This database presents cross-sectional data on constitutional design across all African states, indexed on a scale of integration versus accommodation, as of January 1, 2011.
For a detailed explanation of the coding system, and for short narrative descriptions of constitutional design elements in each state, please see the book chapter for which this database was compiled: Poupko, Eli. 2015. "Africa’s Domestic Institutions of Integration and Accommodation: A New Database." In Constitutions and Conflict Management in Africa: Preventing Civil War through Institutional Design, ed. Alan J. Kuperman. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 183-224.
As explained in the book chapter, the coding is based on analysis of three separate but interrelated dimensions of institutional structure—executive, legislative, and administrative—with states coded for both de facto and de jure constitutional design. The raw data provided here parse out the various elements of constitutional design that were considered in the coding, as explained in the accompanying codebook.
It is hoped that these typological data may help inform scholars and practitioners in future work on conflict management in Africa.
