Law and Development

The Functional Stakeholder Model represents a significant and original contribution to contemporary corporate governance discourse in Africa. The book succeeds in reframing how corporate governance can be conceptualised and implemented in institutionally challenging contexts, offering a compelling alternative to governance transplantation narratives. By grounding its analysis in African regulatory realities, the book provides a strong foundation for ongoing scholarship and policy engagement. It is therefore strongly recommended to scholars of corporate governance, banking regulation, and African development, as well as practitioners and policymakers seeking context-sensitive approaches to governance reform.

This paper provides a comprehensive scholarly and evaluative overview of Victor Ediagbonya’s Corporate Governance in Africa, highlighting its central arguments, methodological strengths, theoretical contributions, and significance as an important contribution to knowledge in corporate governance, banking regulation, and African political economy.

Research on corporate governance is frequent and covered by many disciplines including of course law and, in many cases, interdisciplinary. What is not frequent however, is an investigation into corporate governance in the African region specific to industry sectors. This is an important gap that needed to be filled, and Dr Ediagbonya is one of the first scholars to commence filling it. His book, Corporate Governance in Africa, is a region specific and industry specific investigation on an appropriate and reliable corporate governance framework which is both stable, yet adaptable for the peculiarities of the region.

This book is an excellent contribution to the analysis of corporate governance frameworks from emerging countries. It analyses a timely issue of corporate governance in the banking industry of two African countries, Nigeria and South Africa, with some of the largest economies based on gross domestic product (see the introduction). The banking sector in Africa is a sector of significant growth, although significantly concentrated. McKinsey insights points out that ‘performance in Africa’s banking system is driven by a diverse mix of markets, each with its own unique strategies and challenges.

This Symposium is dedicated to a critical engagement with Corporate Governance in Africa, a timely and significant contribution to the growing body of scholarship on governance across the continent. The book provides a nuanced exploration of the legal, institutional, and practical dimensions of corporate governance in diverse African jurisdictions, offering insights that are both contextually grounded and theoretically informed. This symposium brings together scholars to reflect on, interrogate, and extend the arguments advanced in this book.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

It is my utmost pleasure to welcome you to our 8th Biennial Conference. After successfully hosting in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania, we have finally breached the “Francophone wall”, as one Member of the Network’s Advisory Board noted upon learning this year’s destination. For the first time since its creation in 2008, the AfIELN Conference will take place in “Francophone” Africa, in North Africa, and in the MENA region. Morocco is therefore threefold symbolic. ______________________________________________________________________ Chers amis du Réseau africain de droit économique international (AfIELN), C’est avec un immense plaisir que je vous souhaite la bienvenue à notre 8e Conférence biennale. Après avoir accueilli avec succès des éditions au Ghana, au Kenya, au Nigeria, en Afrique du Sud et en Tanzanie, nous avons enfin franchi le « mur francophone », comme l’a souligné un membre du Conseil Consultatif du Réseau en apprenant la destination de cette année. Pour la première fois depuis sa création en 2008, la Conférence d’AfIELN se tiendra en Afrique « francophone », en Afrique du Nord et dans la région MENA. Le Maroc revêt donc une triple symbolique.

The News and Events category publishes the latest News and Events relating to International Economic Law relating to Africa and the Global South. Every week, Afronomicslaw.org receive the News and Events in their e-mail accounts. The News and Events published every week include conferences, major developments in the field of International Economic Law in Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels as well as relevant case law. News and Events with a Global South focus are also often included.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is the world’s largest free trade area in terms of the participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The AfCFTA Agreement brings together 55 African Countries who are contracting member states to the 8 existing Regional Economic Communities in Africa, including the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States (former members of ECOWAS). As of September 2024, 54 of the 55 AU member states have signed the AfCFTA Agreement and 47 have ratified the Agreement. The AfCFTA aims to create a single market for trade in goods and services and allow free access to tradeable commodities across the continent. Although the AfCFTA is not fully operational, meaningful commercial trading has been envisioned through the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI). The GTI is a pilot project that tests the operational, institutional, legal and trade policy environment of the AfCFTA.

Dispute settlement is a central tenet of any economic block as it provides the necessary security and predictability for the state parties. The Architecture of the AfCFTA is reflective of these principles as the AfCFTA Agreement has introduced a rules-based dispute settlement regime which mirrors the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Understanding. The success of the AfCFTA is highly dependent on the effectiveness of the dispute settlement mechanism. In considering the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) of the AfCFTA this piece highlights the salient features of the DSM and explores some of the challenges that should be anticipated. This piece fronts the argument that the AfCFTA should have diverged from the traditional dispute settlement mechanisms adopted by the WTO. Further, it attempts to answer the question on whether African States will utilize the DSM given the current status quo of the dismal use of the WTO’s DSM.