Constitutions and the Dialectics of Human Rights in Malawi and Kenya

As in many other countries, the protection of human rights and other practices of constitutionalism remains uneven in Malawi and Kenya. In this book, Eunice N. Sahle argues that the adoption in 1994 and 2010 in Malawi and Kenya, respectively, of new constitutional frameworks, which have the markings of “critical constitutional events,” provided significant openings for the promotion of human rights. Nonetheless, the emergence of such opportunities does not mean that the protection of human rights is automatic. Sahle zeroes in on the tension between the possibilities of human rights promotion on one hand, and the historical and contemporary factors influencing that process on the other. In that regard, her analysis shows the importance and limits of transformative constitutional frameworks as tools for social change. Further, by focusing on the promotion of human rights by a diverse range of social actors―individuals, civil society, organizations, and public institutions―she demonstrates the need to broaden who “counts” as an agent of human rights and to go beyond a strictly state-centric approach.

Eunice N. Sahle is a professor with a joint appointment in the Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies and the Curriculum in Global Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has published widely, particularly in the areas of human rights, the political economy of development, global governance, constitutionalism, and transitional justice. She is the author or editor of several books, including Globalization and Socio-Cultural Processes in Contemporary Africa; Democracy, Constitutionalism, and Politics in Africa: Historical Contexts, Developments, and Dilemmas; and Human Rights in Africa: Contemporary Debates and Struggles.