ABSTRACT
Although Africa boasts only three relatively established federations –Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa – federalist ideas and institutions for combining self-rule with shared rule in multilevel governance systems have tremendous appeal, resonance, and relevance across most of the continent’s 54 states. Federal principles for the intergovernmental division of powers have been used explicitly or implicitly in Africa not only to construct multi-ethnic or multi-racial federations, but also to foster political decentralization in unitary states, and to promote inter-African or supranational relations and institutions among different states.
