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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Constitutionalism in Africa: emerging trends
Author:Sinjela, MpaziISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:The Review - International Commission of Jurists
Issue:60
Pages:23-28
Language:English
Geographic term:Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:democracy
constitutional amendments
rule of law
Abstract:Sub-Saharan Africa of the late 1980s and 1990s is going through a revolutionary change in its political and constitutional orientation. The political changes in Eastern Europe signalling the end of the Cold War meant that African totalitarian regimes were no longer needed by the West by virtue of their strategic or geographical location, and most African countries are returning to the old constitutional political order of the independence era. A survey of the newly adopted constitutions across sub-Saharan Africa demonstrates an increased emphasis on individual human rights. The independence of the judiciary is asserted. In many countries, a human rights commission has been established, and a Bill of Rights has been included in a number of new constitutions. Yet in other countries, an ombudsman has been appointed to hear and investigate human rights complaints. The constitutional reforms in francophone African countries have demonstrated an even more rapid and radical change than in anglophone countries and have also signalled a return to the independence constitutions modelled after that of France. Notes, ref.
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