ABSTRACT

Political Change and Constitutionalism in Africa examines the complexities of government and obstacles facing constitutional democracy in transitional African societies.

The chapters provide a critical, conceptual framework to probe, interpret and understand the dimensions of current and impending challenges to constitutional government in the African continent. The contributors explain why deep inequalities and harsh repression persist in most transitional African countries, despite constitutionally guaranteed rights and the ongoing, practical efforts to expand participation through political liberalization. The book demonstrates the importance of sustaining in public confidence in democracy and provides provocative ideas about how to deal with new, prodigious configurations of power that are stubbornly resisting real institutional change.

Political Change and Constitutionalism in Africa will be of interest to scholars of African politics and constitutional politics.

chapter |9 pages

Prologue

The essence of political change

part I|25 pages

Constitutionalism in theory and practice

part II|57 pages

Constitutional treatment of women’s human rights

chapter 2|21 pages

The religious components of Sudanese constitutionalism

Implications for women’s human rights

chapter 3|16 pages

Constitutionalisation of women’s rights in Uganda

Questions of democratic equality

chapter 4|18 pages

Gender issues in the 1992 Ghana Constitution

Inroads on inclusiveness

part III|126 pages

Histories of unyielding struggles for freedom

chapter 6|39 pages

Personalisation of state power and instability in Guinea Bissau

Requiem for the rule of law?

chapter 7|27 pages

Democracy and empire in Africa

Postcolonial challenge 1

chapter 8|21 pages

Epilogue

Symbolic regionalism and European governance: Why Africa is different