Africa, Law and Development Research Cluster

This research cluster aims to examine the scope and limitations of law as an instrument for social change and development in Africa. 

It will explore how law can be consciously utilised to aid ‘development’. Development will be examined as an interrelated tripartite concept consisting of human development, socio-political development, and economic development. 

Cluster members have and continue to widely explore themes linked to the tripartite concepts of development in their respective research projects, with their research responding to whether law, legal theory, and legal institutions can contribute to the realisation of these aspects of development in Africa. 

Employing doctrinal, empirical and critical approaches and focusing on key regions of the African continent, the cluster seeks to challenge assumptions, revisit, and/or develop new conceptual and contextual ways of exploring and understanding how law is applied and experienced in the African context, including assessing the ability for law to address current and emerging challenges faced by African countries. Members specifically consider the historical and material context underpinning how law has evolved on the African continent and its regions – emphasising a holistic engagement with law’s capacity to also sustain injustice. 

 In line with the department’s disciplinary diversity, our research themes include:

• Human Rights, Justice and Conflict 
• International Commercial and Economic Law
• Law and Gender
• International Law
• Natural Resources and Sustainable Development 

The cluster conducts, supports and highlights research projects that are policy-relevant and have the potential to impact the African continent. Our members have wide-ranging experience, including supporting, advising and working for various organisations such as international development organisations, intergovernmental organisations, multilateral development banks, African governments, grassroots organisations, and civil society. 

We are interested in working with colleagues on the African continent and strive to continue actively seeking to increase our visibility, research collaboration, and engagement with universities, university-based research organisations, and research think tanks in Africa. 

We subscribe to SOAS’s vision of Equitable Partnerships, promoting a fundamental rethink of partnership models with higher education institutions in the Global South. This consequently enables the co-development, co-teaching, and co-accreditation of decolonial research and academic programmes and projects.

The cluster’s research informs teaching across the School of Law’s programmes and courses, including modules on: Law and Development in Africa, Legal Systems of Asia and Africa, and Law and Society in Africa. Members are also involved in teaching other general law modules – bringing in region-specific content, including content on African legal theory, African regional human rights systems, commercial and investment arbitration in Africa, and comparative constitutional law – with specific reference to Africa and African regional and economic integration. 

The renowned Journal of African Law (JAL) is a key feature of our research cluster. The Journal, which has been and continues to be edited by members of this cluster, strongly reflects, and has even inspired, the research undertaken by our members. JAL has been in existence for over 65 years, and throughout that time, it has reflected changing trends in law and legal reform in Africa. JAL is published biannually by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS. 

It is a peer-reviewed law journal covering the laws of sub-Saharan African countries, emphasising contemporary legal issues and issues of international and comparative significance, as evident in several recently published special issues on The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance at 10 (2019); Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (2021) and COVID-19 and the Law in Africa (2021).

• Baderin, M. (2010) ‘Law and Development in Africa: Towards a New Approach” NIALS Journal of Law and Development, 1-45.
• Banda, F. (2020), African Migration, Human Rights and Literature, Oxford: Hart Publishing.
• Bashi Rudahindwa, J. (2018), Regional Developmentalism Through International Law: Establishing an African Economic Community, London and New York: Routledge.
• Enonchong, L-S and Eware, A. (2024) ‘Conflict Transformation Through Institutional (Re)Construction: An Examination of the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of Cameroon’ 14(1) African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, 28-58.
• Sahin, B. & Kula, S.L. (2018) ‘What Women Want before Justice: Examining Justice Initiatives to Challenge Violence against Women in the DRC’ 12 (2) International Journal of Transitional Justice, 296-313.
• Lwabukuna, O. (2021) ‘The Responsibility to Protect Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, 65 (s1) Journal of African Law, 73-100.
• Makeen, M. (2019) ‘Evaluation of Moral Rights Protection in Egypt’ 14(4) Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice, 278-284.
• Oette, L. and Babiker, M.A. (2024) ‘War, International Crimes, and the Breaking of the Cycle of Violence and Impunity in Sudan’ 69 Sudan Studies for Sudan and South Sudan, 6-13.
• Onyema, E. (2023) ‘Sub-Saharan African Courts Decisions on the Challenge of Arbitrators’ 2 Les Cahiers de l’Arbitrage = Paris Journal of International Arbitration, 389-407.
• Yidana, N. (2023) ‘Regulatory Remedies in the Enforcement of Product Quality and Safety Standards in Ghana: A Case for Reform from a Comparative Analysis’ 44(1) Business Law Review, 2-11.

• Impact Case Study, Developing an empirically grounded Human Rights paradigm for migration initiatives in the Horn of Africa (Prof Lutz Oette, 2020)

• Micha Wiebusch, The Emerging Normative Framework of the African Union on Constitutionalism: The Legal Process and the Contribution to Peace, Security and Democratic State Building (Prof Lutz Oette, second supervisor) 

• Manar Idriss, The Responsibility to Protect: A Critical Look at the International Community’s Response to Sudan’s Conflicts 

• Professor Uchenna Emelonye, Professorial Research Associate, Centre for Human Rights Law