LexisNexis: Arbitration rise in Africa: History, Enforcement, and Modern Demand Drivers

Dispute settlement through respected third parties is not new in Africa. What is newer is arbitration in its modern legal and commercial sense, where parties agree to submit disputes to a tribunal, and the award can be enforced through the courts, and often across borders. So, when people talk about the ‘rise of arbitration in Africa’, they usually do not talk about the birth of dispute resolution. They are talking about the growth of an arbitration ecosystem: legislation, arbitration-friendly courts, arbitral institutions, and international enforceability.  A useful way to tell the story is in layers. It starts with pre-colonial practices of consensual third-party settlement. It then moves through colonial legal pluralism and the transplantation of European arbitration frameworks into colonial commercial life. Finally, it tracks the post-independence period, when African states and courts began to position arbitration within national legal orders and global regimes.  …