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Author: Charles M. Fombad
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192585037
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 673
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Book Description
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.
Author: Charles M. Fombad
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192585037
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 673
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Book Description
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.
Author: Charles Manga Fombad
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198855591
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 561
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Book Description
The Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law series engages with contemporary issues of constitutionalism in Africa. The first experiments in democratic and constitutional governance in Africa that started after independence were soon overtaken by dictatorships, and arbitrary and repressive rule. The pulling down of the Berlin Wall followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union unleashed new forces of democratization and new hopes for the establishment and entrenchment of constitutional governance and constitutionalism in Africa. This series is designed to identify, analyse, and promote serious discussion of the critical issues that can shape, refine, and deepen the consolidation of constitutionalism in Africa. Although comparative constitutional law has become a major field of legal scholarship, most of the extensive research that has been carried out has focused on long-established democracies. The only African country that has attracted sustained research interest from a comparative law perspective is South Africa. The few books that present perspectives on African comparative constitutional law focus narrowly and exclusively on developments in either Anglophone, Francophone, or Arabophone Africa without cutting across these divides. Yet, since 1990, Africa has been at the centre of profound and far-reaching constitutional developments. Little comparative research has been carried out to understand the nature of these constitutional changes, to review their impact on the ethos of constitutionalism on the continent, and to explore prospects for the future. The series aims to stimulate interest in comparative constitutional research and the different constitutional traditions operating in Africa by presenting a comprehensive analysis of the latest thinking, research, and practice. In this way, the series intends to fill the huge gap in the existing literature on comparative African constitutional law as well as point out to directions for future research. Book jacket.
Author: Issa G. Shivji
Publisher: Sapes Trust
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
Author: John M. Mbaku
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1786438615
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419
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Book Description
In this enlightening book, John Mukum Mbaku analyses the main challenges of constitutional design and the construction of governance institutions in Africa today. He argues that the central issues are: providing each country with a constitutional order that is capable of successfully managing sectarian conflict and enhancing peaceful coexistence; protecting the rights of citizens ? including those of minorities; minimizing the monopolization of political space by the majority (to the detriment of minorities); and, effectively preventing government impunity. Mbaku offers a comprehensive analysis of various approaches to the management of diversity, and shows how these approaches can inform Africa?s struggle to promote peace and good governance. He explores in depth the existence of dysfunctional and anachronistic laws and institutions inherited from the colonial state, and the process through which laws and institutions are formulated or constructed, adopted, and amended. A close look at the constitutional experiences of the American Republic provides important lessons for constitutional design and constitutionalism in Africa. Additionally, comparative politics and comparative constitutional law also provide important lessons for the management of diversity in African countries. Mbaku recommends state reconstruction through constitutional design as a way for each African country to provide itself with laws and institutions that reflect the realities of each country, including the necessary mechanisms and tools for the protection of the rights of minorities. From students and scholars to NGOs, lawyers and policymakers, this unique and judicious book is an essential tool for all those seeking to understand and improve governance and development in Africa.
Author: Charles M. Fombad
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191077917
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 444
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Book Description
The new series Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law will engage with contemporary issues of constitutionalism in Africa, filling a notable gap in African comparative constitutional law. Separation of Powers in African Constitutionalism is the first in the series, examining one of the critical measures introduced by African constitutional designers in their attempts to entrench an ethos of constitutionalism on the continent. Taking a critical look at the different ways in which attempts have been made to separate the different branches of government, the Handbook examines the impact this is having on transparent and accountable governance. Beginning with an overview of constitutionalism in Africa and the different influences on modern African constitutional developments, it looks at the relationship between the legislature and the executive as well as the relationship between the judiciary and the political branches. Despite differences in approaches between the different constitutional cultures that have influenced developments in Africa, there remain common problems. One of these problems is the constant friction in the relationship between the three branches and the resurgent threats of authoritarianism which clearly suggest that there remain serious problems in both constitutional design and implementation. The book also studies the increasing role being played by independent constitutional institutions and how they complement the checks and balances associated with the traditional three branches of government.
Author: Joel M. Modiri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000022412
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 315
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Book Description
Two decades since the enactment of South Africa’s present constitution, the durability and endurance of ‘past’ inequalities and injustices illustrate that the ‘new South Africa’ – lauded as a miracle nation with the best constitution in the world – can no longer be regarded as an unqualified success. The legal and constitutional foundations of post-1994 South Africa are in a process of renegotiation that invites new and alternative perspectives and approaches. This comprehensive volume explores this process of renegotiation by engaging political and intellectual contestations circulating in South African academic and public discourse relating to continuities and discontinuities between the colonial-apartheid past and the post-1994 constitutional present. The authors analyse the moral, intellectual and political unravelling of post-1994 South African constitutionalism (as legal text and political culture) and enquire whether it has been able to respond adequately to the fundamental contradictions generated by colonisation and apartheid. They also consider how centring the historical problem of European domination and conquest in Africa – and South Africa in particular – might provide an alternative frame or lens to theorise and understand contemporary South African realities. This book marks out a complex field of contestation – involving competing histories, locations, visions and perspectives – that raises multifaceted questions regarding law, history and politics. It is the outcome of a South African Journal of Human Rights colloquium and was originally published as a special issue of the journal.
Author: Rosalind Dixon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108415334
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 471
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Book Description
Evaluates the successes and failures of the 1996 South African Constitution following the twentieth anniversary of its enactment.
Author: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN: 9781776092857
Category : Civil rights
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
The Land Is Ours tells the fascinating story of South Africa's early black lawyers, and explores the relationship between the law and politics. It shows that the concept of a Bill of Rights, which is an international norm today, was pioneered by these black South African lawyers, and is particularly relevant in light of current debates about the Co
Author: Upendra Baxi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107116406
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 425
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Book Description
Examines contemporary perspectives on law through Twining's scholarly work and with a focus on ethical, global and theoretical contexts.
Author: Charles M. Fombad
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192886452
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 465
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Book Description
Despite expectations that the celebrated second wave of constitutional democracy in the 1990s would facilitate economic development, Africa remains the continent with the highest level of poverty in the world. The fight against poverty hinges on a vibrant economy that creates jobs and income by generating enough revenue to enable the state to take pro-development measures. However, instead of the economic benefits that were supposed to accrue from the constitutional reforms of the last three decades (including entrenching a market economy), African economies remain weak, a situation that has been aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. By focusing on the relationship between constitutionalism and economic growth in Africa, this volume addresses five questions: (1) In the constitutional reforms of the 1990s and thereafter, did constitutions also reflect the shift towards a market economy, and if so, in what manner? (2) Given that agriculture and extractive industries are the main sources of state revenue in many African economies, how are matters of land and other natural resources dealt with constitutionally? (3) Where the market economy is captured in a constitution, what is the state's relationship to that economy: interventionist or laissez-faire, or somewhere in between? Have constitutions also established a 'social' state that provides its citizens with the basic elements of a dignified life? (4) In the process of constitution-making and implementation concerning the economy, what impact has globalization had on constitutionalism and economic growth in Africa? (5) Finally, how has the relationship between constitutionalism and economic growth played out in practice? Is there a symbiotic relationship? Has constitutionalism led (or may do so) to greater economic prosperity? Constitutionalism and the Economy in Africa offers a range of comprehensive arguments and case studies that will be of interest and use to academics, post-graduate students, judges, lawyers, economists, and policy makers involved in the economic role of the State, the impact of globalization, and the constitutional foundations for land and natural resources exploitation.
