Accountable government in Africa

In the early 1990s, a wave of democratisation swept the African continent, resulting in a flurry of constitution-making and constitutional revision. New constitutional provisions were adopted which entrenched human rights and established various institutional mechanisms to hold governments to account. Although most of these new constitutions seemed to compare well with the constitutions of more established democracies, many of the newly established accountability mechanisms had no parallel or precursor in the previous constitutional arrangements. Many of Africa's new democracies struggled with problems of capacity, lack of experience and other legacies of their previous undemocratic regimes, which seemed to hamper the entrenchment of accountable government. Difficult socio-economic conditions presented additional challenges to increasing democratic accountability on the African continent. There is a growing consensus among academics, policymakers and politicians that accountable government is necessary for the achievement of economic, social and human development in Africa and crucial for political stability and democracy. Accountability serves to limit or prevent the abuse of political power, while at the same time empowering democratically elected governments to be responsive to the needs of the electorate. After two decades of constitutional changes and other developments affecting governance in Africa it is now time to take stock and assess to what extent accountable governance has taken root there. Combining insights from both public law and political studies, this edited volume looks at various institutions and mechanisms of accountability, their effectiveness in holding African governments to account and how these institutions themselves are being held accountable. National prosecuting authorities, the judiciary, human rights commissions, political parties and informal mechanisms are critically assessed in terms of their contribution to accountable governance. The book also discusses different sources of accountability that are specifically relevant in the context of Africa's young democracies: constitutions and constitutionalism, cultural norms and practices and international accountability assistance. The title brings together a number of leading experts in the fields of public law, political science and democratisation studies to discuss problems of accountability, identify ways of making African governments accountable and describe the extent to which these mechanisms work in practice. Thus, it presents new knowledge about legal and political developments in a number of African countries that is relevant to the policy goal of developing and deepening democratic governance and accountable government on the continent.