Download or read book The Concept of Human Rights in Africa written by Issa G. Shivji and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 1989 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1 The dominant discourse

Download or read book Democracy Good Governance and Development in Africa written by Mawere, Munyaradzi and published by Langaa RPCIG. This book was released on 2015-10-24 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Questions surrounding democracy, governance, and development especially in the view of Africa have provoked acrimonious debates in the past few years. It remains a perennial question why some decades after political independence in Africa the continent continues experiencing bad governance, lagging behind socioeconomically, and its democracy questionable. We admit that a plethora of theories and reasons, including iniquitous and malicious ones, have been conjured in an attempt to explain and answer the questions as to why Africa seems to be lagging behind other continents in issues pertaining to good governance, democracy and socio-economic development. Yet, none of the theories and reasons proffered so far seems to have provided enduring solutions to Africa’s diverse complex problems and predicaments. This book dissects and critically examines the matrix of Africa’s multifaceted problems on governance, democracy and development in an attempt to proffer enduring solutions to the continent’s long-standing political and socio-economic dilemmas and setbacks.

Download or read book Human Rights in Africa written by Bonny Ibhawoh and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-25 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interpretative history of human rights in Africa, exploring indigenous rights traditions, anti-slavery, anti-colonialism, post-colonial violations and pro-democracy movements.

Download or read book Human Rights Under African Constitutions written by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2013-10-09 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some of the most massive and persistent violations of human rights occur in African nations. In Human Rights Under African Constitutions: Realizing the Promise for Ourselves, scholars from a wide range of fields present a sober, systematic assessment of the prospects for legal protection of human rights in Africa. In a series of detailed and highly contextual studies of Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda, experts seek to balance the socioeconomic and political diversity of these nations while using the same theoretical framework of legal analysis for each case study. Standards for human rights protection can be realized only through direct and strong support from a nation's legal and political institutions. The contributors to this volume uniformly conclude that a well-informed and motivated citizenry is the most powerful force for creating the political will necessary to effect change at the national level. In addition to a critical evaluation of the current state of human rights protection in each of these African nations, the contributors outline existing national resources available for protecting human rights and provide recommendations for more effective and practical use of these resources.

Download or read book Democracy in Africa written by Nic Cheeseman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the history of democracy in Africa and explains why the continent's democratic experiments have so often failed, as well as how they could succeed. Nic Cheeseman grapples with some of the most important questions facing Africa and democracy today, including whether international actors should try and promote democracy abroad, how to design political systems that manage ethnic diversity, and why democratic governments often make bad policy decisions. Beginning in the colonial period with the introduction of multi-party elections and ending in 2013 with the collapse of democracy in Mali and South Sudan, the book describes the rise of authoritarian states in the 1970s; the attempts of trade unions and some religious groups to check the abuse of power in the 1980s; the remarkable return of multiparty politics in the 1990s; and finally, the tragic tendency for elections to exacerbate corruption and violence.

Download or read book Democratization in Africa written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-02-01 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global movement toward democracy, spurred in part by the ending of the cold war, has created opportunities for democratization not only in Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also in Africa. This book is based on workshops held in Benin, Ethiopia, and Namibia to better understand the dynamics of contemporary democratic movements in Africa. Key issues in the democratization process range from its institutional and political requirements to specific problems such as ethnic conflict, corruption, and role of donors in promoting democracy. By focusing on the opinion and views of African intellectuals, academics, writers, and political activists and observers, the book provides a unique perspective regarding the dynamics and problems of democratization in Africa.

Download or read book Prisoners of Freedom written by Harri Englund and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2006-09-12 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description

Download or read book The African Regional Human Rights System written by Manisuli Ssenyonjo and published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-23 with total page 629 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The African human rights system has undergone some remarkable developments since the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the cornerstone of the African human rights system, in June 1981. The year2011 marked the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter. It also marked 25 years since the African Charter entered into force on 21 October 1986.This book aims to provide reflections on most of the major human rights issues in the past 30 years of the African human rights system in practice and discussion on the future: the African Charter s impact and contribution to the respect, protection and promotion of human rights in Africa; the contemporary challenges faced by the African Human rights system in responding adequately to the demands of rapidly evolving African societies; and how the African human rights system can be strengthened in the future to ensure that the human rights protected in the African Charter, as developed in the jurisprudence of the African Commission since the Commission was inaugurated in 1987, are realised in practice.The chapters in this volume bring together the work of 20 human rights scholars and practitioners, with expertise in human rights in Africa, under the following general themes: rights and duties in the African Charter; rights of the vulnerable under the African system; implementation mechanisms for human rights in Africa; and towards an effective African regional human rights system.

Download or read book The Politics of Necessity written by Elke Zuern and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2011-02-12 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The end of apartheid in South Africa broke down political barriers, extending to all races the formal rights of citizenship, including the right to participate in free elections and parliamentary democracy. But South Africa remains one of the most economically polarized nations in the world. In The Politics of Necessity Elke Zuern forcefully argues that working toward greater socio-economic equality—access to food, housing, land, jobs—is crucial to achieving a successful and sustainable democracy. Drawing on interviews with local residents and activists in South Africa’s impoverished townships during more than a decade of dramatic political change, Zuern tracks the development of community organizing and reveals the shifting challenges faced by poor citizens. Under apartheid, township residents began organizing to press the government to address the basic material necessities of the poor and expanded their demands to include full civil and political rights. While the movement succeeded in gaining formal political rights, democratization led to a new government that instituted neo-liberal economic reforms and sought to minimize protest. In discouraging dissent and failing to reduce economic inequality, South Africa’s new democracy has continued to disempower the poor. By comparing movements in South Africa to those in other African and Latin American states, this book identifies profound challenges to democratization. Zuern asserts the fundamental indivisibility of all human rights, showing how protest movements that call attention to socio-economic demands, though often labeled a threat to democracy, offer significant opportunities for modern democracies to evolve into systems of rule that empower all citizens.

Download or read book Human Rights and African Airwaves written by Harri Englund and published by . This book was released on 2011-10-03 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human Rights and African Airwaves focuses on Nkhani Zam'maboma, a popular Chichewa news bulletin broadcast on Malawi's public radio. The program often takes authorities to task and questions much of the human rights rhetoric that comes from international organizations. Highlighting obligation and mutual dependence, the program expresses, in popular idioms and local narrative forms, grievances and injustices that are closest to Malawi's impoverished public. Harri Englund reveals broadcasters' everyday struggles with state-sponsored biases and a listening public with strong views and a critical ear. This fresh look at African-language media shows how Africans effectively confront inequality, exploitation, and poverty.

Download or read book Human Rights under the African Charter written by Allwell Uwazuruike and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-29 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book critically examines the civil, political, socioeconomic, and group rights protected under the African Charter and its Protocol on women’s rights. It then examines the institutional protection of these rights through the African Commission and African Court. The book builds on the concept of regionalism within Africa and the recent drive for finding “African solutions to African problems” by tracing the development of human rights within Africa and assessing the effectiveness of Africa’s core regional human rights institutions. In turn, it critically analyses the obstacles to the full implementation of human rights in Africa such as the lack of political will, jurisdictional issues, lack of resources and funding, poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and customary practices that violate human rights. In closing, the book discusses possible solutions to these problems.

Download or read book Transitions and Consolidation of Democracy in Africa written by Samuel Ebow Quainoo and published by Global Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What conditions motivate a transition to democracy? Can the dynamics of a transition influence its outcome? Under what circumstances has democracy been consolidated in Africa? This trilogy of questions has become necessary in light of the current democratic wave engulfing Africa and the rest of the world. In examining the conditions that initiate democratic transitions, this book investigates the circumstances under which democracy movements have operated between 1980 and 1990. It concludes that, contrary to dominant democratic theory, the transitions to democracy in Africa have occurred under declining levels of development. With regard to transitions, the book recognizes that they have their own dynamics. Two main types of transitions are discerned: top-down and bottom-up. The book argues that in spite of the restrictive nature of top-down transitions, they offer a better opportunity for democratic consolidation because of the consensus between elites of the pro-democracy regime and their counterparts in the authoritarian regime, a condition that is normally absent under bottom-up transitions. Finally, relying on the cases of consolidated democracies, the book derives an African democracy model. The model delineates five main conditions that facilitate democratic consolidation, including good leadership, relevant political institutions, external support, civic space, and a reasonable level of development. It cautions, however, that these are not sufficient conditions, nor are all of them necessary. Since countries have unique historical circumstances, specific countries will have to combine conditions in the model that are relevant to that society to consolidate its democracy. The right combination will depend on the specific needs of the individual country.

