Revolutions and constitutionalism in Africa: The duty to revolt in the sudanese and congolese constitutions

Abstract

This chapter appraises the principle, as informed by the social contract theory, that citizens have the duty to revolt against individuals who access or exercise power by force or by violating the constitution. Because the prospect of people exercising this duty of revolution may constrain a government from using its powers to coerce people in a manner that jeopardises their rights and interests, the duty to revolt (or ‘D2R’) can fulfil the goals of constitutionalism. This duty to revolt features in the scholarly literature, but its application in African contexts raises some particularly vexing questions. Given that the continent already houses some of the world’s most unstable and fragile states, the question becomes whether performing the duty to revolt will not further destabilise already unstable and fragile states