During the 1990s, Africans voted for new leaders because they were tired of economic mismanagement by despotic presidents. They went to the polls with high expectations that improvements in the quality of life would follow from competitive elections. Before long, however, citizens began to feel that politicians' promises about the benefits of political and economic reform were not being met. In a focus group discussion in Zambia's rural Southern Province just one year after the country's historic founding election, a peasant farmer asked: “Why should I vote (again) when I didn't get what I expected?” As another participant in Lusaka put it: “People hoped for miracles after the elections. Now they blame democracy.”

How common is this line of reasoning? Do Africans generally make connections between their life satisfactions and support for new political regimes? Or do they tend to fall back on deep-seated cultural values in deciding whether democracy and markets are right for them? Do they make well-informed judgments when deciding whether to support a new regime or participate in it? Or do they reflexively lapse into old habits, such as loyally voting for the ruling party and continuing to trade through government-controlled marketing agencies, regardless of institutional performance?

This chapter introduces our argument that attitudes to reform in Africa derive from popular learning. It makes a case that Africans learn about reform by gaining awareness of the issues at stake and choosing among alternative courses of action.