CCD Seminar Series: Chidi Odinkalu
From Ashleigh Blackwell
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From Ashleigh Blackwell
A ruler's shield? Re-evaluating the norm against unconstitutional change of government in Africa
The broad contours of Africa's inter-state system were configured in the murderous overthrow of the continent's governance systems in the aftermath of the Berlin (West) Africa Conference in 1885. A strain of violent authoritarianism that did not care for bases in popular legitimacy established thereafter around the continent was resilient even into the age of post-colony. Following independence, African states retreated behind a carapace of domestic jurisdiction and it was understood that how government acquired its mandate to rule was not the concern of other states. Constitutional instability ensued, mostly characterized by an epidemic of coups and conflict. By the last decade of the twentieth century, this understanding had begun to erode, and at the turn of the millennium, the continent had instituted a new normative order establishing democratic elections as the basis of the mandate to rule, and prohibiting coups and unconstitutional changes in government (UCG). However, the meaning of the UCG was largely left to be determined and, in turn, the content and application of the norm prohibiting it came to be defined by an appearance of inconsistency.
Over time, a norm designed to defeat authoritarianism appeared instead to have become appropriated or instrumentalized for the exact opposite, triggering a self-inflicted crisis. This article examines the scope and meaning of the norm against UCGs in Africa in light of its evolution and history. It shows that far from being a shield for interminable rulers, the norm embodies three propositions in support respectively of democratic elections, against interminable rule, and for the protection of legitimate mandates. It argues that popular uprisings are insurrectionary reactions to the failure of Africa's continental and regional institutions to respect this package, and calls for African states and institutions to return the norm to its original design.