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19 - Fourth-Branch Institutions: South Africa

from VI - Structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

David S. Law
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

Scholars are increasingly taking note of a species of government institutions that fall outside the traditional separation of powers and have come to be known as the “fourth branch”: these institutions are created by constitutional design to engage in independent oversight and investigation of the other branches. Using South Africa as a case study of “fourth branch” institutions, this chapter dives deeply into the South African cases on corruption (such as the Scorpions litigation, set in its political background) before turning to the more general theme of Chapter 9 institutions in South Africa, then surveying the rise of the furth branch in constitutional systems around the world. The chapter concludes by evaluating both the value and the limits of the “deep dive” case study approach to understanding topics in constitutional design.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Primary Sources

Ackerman, Bruce, ‘The New Separation of Powers’ (2000) 113 Harvard Law Review 633729.Google Scholar
Ackerman, John M., ‘Understanding Independent Accountability Agencies,’ in Rose-Ackerman, Susan and Lindseth, Peter L. (eds.), Comparative Administrative Law (Edward Elgar, 2010) 265.Google Scholar
Fombad, Charles, ‘The Diffusion of South African-Style Institutions? A Study in Comparative Constitutionalism,’ in Dixon, Rosalind and Roux, Theunis (eds.), Constitutional Triumphs, Constitutional Disappointments: A Critical Assessment of the 1996 South African Constitution’s Local and International Influence (Cambridge University Press, 2018) 359.Google Scholar
Rotberg, Robert, The Corruption Cure: How Citizens and Leaders Can Combat Graft (Princeton University Press, 2017).Google Scholar
Tushnet, Mark, The New Fourth Branch: Institutions for Protecting Constitutional Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2021).Google Scholar

Secondary Sources

Fowkes, James, Building the Constitution: The Practice of Constitutional Interpretation in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2016).Google Scholar
Klug, Heinz, The Constitution of South Africa: A Contextual Analysis (Hart, 2010).Google Scholar
Roux, Theunis, The Politics of Principle (Cambridge University Press, 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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