The Response of the African Union to the North Africa Revolutions of 20 I I: Critical Analysis on the African Union Normative Frameworks Governing Democracy, Constitutionalism and Unconstitutional Change of Government
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2013-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This research thesis is prompted by the North African Revolution of 2011 that toppled President Ben Ali
of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. Exploring the causes, triggers,
chronologies and consequences of the North African Revolutions as well as evaluating the response of
the African Union to the North Africa Revolutions in general and the Libyan civil war in particular is the
central mission of this thesis. Since diplomacy was the pathway followed by the African Union to resolve
the Libyan civil war, this paper examines the adequacy and efficiency African Union's diplomacy and
political solutions to the Libyan civil war.
One of the major issues which is extensively discussed in this thesis is the relationship between North
Africa Revolutions and the African Union normative frameworks and instruments governing democracy,
constitutionalism and unconstitutional change of government. Solving the puzzle whether Revolutions
are legitimate rights of the people under the African union normative and policy frameworks is the crux
matter of this paper. The adequacy and potential of the African Peace and Security Architecture to
respond to Revolutions is also inspected.
Concerning the Responses of the African Union to the North Africa Revolution and the Libyan civil war,
this paper contends that, even if the support of the African Union to the Revolutions is unequivocally
clear, its responses however are slow and weak. Moreover, the African Union was also effectively
ignored, marginalized and sidelined by external octors, such as the Western Nations and North Atlantic
Treaty Organization.
On the relationship between the North Africa Revolutions and the African Union normative frameworks
governing democracy, constitutionalism and unconstitutional change of government, this thesis is of the
opinion that there exists no inherent contradiction between the two. Revolutions are morally required
and legally permissible under various African Union norms and legal instruments.
Finally, by taking some basic lessons from the nature and consequences of the North African Revolutions,
some recommendatory points are forwarded to the African Union and its member states so as to tackle
the causes of future Revolutions in Africa. Besides, due to the failures the African Union political solutions
to the Libyan crises and the resulting foreign military intervention, some proposals are suggested
towards an effective implementation of Article 4(H) of the constitutive act of the African Union which
empowered the Union to intervene in a Member State in respect af grave circumstances, namely war
crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Lastly, since the Libyan civil war has exposed not only the
existence of serious rift between the African Union and Western powers, but also the marginalization of
the African Union by the latter, some practical solutions to advance the principle of "African solutions to
African Problems" are provided sa as to avoid the marginalization of African Union by external actors on
matters originally belong to Africa.
Key Words- Revolution, Democracy, Constitutionalism, Unconstitutional Change af Government
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Revolution, Democracy, Constitutionalism, Unconstitutional Change af Government