The Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law is a series of books that engage with contemporary issues of constitutionalism in Africa in a unique and highly original manner. The first experiment in democratic and constitutional governance in Africa that started after independence was soon overtaken by dictatorships, and arbitrary and repressive rule. The pulling down of the Berlin Wall followed by the collapse of the communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe unleashed a fresh wind of democratization and new hopes for the establishment and entrenchment of constitutional governance and constitutionalism in Africa. This series is designed to avoid a mere repetition of the now well-rehearsed concerns and doubts about constitutionalism on the continent and instead to identify, analyse, and promote serious discussion on the critical issues that can shape, refine, and deepen the strides being taken towards consolidating constitutionalism in Africa.
Although comparative constitutional law has now emerged strongly in the last two decades as a major field of legal scholarship, most of the extensive research and publications that have been carried out have focused mainly on the well-established democracies. The only African country that has occasionally attracted some research interest from a comparative law perspective is South Africa. The few books that do present some perspectives on African comparative constitutional law focus narrowly and exclusively on developments in either Anglophone, Francophone, or Arabophone Africa but with nothing cutting across these divides. Yet, since 1990, Africa has been undergoing profound and far-reaching constitutional developments that deserve to attract the attention of comparatists. Very limited comparative law research has been carried out to understand the nature of these constitutional changes, review their impact on the attempts to entrench an ethos of constitutionalism on the continent, and assess the prospects for the future.
The overriding objective of the Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law series is as follows. First, the series will stimulate interest in comparative constitutional law research and studies on the different constitutional traditions operating in Africa by presenting a comprehensive analysis of the latest thinking, research, and practice. In this way, the series intends to fill the huge knowledge gap in the existing literature on comparative African constitutional law as well as point to directions for future research. Second, each volume will for the first time, bring together high quality innovative and original material from diverse perspectives written by scholars and legal practitioners drawn from the different constitutional traditions operating on the continent. In this respect, each volume will strive to cover Anglophone, Arabophone, Francophone, Hispanophone, and Lusophone Africa. In many respects, this will ensure that the African voice is heard in the global constitutional debate. Third, because most African countries share many common features, such as the colonial legacy, geographical proximity, and social, economic, political, and cultural conditions, the books in the (p. viii) series adopt a comparative approach that highlight gaps and good practices in a manner that will provide a rich source of authoritative information for promoting an intra-African legal dialogue and the cross-fertilization of ideas across the different constitutional traditions. Finally, the books in the series are intended to act as a repository for the accumulation of knowledge, experience, and expertise on the continent. Each handbook stands alone and is intended to provide an invaluable source of authoritative reference material for academics, researchers, students at all levels, legal practitioners, and policy makers.
Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law
Series Editor
Professor Charles Manga Fombad, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
Series Advisory Board
Dr James Fowkes
Senior Researcher, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
Professor Ameze Guobadia
Research Professor, Nigerian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies
Dr Michaela Hailbronner
Senior Researcher, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
Professor Christof Heyns
Co-Director, Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa and UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions
Professor Théodore Holo
President, Constitutional Court of Benin
Professor Babacar Kante
Former Vice President of the Senegalese Constitutional Council and Professor of law, University of Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis, Senegal
Professor Christina Murray
Professor of Law, University of Cape Town
Professor Muna Ndulo
Director of the Institute for African Development, Cornell University
Professor Kofi Quashigah
Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon
Professor André Thomashausen
Former Chair of the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law, College of Law, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Professor Francois Venter
Former Dean and Research Professor, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus
Justice Zak Yacoob
Retired Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