Download or read book The Historical Dimensions of Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbabwe Nationalism democracy and human rights written by Ngwabi Bhebe and published by University of Zimbabwe Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zimbabwean human rights historiography often assumes that pre- colonial African politics were democratic; whilst colonialism implies a total denial of human rights. It further assumes that Zimbabwean nationalism was in essence a human rights movement; and that the liberation struggle, which led to the overthrow of colonial oppression, reinstated both human rights and democracy. This, the second volume on the historical dimensions of human rights in Africa, reconsiders questions of nationalism, democracy and human rights. It asks why the first 'democratic revolution' was frustrated in Africa, despite the democratic dimensions of the early nationalist movements. It considers possible causes of the resulting post-independence authoritarianism in Zimbabwe as centralism, top-down modernisation, or 'development'; and it reviews the outcomes of a commandist state. Common themes running through the book are the ambiguities and antitheses which concepts of nationalism and democracy imply; and the delicate, but necessary balancing which discourse on majoritarian democracy and human rights is bound to produce. This in-depth historical analysis by some of Zimbabwe's leading intellectuals and academics sheds essential light on some of the conflicts, traumas and human rights dilemmas that the country is experiencing at present.

Download or read book South Africa s Struggle for Human Rights written by Saul Dubow and published by Jacana Media. This book was released on 2013-08-22 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saul Dubow’s South Africa’s Struggle for Human Rights contextualises and explains the current concerns about rights and constitutionalism, as well as the populist reaction against the compromises or deals involved in the elite pact which brought about our New South Africa. The mid-1980s played a significant role as it is the time when the apartheid government and the ANC ‘discovered’ human rights at precisely the same time. African nationalist, liberalist and republican traditions were fragmented and episodic, but they help to explain why rights discourse and constitutionalism gained broad acceptance in the last decade of the twentieth century, and so aligned South Africa with global trends.

Download or read book Democracy and Development in Africa written by Claude Ake and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2001-09-19 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite three decades of preoccupation with development in Africa, the economies of most African nations are still stagnating or regressing. For most Africans, incomes are lower than they were two decades ago, health prospects are poorer, malnourishment is widespread, and infrastructures and social institutions are breaking down. An array of factors have been offered to explain the apparent failure of development in Africa, including the colonial legacy, social pluralism, corruption, poor planning and incompetent management, limited in-flow of foreign capital, and low levels of saving and investment. Alone or in combination, these factors are serious impediments to development, but Claude Ake contends that the problem is not that development has failed, but that it was never really on the agenda. He maintains that political conditions in Africa are the greatest impediment to development. In this book, Ake traces the evolution and failure of development policies, including the IMF stabilization programs that have dominated international efforts. He identifies the root causes of the problem in the authoritarian political structure of the African states derived from the previous colonial entities. Ake sketches the alternatives that are struggling to emerge from calamitous failure--economic development based on traditional agriculture, political development based on the decentralization of power, and reliance on indigenous communities that have been providing some measure of refuge from the coercive power of the central state. Ake's argument may become a new paradigm for development in Africa.

Download or read book Effective Governance Under Anarchy written by Tanja A. Börzel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-08 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic and consolidated states are taken as the model for effective rule-making and service provision. In contrast, this book argues that good governance is possible even without a functioning state.

Download or read book The State and Democracy in Africa written by African Association of Political Science and published by Africa World Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a study of the issues of democracy and democratization in Africa, with emphasis on the roles of civil society and the state in the democratic transition. After clarifying the meaning of democracy as a universal principle of governance and the applicability of the concept to Africa, the book examines the major problems facing the democratic transition on the continent as a whole.