Legislative Development in Africa: politics and postcolonial legacies by Ken Ochieng’ Opalo Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 294. $99.99 (hbk)

Legislative Development in Africa: politics and postcolonial legacies by Ken Ochieng’ Opalo Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Since Africa's third wave of democratisation in the 1990s, scholars have repeatedly stressed the importance of a strong legislature for democratic consolidati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of Modern African Studies Vol. 58; no. 4; pp. 671 - 673
Main Author Collord, Michaela
Format Journal Article Book Review
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.12.2020
Subjects
African studies
Authoritarianism
Autocracy
Bargaining
Democratization
Legislative histories
Legislators
Legislatures
Parliaments
Politics
Postcolonialism
Presidents
Africa
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Summary:Legislative Development in Africa: politics and postcolonial legacies by Ken Ochieng’ Opalo Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Since Africa's third wave of democratisation in the 1990s, scholars have repeatedly stressed the importance of a strong legislature for democratic consolidation. [...]stronger autocrats did allow the legislature ‘means independence’, the ability of legislators to define ‘intra-legislative bargaining arrangements through which to achieve statutory outcomes prescribed by chief executives’. Opalo emphasises the ‘inherent weakness’ of this party-based control (167), which exposed Kaunda to more intra-party factional conflict and ‘predisposed him to deny the legislature means independence’ (139).
ISSN:0022-278X
1469-7777
DOI:10.1017/S0022278X20000439