Roles of Parliament in Democratic and Civilian Security Sector Governance
Channel: Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Date: 2022-03-25

Session 1 of our African Parliamentarians Forum 2022: Pathways to Democratic Security Governance

Presented by:
• Dr. Ken Opalo
• Dr. Boubacar N’diaye
• Honorable Jefferson Kanmoh

• What makes for an effective legislator, even in a system where there may be a heavy concentration of power in the executive branch of government relative to the legislature and the judiciary?
• Experts say that the quality of parliamentary oversight of the security sector is a function of three factors known as the “3As”: ability (whether legislators have the resources and capacity to conduct oversight), authority (whether legislators have the legal mandate and sufficiently detailed standing orders to conduct oversight), and attitude (whether legislators have the motivation and incentives to conduct oversight). Where does your national or regional parliament stand on each of these three factors and why?
• Do you agree with some of the plenary speakers who argue that African legislatures are on the rise? In particular, do you find that African legislatures are increasingly asserting their oversight roles? Why or why not?
• How do you think that national parliaments’ successes and challenges with security sector oversight have been affected by factors like the intensity of partisanship in a country, the engagement of the national parliament with regional parliamentary bodies, and the commitment of a country’s leaders to African Union principles of legislative oversight and good governance?

Click here for the Program webpage, with recommended readings and panelist biographies:
https://africacenter.org/programs/african-parliamentarians-forum-2022/

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