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FASIL NAHUM, Constitution for a Nation of Nations: the Ethiopian prospect. Lawrenceville NJ: Red Sea Press, 1997, 310 pp., L13.99, 1 56902 051 5.
The 1990s have seen a resurgence of constitutionalism in sub-Saharan Africa, with military rule and the one-party state being largely replaced by a long list of multi-party states each of which has sought to produce an autochthonous constitution. In 1994 Ethiopia joined this list when it enacted its new constitution and thus brought to an end a past dominated by monarchical rule and military dictatorship and an appalling human rights record.
Producing a new constitution itself is not enough. A serious search for viable constitutional arrangements must include an assessment of certain fundamental issues and conditions that affect many African countries. Among these are first the need for sufficient national unity or cohesion to generate social and political power that is strong enough to enable the diverse peoples that make up each state to achieve purposes of well-being and development that are beyond their reach as separate units; second, the need to accommodate different religious beliefs; third, the need to recognise the general unfamiliarity of most people with the philosophy and machinery of modern governments and the consequent need to provide education on such matters; fourthly the autocratic nature of traditional authority and the discrimination against women in traditional society; and finally the economic and social importance of public office to individuals in the midst of widespread poverty, socio-economic underdevelopment and the consequent danger of abuse of power and corrupt practices on the part of those in office. A constitution that aspires to be legitimate, progressive and authoritative and to be accepted as the fundamental law must address these issues. As the African National Congress chief negotiator, Cyril Ramaphosa, observed in connection with the post-apartheid South African constitutional negotiation process, `a constitution ought to be an autobiography of the nation'.
On the face of it, the stated approach of the book reflects these issues in that it seeks to go beyond the mere words of the document and to `explain the new democratic constitutional process in Ethiopia, taking the constitution as the point of departure'(p. xvi). Further the intended approach to the discussion is `to tackle the constitutional concepts and...