01891pab a2200181 454500008004000000100002100040245006800061260000900129300001300138362000800151520132300159650003001482650001401512773005201526909001001578999001701588952010401605180718b1997   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aAyeni, Victor O.  aEvolution of and prospects for the ombudsman in Southern Africa  c1997  ap.543-63  aDec  aSouthern Africa presents a particularly interesting insight into the renewed worldwide focus on the role of the ombudsman in the democratic process. In the first place, the region has a unique history of political change with some of the most intense and prolonged conditions of instability in the continent but it is, in the post-cold war era, emerging as the most confident region in Africa. Second, the ombudsman institution has, for a long time, been closely associated with Southern Africa's erratic history. Indeed, the region has had the highest concentration of active ombudsman offices, both governmental and non-governmental, in the continent. This fact beats all imagination, for the ombudsman was never originally expected to thrive in places that share the characteristics of most Southern African countries. Paradoxically, Botswana, which in classical ombudsman thought best meets the conditions for adoption, is the only English-speaking multi-party democracy that did not have a functioning office as of mid-1997. Southern Africa is a region of paradoxes whose unique ombudsmanship movement should be of interest to anyone interested in understanding prevailing governance concerns and the persistent institutional crises that have bedevilled African countries in the post-colonial period. - Reproduced  aOmbudsman - Africa, South  aOmbudsman  aInternational Review of Administrative Sciences  a37117  c37117d37117  00104070aIIPAbIIPAd2018-07-19hVolume no: 63, Issue no: 4pAR37449r2018-07-19w2018-07-19yAR