Abstract
Constitutionalism, referring to either the principles of constitutional government or the adherence to such principles, is an elusive idea; and yet it is central to the establishment of an enduring constitutional democracy. Bolanle M. Mustapha has rightly argued that a constitution is not viable unless it incorporates “fundamental beliefs of the people” with respect to government.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Bolanle M. Mustapha, “Problems and Prospects of Constitutionalism in Africa,” in African Traditional Political Thought and Institutions, edited by John A.A. Ayoade and Adigun A.B. Agbaje (Lagos: Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization, 1989), 289.
Rhoda Howard argues that one reason constitutionalism and the rule of law have faltered in Commonwealth Africa is because they were imposed from above and as a result, they were foreign institutions. See Rhoda E. Howard, Human Rights in Commonwealth Africa (Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, 1986), 165. Similarly, Pierre Englebert argues that the exogenous institutions of the African state have contributed to the state’s lack of legitimacy and economic stagnation across the continent. See Pierre Englebert, State Legitimacy and Development in Africa (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 2000).
Douglas Greenberg, Stanley N. Katz, Melanie Beth Oliviero, and Steven C. Wheatley, eds, Constitutionalism and Democracy: Transitions in the Contemporary World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), xvii.
Carl J. Friedrich, Constitutional Government and Democracy (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1950), 6.
Charles Howard McIlwain, Constitutionalism Ancient and Modern (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1940), 3.
James Tully, Strange Multiplicity: Constitutionalism in an Age of Diversity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 133.
See Francis D. Wormuth, The Origins of Modern Constitutionalism (New York: Harper and Borthers, 1949) and McIlwain, Constitutionalism Ancient and Modern.
For a discussion of Latin America, see Guillermo O’Donnell, “Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies,” in The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies, edited by Andreas Schedler, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner (Boulder: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1999), 29–51.
Harvey Wheeler, “Constitutionalism,” in Handbook of Political Science, edited by Fred I. Greenstein and Nelson W. Polsby (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975), 37.
O’Donnell, “Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies,” 36.
Richard L. Sklar, “Democracy and Constitutionalism,” in The Self-Restraining State: Power and Accountability in New Democracies, edited by Andreas Schedler, Larry Diamond, and Marc F. Plattner (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 1999), 55.
Ibid., 55.
See ibid. and Wheeler, “Constitutionalism.”
D.G. Lavroff, and G. Peiser, Les constitutions Africaines: L’Afrique Noire Francophone et Madagascar (Paris: Editions A. Pedone, Librarie de la Cour d’Appel et de l’Ordre des Avocats, 1961), 2.
Victor Le Vine, “The Fall and Rise of Constitutionalism in West Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies 35, no. 2 (June 1997): 188.
For a discussion of liberal democracy and citizenship, see David Held, Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995), 66–71.
Ibid., 82.
Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).
Ibid., 7.
In his important critique of liberalism, Walzer argues that common culture links members of a community to a common understanding of justice. See Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice (New York: Basic Books, 1983). Other communitarian critiques of liberalism include Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame: Notre Dame University, 1981); and Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
For a discussion of borders and citizenship, as well as a critique of the communitarian perspective, see Joseph H. Carens, “Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders,” in Theorizing Citizenship, edited by Ronald Beiner (Albany: State University of New York, 1995), 229–253.
Josiah A.M. Cobbah, “African Values and the Human Rights Debate: An African Perspective,” Human Rights Quarterly 9, no. 3 (August 1987): 309–331.
Rhoda E. Howard, “Group Versus Individual Identity in the African Debate on Human Rights,” in Human Rights in Africa: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, edited by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1990), 160.
Rogers Brubaker, Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), 43.
Ibid., 40–41.
For a discussion of women and contract theory, see Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988).
Samuel C. Nolutshungu, “Constitutionalism in Africa: Some Conclusions,” in ibid., 369.
For an important discussion of the relationship between education and human rights, see Ajuji Ahmed and Ronald Cohen, “Education and Rights in Nigeria,” in Human Rights and Governance in Africa, edited by Ronald Cohen, Goran Hyden, and Winston P. Nagan (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1993), 215–234.
Maxwell Owusu, “Domesticating Democracy: Culture, Civil Society, and Constitutionalism in Africa,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 39, no. 1 (1997): 121.
Ibid., 146.
Maria Nzomo, “The Status of Women’s Human Rights in Kenya and Strategies to Overcome Inequalities,” Issue: A Journal of Opinion 22, no. 2 (1994): 17.
See Howard, Human Rights in Commonwealth Africa, 165; also William Tordoff, Government and Politics in Africa (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993), 30–31.
Richard L. Sklar, “The African Frontier in Political Science,” in Africa and the Disciplines, edited by Robert H. Bates, V.Y. Mudimbe, and Jean O’Barr (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 83–110, and “The Significance of Mixed Government in Southern African Studies: A Preliminary Assessment,” in African Democracy in the Era of Globalisation, edited by Jonathon Hyslop (Witwatersrand: Witwatersrand University Press, 1999), 115–121.
Mahmood Mamdani presents an alternative perspective that emphasizes the colonial role in creating an “all-embracing world of the customary” and the legacy of this role. Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
E. Gyimah-Boadi, “The Rebirth of African Liberalism,” Journal of Democracy 9, no. 2 (1998): 20.
Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship, 3. For interesting analyses of international human rights agreements, see Virginia A. Leary, “The Effect of Western Perspectives on International Human Rights,” in Human Rights in Africa: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, edited by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im and Francis M. Deng (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institute, 1990), 15–30; and Howard, Human Rights in Commonwealth Africa, chapter one.
Mahmood Mamdani, “The Social Basis of Constitutionalism in Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies 28, no. 3 (1990): 359.
U. Oji Umozurike, The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1997).
Atieno Odhiambo and David W. Cohen, Burying SM: The Politics of Knowledge and the Sociology of Power in Africa (Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1992).
William F.S. Miles, “Partitioned Royalty: The Evolution of Hausa Chiefs in Nigeria and Niger,” The Journal of Modern African Studies 25, no. 2 (1987): 255.
Pearl Robinson, “Grassroots Legitimation of Military Governance in Burkina Faso and Niger: The Core Contradictions,” in Governance and Politics in Africa, edited by Goran Hyden and Michael Bratton (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 1992), 158.
The Afrobarometer is an independent research project that conducts public opinion surveys in Africa. Partners in the project include Michigan State University, The Center for Democratic Development (CDD) in Accra, Ghana, and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDSA). Information and publications are available at http://www.afrobarometer.org.
Massa Coulibaly and Amadou Diarra, “Working Paper no. 35, Démocratie et legitimation du marche: Rapport d’enquete Afrobarometre au Mali, Decembre 2002,” p. 38.
For a discussion of the theory of discourse ethics, see Stephen K. White, The Recent Work of Jürgen Habermas: Reason, Justice and Modernity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
See Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992).
Association pour le Progrès et la Dèfense des Droits des Femmes (APDF), La Voix de La Femme October 1993, 9–10.
Copyright information
© 2008 Susanna D. Wing
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wing, S.D. (2008). Principles of Constitutionalism. In: Constructing Democracy in Transitioning Societies of Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612075_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230612075_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37239-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-61207-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)