From Human Rights Quarterly 26 (2004): From a review in Human Rights Quarterly: "The collection of essays presented in this book offers an original and significant contribution to the discourse on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Africa. Although there have been other publications on this subject, and there is now a large body of literature on human rights in Africa in general, this book presents a welcome opportunity to rethink the issues afresh through the analytical lenses of a (mostly) new generation of human rights scholars, human rights workers, and practitioners drawn from a variety of disciplines: history, political science, linguistics, cultural anthropology, sociology and law…. The contributors, all specialists in their areas of expertise, offer panoramic yet succinctly argued accounts of the various issues. Each of the contributors offers their own, original contribution to the vexing and complex debates surrounding the concepts of universalism and relativism in human rights, the meaning and content of the concepts of democracy and the rule of law, and the practical relevance and political implications of these concepts in the context of discourses about development, globalization and the role of civil society and NGOs in the democratization process.
Tiyanjana Maluwa, the H. Laddie and Linda P. Montague Professor of Law at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law.
From Human Rights & Human Welfare 5 (2005): When confronted with the wide range of problems facing contemporary Africa—civil conflict, political corruption, political stagnation, international debt, the AIDS panedemic, inadequate food and housing and so on—there is a strong temptation to despair about the continent’s future. However, the publication of Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Development in Africa is a salutary reminder that as dark as the horizon may seem, African has already seen even darker days. As the various authors attest, the prospects for basic civil and political rights and the rule of law are better today than they were just a decade ago. Freed from the bipolar logic of the Cold War, Western nations (including the former Soviet Union) no longer prop African dictators as proxies in the struggle against opposing blocks....”
J. Peter Pham, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
From The Journal of Modern African Studies 44 (2006): Democracy is more than the functioning of effective representative institutions. It also means upholding fundamental principles, particularly the rule of law and respect for human rights. The rule of law, and its preeminent condition, equality before the law, is the platform upon which the edifice of democracy rests. Respect for human rights is vital for the democratic edifice to stand. There is a symbiotic relation between the two in that human rights are necessary for the functioning of democracy, and a functioning democracy is essential to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights. Such is the loud message that Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Development in Africa seeks to convey. Human rights and sustainable human development are interdependent and mutually reinforcing…. In a brilliant introduction, Paul Zeleza sets the tone of the book through his plea for a holistic view of human rights. He argues that ‘the construction of human rights norms is a continuous and dynamic process, foreclosed neither by the exclusivist claims of an imagined western progeny and universality nor an equally fictive African or Asian cultural uniqueness and relativity’ (p. 17)….
Mathurin C. Houngnikpo, Africa Center for Strategic Studies/NDU
From Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 2006: Ultimately, this volume will prove most useful to advocates wishing to acquaint themselves with the issues at hand in African post-millennial human rights and development problems. However, there is a lot to be said for a reader that asks (and variously answers) a range of important questions with respect to this critical topic. To the extent that the book surveys the (admittedly vast and uneven) terrain of human rights and development in Africa, it does an admirable job both in compiling a representative group of advocates as contributors and also in covering the most essential topics. Additionally, the volume does contain several stand-out essays that explore new and timely themes. Ultimately, it is a useful tool in educating the reader on the challenges Africa will face in turning the promise of human rights and democracy, for which it fought in the 1990s, into a reality”
Margaret Hellerstein
From The Canadian Journal of African Studies 40 (2006): Happily, this book provides a balanced narrative. It neither glorifies Africa nor bypasses its miseries. It highlights Africa’s human rights challenges and tragedies and emphasizes its rich human rights perspectives, internally oriented human rights, democratic, developmental and social struggles. The book adopts an integrated, holistic view of human rights by underlining the relationship between human rights protection and economic development in Africa. By emphasizing the interedependence of human all human rights—whether civil, political, economic, social, or cultural—the book keeps faith with African human rights philosophy and furthers our understanding of the roots of Africa’s complex social struggles and socioeconomic challenges…. The excellent introduction sets the tone in quality of analysis and content for the rest of the book. Its account of African human rights perspective and struggles is both engaging and perceptive…”
Shedrack C. Agbakwa, Osgoode Hall Law School
