An appraisal of institutions of global governance: the case of the African human rights system.

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of global governance institutions in the light of changes in the global system, and how such changes can be observed in the international arena. This study focuses on the African system of human rights as an example of global governance institutions operating within the liberal global order created in the post-war era by the United States. This paper uses Oran Young's1 framework of effectiveness of international institutions to examine whether the African human rights system is effective. Based on that framework, the paper observes that the African human rights system has been able to move beyond human rights treaty ratification by African states to the establishment of treaty bodies that have demonstrated dynamism in response to challenges in the African human rights system, as well as changes in the liberal global order. However, there is more to effectiveness of institutions of global governance beyond the dynamism demonstrated by the African system of human rights.