This volume examines democracy and elections in Africa, taking stock of the state of constitutional democracy on the continent after the democratic gains of the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on how competitive politics or multiparty democracy can be realized and how, through competition, such politics could lead to better policy and practice outcomes.
The global movement toward democracy, spurred in part by the ending of the cold war, has created opportunities for democratization not only in Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also in Africa. This book is based on workshops held in Benin, Ethiopia, and Namibia to better understand the dynamics of contemporary democratic movements in Africa. Key issues in the democratization process range from its institutional and political requirements to specific problems such as ethnic conflict, corruption, and role of donors in promoting democracy. By focusing on the opinion and views of African intellectuals, academics, writers, and political activists and observers, the book provides a unique perspective regarding the dynamics and problems of democratization in Africa.
The third wave of democracy that reached African shores at the end of the Cold War brought with it a dramatic decline from 1990 onwards in dictatorships, military regimes, one-party governments, and presidents for life. Multiparty democracy was at the core of the constitutional revolutions that swept through most of Africa in those watershed years. However, that wave is either losing momentum or receding - or being reversed in its entirety. This volume examines democracy and elections in Africa, a focus motivated by two concerns. First, after 30 years it is important to take stock of the state of constitutional democracy on the continent. The democratic gains of the 1990s and 2000s seem to be falling by the wayside, with the evidence mounting that regimes are concealing authoritarianism under the veneer of elections, doing so in an international context where populist regimes are on the rise and free and fair multiparty elections are consequently no longer a given. It is becoming a battle to protect and retain constitutional democracy. The second reason for this volume's focus on democracy and elections is that multiparty democracy is essential for the proper functioning of the state in addressing the major problems facing Africa - internal conflict, inequality and lack of development, and poor governance and corruption. The focus of this volume is thus on how competitive politics or multiparty democracy can be realized and how, through competition, such politics could lead to better policy and practice outcomes.
This book explores the process by which constitutions and democratic institutions are constructed. Wing focuses on how innovative constitutional dialogues involving participation, negotiation, and recognition of groups previously excluded from political decision-making may be the key to a legitimate constitution.
Constitutional Options for a Democratic South Africa describes the unjust South African political and judicial apartheid system that exploited black South Africans. Ziyad Motala emphasizes the importance of a constitution and state system that would not only ameliorate the enormous inequalities generated by colonialism and apartheid but also ensure equal democratic rights and protection to all citizens in the post-apartheid South Africa. He carefully examines and compares the political outcomes of post-independent African states adopting (1) the Western liberal federal state, (2) the Soviet-inspired Marxist unitary state, or (3) the locally inspired one-party African socialist state. Motala weighs the relative merits of these state structures for dealing with the complex of democracy, socioeconomic development, and national unity in multiethnic states. He contends that the constitutions and state practices employed thus far by African states have not facilitated political and socioeconomic development, and recommends different constitutional and state options for South Africa.
This collection of essays assesses the efforts of African governments to constitutionalise decentralisation, be it in the form of federalism, local government or traditional authorities. Since the end of the Cold War jurisdictions across Africa have witnessed an ostensible return to multi-party democracy within the paradigm of constitutionalism and the rule of law. Linked to the democratisation process, many countries took steps to decentralize power by departing from the heavily centralized systems inherited from colonial regimes. The centralization of power, typically characterized by the personalization and concentration of power in the hands of leaders and privileged elites in capital cities, mostly resulted in repressive regimes and fragile states. As decentralisation is a response to these challenges, this volume analyses the dynamic relationship between the efforts to implement decentralization and presence or absence of constitutionalism. This volume examines a variety of forms and degrees of decentralization found across Africa. It advances a new understanding of trends and patterns and facilitates the exchange of ideas among African governments and scholars about the critical role that decentralisation may play in democratization of and constitutionalism in Africa.
Questions surrounding democracy, governance, and development especially in the view of Africa have provoked acrimonious debates in the past few years. It remains a perennial question why some decades after political independence in Africa the continent continues experiencing bad governance, lagging behind socioeconomically, and its democracy questionable. We admit that a plethora of theories and reasons, including iniquitous and malicious ones, have been conjured in an attempt to explain and answer the questions as to why Africa seems to be lagging behind other continents in issues pertaining to good governance, democracy and socio-economic development. Yet, none of the theories and reasons proffered so far seems to have provided enduring solutions to Africa’s diverse complex problems and predicaments. This book dissects and critically examines the matrix of Africa’s multifaceted problems on governance, democracy and development in an attempt to proffer enduring solutions to the continent’s long-standing political and socio-economic dilemmas and setbacks.
This collection of essays brings together critical and considered responses to matters of constitutionalism in the context of the most recent political evolutions in many African countries. They are concerned with the struggles for progressive constitionalism, and review historical developments and future challenges. Some specific subjects discussed are: pan- Africanism and constitutionalism; culture, ethnicity and citizenship with reference to Ruanda and Senegal; equality, discrimination and constitutionalism in Muslim Africa; gender and affirmative action in post-1995 Uganda; constitution making in Eritrea; and the challenges of antiquated constitutional doctrines and values in Commonwealth Africa. The contributors are prominent scholars in the fields of politics, law and human rights and include Ola Abu Zeid, Antonia Kalu, Ali Mazrui, Oloka-Onyanyo and Sylvia Tamale.
Is the world facing a serious threat to the protection of constitutional democracy? There is a genuine debate about the meaning of the various political events that have, for many scholars and observers, generated a feeling of deep foreboding about our collective futures all over the world. Do these events represent simply the normal ebb and flow of political possibilities, or do they instead portend a more permanent move away from constitutional democracy that had been thought triumphant after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989? Constitutional Democracy in Crisis? addresses these questions head-on: Are the forces weakening constitutional democracy around the world general or nation-specific? Why have some major democracies seemingly not experienced these problems? How can we as scholars and citizens think clearly about the ideas of "constitutional crisis" or "constitutional degeneration"? What are the impacts of forces such as globalization, immigration, income inequality, populism, nationalism, religious sectarianism? Bringing together leading scholars to engage critically with the crises facing constitutional democracies in the 21st century, these essays diagnose the causes of the present afflictions in regimes, regions, and across the globe, believing at this stage that diagnosis is of central importance - as Abraham Lincoln said in his "House Divided" speech, "If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it."
