Constitutional Socio-Economic Rights and Inequalities in Africa.

This dissertation examines the effect of constitutionalizing socio-economic rights on income and gender inequalities in Africa. For the past 25 years, most countries worldwide—including African countries—have adopted new constitutions enshrining socio-economic rights which guarantee marginalized groups, especially the poor and women, equal access to resources and opportunities. Notwithstanding the global endorsement of these rights, income and gender inequalities have remained pervasive in Africa. The ultimate goal of this study is to investigate whether socio-economic rights reduce income and gender inequalities in Africa. In the first part, focusing on socio-economic rights related to education, health, and housing, I argue that justiciable socio-economic rights in national constitutions—provisions enforceable in courts—are associated with lower income inequality than non-justiciable provisions. Moreover, given the judiciary’s role in protecting constitutional commitments, I examine the direct effects of judicial constraints on the executive and the interaction effects with socio-economic rights on income inequality. Using panel data analysis and different measures of income inequality, the study produced mixed results, with the justiciable right to education associated with lower income inequality across all measures. Next, I conduct within-case causal studies of two systematically selected African countries—Malawi and Namibia—to investigate whether the interaction causal theory in the empirical analysis exists within the countries. Using country-level documentary evidence and socio-economic rights judicial decisions, I find that the effect of justiciable socio-economic rights on income inequality is contingent on high levels of judicial constraints, especially in Malawi. Moreover, the investigation revealed important omitted variables, including the influence of legal mobilization through legal aid organizations in the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights for marginalized groups. Finally, I examine the effects of socio-economic rights on different areas of gender inequality. I argue that justiciable rights are associated with lower gender inequality than non-justiciable rights and that the effects are contingent on strong and assertive women’s mobilization groups. The results revealed, among other things, the influence of women’s mobilization in the enforcement of socio-economic rights to promote women’s political participation. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the different impacts of socio-economic rights on income and gender inequalities in Africa.