third-party security guarantees were essential to achieving lasting peace.
• In Kenya, a March 2008 power-sharing agreement creating a grand coalition government immediately restored peace and stability following inter-communal violence that killed over 1,000 people, though the underlying causes of conflict remain unaddressed.
• In Burundi, inclusive power-sharing provisions including a grand coalition and supermajority requirements have successfully incorporated major ethnic groups, but the country remains unstable with few protections for dissidents.
• Nigeria's use of power-sharing, including the expansion to 36 states to integrate minorities, has been poorly implemented and may have exacerbated problems by acting as a "divide and rule" strategy that fails to address oil income allocation.
• In Sierra Leone, power-sharing was crucial for convincing the RUF to sign peace agreements and lay down arms, even though the system failed as a method of governance.

APA

Strand, H., & Gates, S. (2008). Lessons Learned from Power-Sharing in Africa. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3bc74eb8-968a-4959-ab85-960b75bb486d/Comparative Policy Brief Lessons learned.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Strand, Håvard, and Scott Gates. Lessons Learned from Power-Sharing in Africa. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2008. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3bc74eb8-968a-4959-ab85-960b75bb486d/Comparative Policy Brief Lessons learned.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Strand |first1=Håvard |last2=Gates |first2=Scott |title=Lessons Learned from Power-Sharing in Africa |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=August 2008 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3bc74eb8-968a-4959-ab85-960b75bb486d/Comparative Policy Brief Lessons learned.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{strand2008lessons, author = {Strand, Håvard and Gates, Scott}, title = {{Lessons Learned from Power-Sharing in Africa}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2008}, month = aug, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/3bc74eb8-968a-4959-ab85-960b75bb486d/Comparative Policy Brief Lessons learned.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }