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Regional Organizations and Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law pp 237–275Cite as

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The Organization of African Unity and African Union: Following the Design of Reference Models

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Part of the book series: Governance and Limited Statehood ((GLS))

Abstract

The Organization of African Unity (OAU) and its successor, the African Union (AU), have adopted democracy and rule of law standards comparatively late in the end of the 1990s and early 2000s. The leadership of a few states and their interests and demands informed the evolution of regional institutions. Yet, the OAU/AU has been heavily influenced by reference models from inside and outside the region when it developed and designed protocols that specified and broadened the institutional design, especially when regional actors and staff in the AU Commission were involved in decision-making processes. At the same time, the variegated demands from member states have featured in the decision-making process and have shaped the adoption and design of regional institutions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Regional Economic Community (REC) is a term for sub-regional organizations in Africa. These were first mentioned in the Lagos Plan of Action in 1980. The 1991 Treaty to establish the African Economic Community (Abuja Treaty) then envisioned the creation of RECs. The progressive (economic) integration in sub-regional RECs was supposed to be a stepping stone towards continental economic integration.

  2. 2.

    The full name of the document is “Monrovia Declaration of Commitment of the Heads of State and Government, of the Organization of African Unity on Guidelines and Measures for National and Collective Self-Reliance in Social and Economic Development for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order,” In the draft version of the “Durban Declaration in Tribute to the Organization of African Unity and on the Launching of the African Union” of 2002 (see below), the heads of state and government initially referred to the Monrovia Declaration regarding the promotion and protection of democracy. However, this reference was later deleted in order shorten the document.

  3. 3.

    Javier Pérez de Cuéllar later became the Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs who introduced the idea of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in December 2000 (see Chapter 5).

  4. 4.

    Diffusion processes also influenced the CSSDCA itself. First, CSSDCA closely resembles the OSCE’s Helsinki Process. Second, the ALF met with representatives from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris in 1990 (Tieku 2004).

  5. 5.

    Interviews with representatives from the Department of Political Affairs and the General Secretariat of the AUC in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  6. 6.

    Interview with representative from the Department of Political Affairs of the AUC in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  7. 7.

    Interview with representative from the General Secretariat of the AUC in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  8. 8.

    Interview with representative from the General Secretariat of the AUC in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  9. 9.

    Interview with representative from the General Secretariat of the AUC in Addis Ababa, November 2014.

  10. 10.

    Interview with civil society representative in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  11. 11.

    Interviews with representative from the General Secretariat of the AUC and representative from the civil society in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  12. 12.

    Interview with representative from the General Secretariat of the AUC in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  13. 13.

    Interview with representative from the General Secretariat of the AUC in Addis Ababa, October 2014.

  14. 14.

    The main meetings were: preliminary consultative meetings between the consultant and the Department of Political Affairs in May 2005, an independent experts meeting in November 2005, a meeting of government experts in March 2006, a meeting of independent legal experts in April 2006, back-to-back government experts and ministerial meetings in June 2006, and a meeting of the Council of Ministers in July 2006.

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  1. University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Sören Stapel

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Stapel, S. (2022). The Organization of African Unity and African Union: Following the Design of Reference Models. In: Regional Organizations and Democracy, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law. Governance and Limited Statehood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90398-5_6

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