Challenging the Rule of Law: The African Laboratory

VAD Conference 2020 "Africa Challenges" - 22 to 25 September 2020 at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Zusammenfassung

Beschreibung

Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, international rule of law interventions in postcolonies have become a central part of an emerging global justice and human rights regime. The African continent has been the main laboratory in which this instrument has been applied, tested and transformed. Examples are interventions of international criminal justice institutions in Africa, the facilitation of national constitution-making processes, the implementation of security sector reforms, the promotion of various human rights programs and other legalized and legalistic forms of development policies. Many in Africa and beyond view the implementation of international rule of law regimes as an illegitimate and neo-colonial North-South intervention and there is a call for ?African justice? instead of ?Western justice?. Such counter-movements include the African Union?s attempt to create an African criminal court, the rise of alternative (neo-)traditional justice systems, and a growing movement of decolonial approaches to law and statehood in academic discourses. International rule of law interventions have become a major trope in discourses on peace and security as well as wider issues of law, rights, and governance in Africa and beyond. This panel invites papers investigating the phenomenon of Africa as the laboratory of international rule of law interventions. From different disciplinary perspectives papers should explore how these interventions have challenged Africa and/or how Africa has challenged the understanding of the ?rule of law? more generally.

Submission Deadline:
15 March 2020

Co-Convenors:
Jonas Bens (jonas.bens@fu-berlin.de), Leonie Benker (benkerle@hu-berlin.de)

Funding for colleagues from Africa:
There might be limited funding available for PhD holders from Africa. However, the deadline to apply for funding is already 31 January 2020. Therefore, we encourage colleagues who are in interested in receiving funding to submit their abstracts as early as possible.

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