AFRICA'S TRIPLE TRANSITION

Sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed the end of foreign colonial rule, the rise and fall of autocratic political regimes, and the disappearance of statist command economies. The challenges were to turn populations into coherent nations owing allegiance to the state; to democratise the state structures that govern these populations; and to liberalise the rules that regulate economic transactions. An important source to assess these prospects are the views and attitudes of ordinary Africans. This essay reflects on the original data derived from a crossnational research project. Nine African states were surveyed between 1999 and 2000. An attempt is made to gather some propositions from the analysis of the data. Many present serious challenges to common wisdom about African politics. It appears that the process of nationbuilding has created coherent political communities with high levels of national identity; that democratising the state in Africa builds on existing indigenous demands from ordinary Africans; and that economic liberalisation proceeds in the face of a mixed set of values about market and state.     

THE PLACE OF THE AFRICAN COMMISSION IN THE NEW AFRICAN DISPENSATION

The mandate to promote human rights in Africa is a challenging one and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, whose mandate it is, will have to use partnerships, such as NEPAD and other supportive multilateral institutions to fulfil it. The African human rights enforcement mechanism can only be as strong as the African peoples themselves make it. This paper examines the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and looks at the role of the Commission in the New African dispensation following the adopting of the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the adoption of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).