Small island states are much more likely to have democratic regimes than large continental states. This trend also holds across Africa, where the five island states with populations of 1.5 million or less are all rated at least ‘partly free’ by Freedom House. In this article we explore what it is about being a small island state that might explain this trend. Building on studies from other small island states, we find that the interaction between the two contextual factors is key to explaining their diversion from mainland trends in the African context. Specifically, ‘smallness’ leads to closer links between citizens and politicians in addition to more effective service delivery, while ‘islandness’ promotes community cohesion and provides a buffer against instability and conflict in neighbouring states. This results in a positive feedback loop that guards against authoritarian excess. Our focus on population size and geography thus adds to the existing studies of the contextual drivers of African democratisation.

小岛屿国家比大陆大国家更有可能拥有民主制度。这种趋势在整个非洲也存在，其中五个人口不超过 150 万的岛国都被自由之家评为至少“部分自由”。在这篇文章中，我们探讨了作为一个小岛国的可能解释这一趋势的原因。基于其他小岛屿国家的研究，我们发现这两个背景因素之间的相互作用是解释它们在非洲背景下从大陆趋势转移的关键。具体来说，“小”除了可以提供更有效的服务外，还可以使公民和政治家之间的联系更加紧密，而“孤岛”可以促进社区凝聚力，并为邻国的不稳定和冲突提供缓冲。这导致了一个积极的反馈循环，以防止专制过度。因此，我们对人口规模和地理的关注增加了对非洲民主化背景驱动因素的现有研究。