ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of the rule of law and the courts in Africa. It reviews the concept of the rule of law and the importance assigned to it in contemporary conversations about governance and development. The chapter also reviews the historical experience with the rule of law in African countries since independence, between the first three decades of independence and the period since the early 1990s, when many countries witnessed a substantial liberalization of their political systems. With the transition to multi-party politics in many countries since the early 1990s, the prospects for the rule of law have improved considerably. In most African countries, constitutions, civil liberties, and courts operate in environments in which personalist tendencies remain and in which state authority is often abused by those holding office. The chapter concludes by considering the courts and the challenges that judiciaries face as the primary institutions tasked with promoting the rule of law.
