Post-Conflict Institutional Design: Peacebuilding and Democracy in Africa

1: Introduction: Institutional Design, Peacebuilding, and Democracy -Abu Bakarr Bah -- 2: The African Human Rights System and the Right to Autonomy - Niklas Hultin -- 3: Democracy, Postwar Transition and Peacebuilding in Music Videos From Uganda -Okaka Opio Dokotum -- 4: Harnessing Memory Institutions for Peace and Justice: The Case of South Africa - David Mwambari & Iris Nxumalo -- 5: Natural Resource Reforms in Postwar Liberia and Sierra Leone: Contradictions and Tensions - Michael D. Beevers -- 6: Devolution and Electoral Violence in Kenya - Aditi Malik -- 7: Institutional Design, Democracy, and Peacebuilding in Africa - Abu Bakarr Bah & Fredrick Ogenga.

Since gaining independence from colonial rule, most African countries have been struggling to build democratic and peaceful states. While African multiparty politics may be viewed as a democratic system of governance, in reality it is plagued by ethnic and regional political grievances that undermine meaningful democracy. By examining post-conflict institutional reforms in several African countries, this book sheds light on the common causes of violent conflicts and how institutional design can affect the conditions for peace and democracy in Africa. Focussing on conceptual and practical questions of designing ethnically and regionally inclusive state institutions and the way institutions are perceived by the citizenry Post-Conflict Institutional Design addresses political autonomy and control over resources, issues which are often key sources of ethnic and regional grievances. Crucially, it examines the meanings of institutional reforms as well ethnic and regional representation.