Presidential Tenure and Constitutional Provisions
Recent Evidence from Central Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2303498 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mark Dawson (0000-0003-3383-4637, Ripe for Harvest World Outreach, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo), Daniel J Young (0000-0002-5217-6038, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Miami University Regionals, Middletown, OH, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 272-290 |
| Publication date | 2020-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Africa Spectrum (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-0397 • E-ISSN: 1868-6869 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0002039720980457 |
| OpenAlex | W3132703798 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 11 |
Constitutions around Africa have been repeatedly tested on the issue of presidential term limits. We explore the four most recent cases of African presidents facing the end of their constitutionally mandated limit, all of which developed in Central Africa. Burundi, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo all adopted constitutions limiting presidential tenure to two terms; yet, in 2015, when these limits were approaching, none of the sitting presidents simply stood down. Our analysis focuses on the constitutional provisions meant to protect the two-term limit, the strategies employed by each of the four presidents, and the difficulty they faced in pursuing extended tenure. We find that constitutional provisions do constrain, but not always to the expected degree. Our analysis adds a consideration of a foundational constitutional factor to the growing literature on term limits in Africa, with implications for other regions of newly developing democracies
Constitutional law · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Limiting · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Political Conflict and Governance
Presidential Term Limits and the African Union
Party Cohesion and Fractionalization in New African Democracies
The Politics of Institutional Choice Across Sub-Saharan Africa
Democratic Experiments in Africa
A New Look at the Evidence
The Institutionalization of Political Power in Africa
Presidential Term Limit Contravention
The Stakes of Losing Office, Term Limits and Democracy
Respecting and circumventing presidential term limits in sub-Saharan Africa
The Institutionalisation of Power Revisited
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2025 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |