Africa’s Governance Trajectory: Are AU Mechanisms Working?

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs evaluates the effectiveness of African Union (AU) mechanisms, specifically the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the Africa Governance Report (AGR), in improving governance across Africa. The author concludes that governance standards have generally remained static or declined since 1996, and that while APRM membership correlates with better performance, the review process itself does not guarantee improvement.

• Since 1996, average estimated scores for most World Governance Indicators (WGI) dimensions across the African continent have trended negatively, with the exception of 'voice and accountability', which saw a slight increase of 0.08 points.
• Governance progress in Africa has been mixed and lacks resilience; while some indices show slight improvement, the 2022 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) indicates no progress in overall governance since 2019, and several countries have lost previous gains.
• The African continent continues to be dominated by authoritarian regimes, with only Mauritius classified as a 'full democracy' and six others—Botswana, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa—classified as 'flawed democracies' as of 2022.
• Data suggests that APRM member states are more likely to experience 'increasing improvement' in governance (33.33% chance) compared to non-members (8.3% chance), though the number of reviews undergone does not appear to increase these chances.
• The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has not delivered a significant return on its estimated $48.8 million investment between 2003 and 2018, as many of its recommendations are ignored and the process does not guarantee improved governance.
• The Africa Governance Report (AGR), first published in 2019, has failed to make a noticeable difference in governance quality and risks duplicating the work of the APRM by focusing on assessments rather than the implementation of recommendations.

APA

RUBIDGE, L. (2023). Africa’s Governance Trajectory: Are AU Mechanisms Working? South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SAIIA_PB_272_AfricaGovernanceTrajectory.pdf

Chicago

RUBIDGE, LAURA. Africa’s Governance Trajectory: Are AU Mechanisms Working? South African Institute of International Affairs, 2023. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SAIIA_PB_272_AfricaGovernanceTrajectory.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=RUBIDGE |first1=LAURA |title=Africa’s Governance Trajectory: Are AU Mechanisms Working? |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2023 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SAIIA_PB_272_AfricaGovernanceTrajectory.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rubidge2023africas, author = {RUBIDGE, LAURA}, title = {{Africa’s Governance Trajectory: Are AU Mechanisms Working?}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SAIIA_PB_272_AfricaGovernanceTrajectory.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }