Construction of Constitutional Measures

For every country in mainland sub-Saharan Africa, I reviewed the constitution in force at independence (or, where this was not available, in the year 1965), as well as the constitution in force in 2010. This resulted in a data set with two country-years per country, the year of adoption of the independence-era constitution, and the year the current constitution was adopted. The covariates in this analysis are for the year of the constitution's adoption. I used four databases to code the constitutional protections of chiefs: Constitutions of Nations, Constitutions of the Countries of the World, the Comparative Constitutions Project, and the International Constitutional Law Database.

The first variable I constructed indicates whether the constitution mentions traditional chiefs in a context that either recognizes their status or allots them certain powers. Examples of the powers bestowed on chiefs in constitutions include the right to elect a certain number of representatives to legislative bodies, to constitute advisory bodies, or to run court systems. There is a concern that the right to elect representatives to legislative bodies or to constitute advisory bodies may be higher in democratic systems for all actors, not simply traditional chiefs. As a result, I also consider a second measure of constitutional protections for chiefs.

The second variable I created indicates whether the constitution contains a clause protecting the institution of traditional chieftaincy. The strength of the protections provided for traditional leaders varies across constitutions. At one extreme is the very weak protection offered in the Zambian Constitution as amended in 1996, which states that “subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Institution of Chief shall exist in any area of Zambia in accordance with the culture, customs and traditions or wishes and aspirations of the people to whom it applies.” At the other extreme, the Sierra Leonean Constitution of 1991 recognizes “the institution of chieftaincy as established by customary law and usage” and states that “its non-abolition by legislation is hereby guaranteed and preserved.” Other constitutions fall somewhere between these extremes, with great variation in the wording of the clauses pertaining to chiefs.