The eleven contributions comprising this study emanate from different subjects within the social sciences and from different countries of West Africa. However when it comes to the relationship between democracy and development, the contributors are in agreement that democracy has neither been institutionalised, nor anchored in the political culture of the majority African states. The authors pose the questions: Is human development possible without democracy? Must democracy necessarily precede human development? They conclude that achieving sustainable human development in Africa will be impossible without democracy, and that moreover, forms of democracy that are well practised will accelerate the development process. Elizabeth Annan-Yao is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Cocody-Abidjan, in Cote d'Ivoire She specialises in demography, development and migration and reproductive health. She is co-editor of the African Review of Sociology. In French.