African Meeting Process for Debate and Proposals on Governance in Africa

Southern African Perspectives

17-19 June 2008 – Polokwane
20 June 2008 – Pretoria

 

The search for forms of governance adapted to the different development aspirations and requirements of contemporary Africa raises, in almost every domain, the question of power legitimacy, between tradition and modernity, between what is local and national or regional, between administrative and customary cultures, and between imported institutional and historically-rooted regulation systems. For a few years now and with the support of the French Department of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE), the Institute for Research and debate on Governance (IRG) and the Alliance for Refoundation of Governance in Africa (ARGA) have been leading a brainstorming process consisting in an exchange of experience and the formulation of proposals on legitimacy and governance issues. Through various constitutional innovations and the way pluralism was dealt with in Southern Africa, at the legal level in particular, the Southern African experience is looked upon with much interest by the other regions of the continent, and by international organisations.

That is why, after a first conference organised in Bamako in January 2007 on governance issues in Western Africa, a second conference will be held in South Africa from the 17th to the 20th of June 2008 in two stages:

 

  • For three days (17-19 June), around sixty participants (researchers, national and international public institution representatives, traditional and religious authorities, civil society leaders, trade union officials and media professionals) from six countries (i.e. South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, France and the United States), will gather in Polokwane. They will discuss the sources of power legitimacy, constitutional processes and the collective management of public goods.
  • Then, on the 20th of June, the conclusions of the conference will be discussed in Pretoria with representatives from several national and international institutions, to explore how reflecting over legitimacy can influence international co-operation policies.

 

In addition to the three above-mentioned institutions (i.e. MAEE, IRG and ARGA), the partners of the conference in Polokwane/Pretoria are:

  • The French Institute of South Africa
  • Association Modus-Operandi
  • The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA)
  • The University of South Africa (UNISA)
  • The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
  • The University of Limpopo
  • NGO Action