ABSTRACT
Since this book does not seek to compare or assess objectively the parliamentary reforms it describes, and since these reforms are taking place in countries with significantly different traditions, levels of development and parliamentary systems, the advances recounted in the preceding chapters are not a blueprint for the reform of democratic governance in any one country in Africa or elsewhere. But they are much more than a simple collection of descriptions designed, in the philosophy of the parliamentary strengthening programming of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Parliamentary Centre, to foster understanding and stimulate the consideration of ideas which could be adapted from one parliament to another. The reforms reveal common features which potentially mark them as the next step in entrenching democratic practices in the governance of each of their countries. Their descriptions here constitute a valuable collection of innovations which cast African democratic governance in a whole new and very positive light.
