Constitution-Making and Democratisation in Africa

A collection of papers by legal and constitutional practitioners who assess the experiences of constitution making in Ethiopia, South Africa and Uganda: three countries on the African continent which for various reasons went through a constitutional review process in the early 1990s; and have since implemented new constitutional and laws - effectively a new political order. The essays are centred around three themes: the principle actors involved in the review process and why they were chosen; the principle mechanisms utilised to ensure conflict resolution and successful conclusion of the review process; and how need for a new constitution was legitimised and explained to the public, and to what extent these changes and processes of constitution making involved public and civil society participation. This book is aimed at academics and policymakers in the fields of African politics and constitutional law. It is further intended to provide experiences and lessons for other African countries where similar reviews of constitutions are anticipated or are already in progress.