This paper offers a comparative analysis of security and democracy in West and Southern Africa. It examines the popular notion that political liberalism leads to security, maintaining that it is too elitist, statist and exclusive to offer socio-economic security to all the regions’ peoples. The paper shows that state-driven regional institutions stifle public participation in their decision-making and implementation processes. So, to attain a harmonious balance between democracy and security, this paper proposes an institutionalised democratic ethos anchored in a discursive or deliberative culture. This will ensure the interests of all: people, state and capital.