Introduction

What I want to do in this chapter is to show that the African system has been imagined in very similar ways as other IHIs. First, I want to show that in their attempt to understand this system, most commentators have viewed it (or one or the other of its component entities) as (a) particularly weak and ineffectual, and (b) as dysfunctional in the sense that it has not served as a panacea to Africa's human rights problems. Secondly, I want to show also that most commentators have viewed the textual/organizational reform of the African system not merely as important, but as the key, to the success of the system. And finally, I want to show that the relevant body of scholarship has, for the most part, either been overly “enforcement-centred” or excessively focused on the “voluntary compliance” analytical framework. As has been noted already, this assessment of the conventional approaches does not imply that the state compliance optic is wrong in itself. Rather, it is intended to underscore its conceptual incompleteness and the necessity for its enlargement and expansion. What will be suggested is that there is a need to reach beyond – while retaining – the state compliance-focused optic. Having already considered in chapter 2, the various approaches to the study of IHIs more generally, and having concluded that the constructivist approach best serves our purposes in this book, that whole discussion will not be repeated here.