Pierre Englebert in the NYTimes:
The larger issue in Burkina Faso, as elsewhere in Africa, is that formally democratic rules can easily be applied to perpetuate the authoritarian domination of a ruling clique. People might vote and parliament might convene, follow procedure and pass laws, but it is a largely hidden network of patronage alliances and security agencies that actually rules. This system excludes large segments of society from the benefits of genuine representation and produces vast inequalities mediated though access to state resources and offices. It breeds grievances, alienation and anger, which the burning down of Burkina Faso's Parliament by demonstrators illustrates only too well.
...In the winner-take-all logic of African politics, keeping control of the state takes precedence over formulating policies that benefit society. If there was not such an outsized price to simply gaining power, the material benefits of political office might be deflated, and we might see more candidates genuinely interested in the common good.More here
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