African Federalisms

This volume provides a critical analysis of the reasons underlying the adoption of federalism in Sub-Saharan Africa. The comparison of the three systems examined, South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia, which at first glance present marked differences on the constitutional level, highlights several similarities in relation to the balance between center and periphery. By retracing the problems related to the transposition of "classic" institutions of federalism in the three selected systems and highlighting the context of application of the rules, the volume analyses the trajectories of federal systems according to three lines of investigation: constitutional transitions; the institutional performance of the institutions representing territorial interests and the regulatory powers of subnational entities; the role of constitutional justice. The analysis of these lines confirms the idea that, from a regulatory point of view, the decentralization of functions appears weak just as the ethnic factor is "tempered" by the need to guarantee the unity and indivisibility of the systems.