ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses the mechanisms and processes of public participation, as well as the effects, merits, and challenges of participatory constitution-making. It highlights the plurality of settings under which public participation has been able to unfold by analysing twelve recent or even ongoing processes in several African countries. The book investigates various aspects of public participation in African constitutionalism and aims to offer a systematic overview of participation forms and mechanisms across the continent. It describes an in-depth analysis of the processes unfolding in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, which had all begun to find expression during the Arab Spring but which show in an exemplary way the diversity of outcomes. The book explores the gap existing between the rapid rise in the popularity of public participation and the current efforts to increase levels of public participation, and its low theoretical conceptualization.
