Constitution Building in Africa

About

Establishing and sustaining democracy and the rule of law in Africa is a constant challenge, as the recent spate of coups has demonstrated powerfully. Against this background, the course explores how constitutions are made, changed, and implemented in Africa, including why constitution-making processes succeed and (often) fail, how constitutions can contribute to building stable democracies, and how coup makers and authoritarian rulers use them to secure power. It tackles the complex social, political, and legal problems in constitution building from an interdisciplinary perspective, informed by the history of constitution building and field experience as well as new challenges like climate change and insecurity. It combines different disciplines and perspectives to offer new insights on a classic subject of high academic and practical relevance.

Course leader

Markus Böckenförde (Legal studies Department, Central European University, Vienna, Austria) & Christina Murray (Public law, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

Target group

Applications are invited from graduate students, researchers, scholars, civil servants, consultants, and officers of international and regional organizations, working on constitutional building in Africa.

Fee info