Abstract:
Serious efforts to entrench the rule of law in Africa came with the socalled third wave of democratisation in the 1990s. This democratic
revival raised hopes of a new era of governance guided by the basic
principles of constitutionalism, democracy, good governance, respect
for human rights and respect for the rule of law. Promising signs of
some progress have been overtaken by a steady decline, particularly
in the last two decades.
For example, in the 2016 Ibrahim Index of African Governance
Report, it is stated that, although during the last decade overall
governance on the continent has improved, there has been a
‘pronounced and concerning drop in safety and rule of law, for which
33 out of the 54 African countries – home to almost two-thirds of the
continent’s population – have experienced a decline since 2006, 15 of
them quite substantially’.1 The conclusions arrived at in the Ibrahim
Index of African Governance is largely supported by similar surveys,
such as Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Survey; the World
Justice Project Rule of Law Index; the World Bank’s World Governance
Indicators; and Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.
