This thesis looks at the problem of governance and statehood in Africa from an
international law perspective. Adopting a comparative analytical research method, the
thesis investigated the idea of statehood in traditional Africa and Europe, and highlighted
conceptual differences. It traced the origin and nature of the post colonial African state to
an oppressive and totalitarian colonial state; and the coalescence of international law with
European civilization and reality. The argument is made that the international law
framework on statehood and international solutions of intervention and democratization,
are inadequate for dealing with the problems of statehood in Africa and its consequences
such as state collapse. The thesis proposes the legitimization of the African post colonial
state through a combination of a process of self determination and democratization. The
pattern of self determination proposed seeks to give normative expression to an African
state's reality by using the equilibrium of the peoples incorporation and disengagement
from the state as an index for determining the role and relevance of the state. It is
proposed that this index, in determining the ambits of the right to self determination of the
constituent political units in a state, should entitle an African nation to a minimum of the
right to self governance in a confederate system. In complimenting the foregoing
legitimization process, the thesis proposes a democratic framework that is constructed on
cultural foundations of endogenous democracy and development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6434 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Ezetah, Chinedu Reginald |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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