The role of the Burundi Constitutional Court in protecting the rule of law

The establishment of constitutional courts is a significant trend in the late 20th and early 21th century, in particular in non-consolidated democracies. Many functions are attributed to these courts regarded as guardians of the rule of law, such as a rights-protective role, an arbitration role, a deliberative role, or a regulatory role. In addition, courts in non-consolidated democracies are expected to play a role in political governance. The question is whether the political and institutional environment allows constitutional courts to satisfactorily fulfil all these tasks. The study has addressed the Burundi Constitutional Court (the Court) to find out to which extent it protects the rule of law. In order to analyze the case law of the Court, we have coded the judgments into a database that allows to find out how often the competences of the Court have been exercised; how often the Court was referred to by the different categories of applicants; the types of decisions that are usually rendered by the Court; how often the various principles deriving from the rule of law have been upheld by the Court; and what are the strategic techniques used by the Court. All this allows to actually assess the practice of a court as a guardian of the rule of law. It was established that the Court can - and has, in a number of cases, protected and developed the rule of law beyond what is incorporated in the Constitution. However, statistics have shown that the role of the Court as a guardian of the rule of law remains limited. Three reasons can generally explain the limited role of the Court: the institutional framework of the Court; the lack of a constitutional culture on which the Court could build; and the political environment. Recommendations have been made to improve the performance of the Court. Some are addressed to the Court itself and others are addressed to public officials who can amend the Constitution and the Law on the Court in respect with the institutional framework of the Court.

Publication year:2021

Keywords:Doctoral thesis

Accessibility:Open