Post-Colonial Constitutions
How newly independent nations designed their constitutions after colonial rule — the challenges of building constitutional order from inherited institutions.
The Colonial Inheritance Problem
When colonial territories gained independence — across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean from the 1940s through the 1970s — they faced a paradox. They needed constitutions to establish sovereignty and democratic governance. But the institutions they inherited — borders, bureaucracies, legal systems — were colonial creations designed to serve colonial purposes, not democratic ones.
Many independence constitutions were drafted in London, Paris, or The Hague by the departing colonial power, often in haste. Nigeria's 1960 constitution was negotiated at Lancaster House in London. Kenya's independence constitution was similarly drafted with heavy British input. These constitutions typically imposed Westminster parliamentary models on societies with very different political traditions — leading to rapid constitutional failure in many cases.