Sure, it's all well and good when we bleeding hearts at the Global Interdependence Initiative proclaim the dawn of a bright future for democracy and self-sustenance in Africa. But when the Wall Street Journal gets in on our racket, you know there's got to be something to all of this. In point of fact, the WSJ does an unusually good job of covering Africa, being constitutionally disinclined to go in for bleeding heart coverage, but rather inclined to ask of Africa the question the WSJ asks the rest of the world: "can/should our readers do business here?"

The answer to that question is "increasingly," as the Journal reports today. Reporter Sarah Childress details the slow but steady gains that Africa is making, both on the governance and economic sides:

The democratic gains across sub-Saharan Africa come amid the fastest economic growth the region has seen in three decades. Foreign investment is flooding in on the back of soaring prices for the oil, metals and minerals that are plentiful across the continent. The boom, coupled with the region's democratic progress, offers some hope that after a period of post-colonial turmoil, sub-Saharan Africa may be slowly emerging into a more peaceful and prosperous era.

In many countries, democracy is already robust. Ghana, sub-Saharan Africa's first independent nation, is now a thriving democracy and one of Africa's most stable countries. Tanzania, Mauritius, Senegal and Mozambique also have burgeoning, multiparty systems.

Late last year, South Africa's two-term President Thabo Mbeki was voted out of the ruling party's top seat. In April, Botswana's president handed over power to an interim leader ahead of elections next year.

Childress doesn't shy away from the brutal, uninviting reality that persists in parts of the continent. But which is the "true Africa?" That, at least, seems more debatable now than at any time in the past. From the grassroots to the grasstops, African countries--even the most troubled ones like Zimbabwe, are developing institutions to keep strongman leaders in check and protect progress so far:

In a growing number of countries, including Zimbabwe, grass-roots democracy groups are working to keep their leaders in check. The Africa Progress Panel, an international assessment body chaired by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, released a report this week crediting nongovernmental organizations and other civil-society groups with increasingly holding governments accountable.