Africa’s governance trajectory: are AU mechanisms working?

The document evaluates the state of governance in Africa using indices such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) and the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG). It finds that while some progress has been made in 'voice and accountability', overall governance trends have remained static or declined since 1996. The analysis suggests that while APRM members are statistically more likely to show governance improvement than non-members, the number of reviews undergone does not definitively correlate with better scores. The author argues that both the APRM and the AGR suffer from a lack of implementation of their recommendations and that the AGR risks duplicating the APRM's efforts.

• Since 1996, average scores for five of the six Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) dimensions have shown a negative trend across Africa, with only 'voice and accountability' showing a slight increase of 0.08 points.
• Governance progress in Africa has stalled or reversed in recent years; the 2022 IIAG report indicates no progress in overall governance since 2019, and several countries, including Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Namibia, and Rwanda, have lost previous gains.
• The African continent exhibits a lack of governance resilience, as countries that suffered significant drops in governance scores—such as Gabon in 2003-2004 or several states in 2013-2014—struggled to regain those points.
• APRM membership correlates with a higher probability of 'increasing improvement' in governance (33.33%) compared to non-members (8.3%), although the number of reviews a member has undergone does not appear to improve 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, largely because its recommendations are often ignored.
• The Africa Governance Report (AGR) risks duplicating the work of the APRM by focusing on assessments and reports rather than increasing the effectiveness and autonomy of the APRM.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2023). Africa’s governance trajectory: are AU mechanisms working? https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-governance-trajectory-are-au-mechanisms-working/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Africa’s governance trajectory: are AU mechanisms working? 2023. https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-governance-trajectory-are-au-mechanisms-working/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Africa’s governance trajectory: are AU mechanisms working? |date=17 July 2023 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-governance-trajectory-are-au-mechanisms-working/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2023africas, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Africa’s governance trajectory: are AU mechanisms working?}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/africas-governance-trajectory-are-au-mechanisms-working/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }