Constitutional Identity and Constitutionalism in Africa

Abstract

Abstract Debates about the identity of modern constitutions are not new, and for a while have attracted the attention mainly of Western scholars, particularly in Europe and the United States. The issue of an African constitutional identity in the post-1990 constitutional renewal and post-‘Rhodes Must Fall’ era raises the question of whether, at a practical level, existing constitutional paradigms, concepts, and normative ideologies are suited to developing a stable and sustainable constitutional system of governance founded on the basic principles of modern constitutionalism. This overview of the concept of constitutional identity considers several questions. What is constitutional identity? What are the prevailing theories of constitutional identity? What are their main characteristics and elements? The chapter also examines constitutional identity in the African context. It is against this background that the chapter considers the link between constitutional identity and constitutionalism in Africa.