The article looks at federalism as applied in Africa in the dual sense of a devolution of power from what would otherwise be unitary and centralised states to lower levels of governance and a transferral of authorities upwards from the state level to that of the African Union. Whereas the former is deemed to be a feasible and sensible way of transforming certain states, the assessment of the latter is much more sceptical. Grand schemes such as a “United States of Africa” are held to be both unrealistic and unhelpful, whereas a more gradualistic approach is deemed to be more constructive and helpful
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