One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today.
Traditional Institutions of Governance in Africa The role of chieftaincy within post-colonial African countries continues to incite lively debates, as the case of Ghana exemplifies.
Ancient West Africa: Bantu Migrations & the Stateless Society As institutional scholars state, institutional incompatibility leads to societal conflicts by projecting different laws governing societal interactions (Eisenstadt, 1968; Helmke & Levitsky, 2004; March & Olsen, 1984; North, 1990; Olsen, 2007). To illustrate, when there are 2.2 billion Africans, 50% of whom live in cities, how will those cities (and surrounding countryside) be governed?
Discuss any similarities between the key features of the fourth PDF The Political Ideology of Indigenous African Political Systems and Cold War geopolitics reinforced in some ways the state-society gap as the global rivalry tended to favor African incumbents and frequently assured they would receive significant assistance from external powers seeking to build diplomatic ties with the new states. On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power.
Editorial Citizenship and Accountability: Customary Law and Traditional Rule that is based on predation and political monopoly is unlikely to enjoy genuine popular legitimacy, but it can linger for decades unless there are effective countervailing institutions and power centers. There are several types of government systems in African politics: in an absolute monarchy, the head of state and head of government is a monarch with unlimited legal authority,; in a constitutional monarchy, the monarch is a ceremonial figurehead who has few political competences,; in a presidential system, the president is the head of state and head of government, In the centralized systems also, traditional leaders of various titles were reduced to chiefs and the colonial state modified notably the relations between the chiefs and their communities by making the chiefs accountable to the colonial state rather than to their communities (Coplan & Quinlan, 1997). In the postcolonial era, their roles changed again. Command economies, as opposed to free-market economies, do not allow market forces like supply and demand to determine production or prices. Integration of traditional and modern governance systems in Africa. 20 A brief account of that history will help to highlight key continuities spanning the colonial, apartheid and the post-apartheid eras in relation to the place of customary law and the role of traditional leaders. Basing key political decisions on broad societal and inter-party consensus may help to de-escalate cutthroat competition that often leads to violent conflicts. A second objective is to draw a tentative typology of the different authority systems of Africas traditional institutions. A partial explanation as to why the traditional systems endure was given in the section Why African Traditional Institutions Endure. The argument in that section was that they endure primarily because they are compatible with traditional economic systems, under which large segments of the African population still operate. Some African leaders such as Ghanas Jerry Rawlings, Zambias Kenneth Kaunda, or Mozambiques Joachim Chissano accept and respect term limits and stand down. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. A command economy, also known as a planned economy, is one in which the central government plans, organizes, and controls all economic activities to maximize social welfare. Posted: 12 May 2011. Ndlela (2007: 34) confirms that traditional leaders continue to enjoy their role and recognition in the new dispensation, just like in other African states; and Good (2002: 3) argues that the system of traditional leadership in Botswana exists parallel to the democratic system of government and the challenge is of forging unity. African indigenous education was. Long-standing kingdoms such as those in Morocco and Swaziland are recognized national states. Building an inclusive political system also raises the question of what levels of the society to include and how to assure that local communities as well as groups operating at the national level can get their voices heard. In any case, as . This process becomes difficult when citizens are divided into parallel socioeconomic spaces with different judicial systems, property rights laws, and resource allocation mechanisms, which often may conflict with each other. An analytical study and impact of colonialism on pre-colonial centralized and decentralized African Traditional and Political Systems. One snapshot by the influential Mo Ibrahim index of African Governance noted in 2015 that overall governance progress in Africa is stalling, and decided not to award a leadership award that year. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. Poor statesociety relations and weak state legitimacy: Another critical outcome of institutional fragmentation and institutional detachment of the state from the overwhelming majority of the population is weak legitimacy of the state (Englebert, 2000). 3. However, the winner takes all system in the individual states is a democracy type of voting system, as the minority gets none of the electoral college votes. However, almost invariably the same functions, whether or not formally defined and characterized in the same terms or exercised in the same manner, are also performed by traditional institutions and their leaders. Prominent among these Sudanic states was the Soninke Kingdom of Ancient Ghana.
Traditional African Religions - The Spiritual Life General Overviews. However, the traditional judicial system has some weaknesses, especially with respect to gender equality. 1. Another basic question is, whom to include? The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (Alkire, Chatterjee, Conconi, Seth, & Vaz, 2014) estimates that the share of rural poverty to total poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is about 73.8%. No doubt rural communities participate in elections, although they are hardly represented in national assemblies by people from their own socioeconomic space. History. Such adjustments, however, may require contextualization of the institutions of democracy by adjusting these institutions to reflect African realities. . Figure 1 captures this turn to authoritarianism in postindependence Africa. In some cases, community elders select future Sultanes at a young age and groom them for the position. They include: Monarchs (absolute or constitutional): While the colonial state reduced most African kings to chiefs, a few survived as monarchs. The selection, however, is often from the children of a chief. In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. Why can't democracy with African characteristics maintain the values, culture and traditional system of handling indiscipline, injustice and information management in society to take firm roots. In a few easy steps create an account and receive the most recent analysis from Hoover fellows tailored to your specific policy interests. Space opened up for African citizens and civil society movements, while incumbent regimes were no longer able to rely on assured support from erstwhile external partners. Government, Public Policy Performance, Types of Government. Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. In direct contrast is the second model: statist, performance-based legitimacy, measured typically in terms of economic growth and domestic stability as well as government-provided servicesthe legitimacy claimed by leaders in Uganda and Rwanda, among others. In some cases, they are also denied child custody rights. The most promising pattern is adaptive resilience in which leaders facing such pressures create safety valves or outlets for managing social unrest. The Dutch dispatched an embassy to the Asantehene's . In this respect, they complement official courts that are often unable to provide court services to all their rural communities. Government and Political Systems.
PDF Traditional Leaders In Modern Africa: Can Democracy And The - ETH Z Gadaa as an Alternative Understanding of Democracy in Africa Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Contentious Politics and Political Violence, Political Values, Beliefs, and Ideologies, Why African Traditional Institutions Endure, Authority Systems of Africas Traditional Institutions, Relevance and Paradox of Traditional Institutions, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1347, United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, Global Actors: Networks, Elites, and Institutions, Traditional Leaders and Development in Africa. Customary law, for example, does not protect communities from violations of their customary land rights through land-taking by the state. Other governance systems in the post-independence era and their unique features, if any. This provides wide opportunity for governments to experiment, to chart a course independent of Western preferences, but it can also encourage them to move toward authoritarian, state capitalist policies when that is the necessary or the expedient thing to do. Any insurrection by a segment of the population has the potential to bring about not only the downfall of governments but also the collapse of the entire apparatus of the state because the popular foundation of the African state is weak. Challenges confronting the institution of chieftaincy have continued from the colonial era into recent times. If inclusion is the central ingredient, it will be necessary to explore in greater depth the resources leaders have available to pay for including various social groups and demographic cohorts. With the dawn of colonialism in Africa, the traditional African government was sys-tematically weakened, and the strong and influential bond between traditional lead- . Among the key challenges associated with institutional fragmentation are the following: Policy incoherence: Fragmented economies and institutions represent dichotomous socioeconomic spaces, which makes it highly challenging for policy to address equitably the interests of the populations in these separate socioeconomic spaces. Africa contains more sovereign nations than any other continent, with 54 countries compared to Asia's 47. Chiefs administer land and people, contribute to the creation of rules that regulate the lives of those under their jurisdiction, and are called on to solve disputes among their subjects.
PDF Structure of Government - EOLSS On the one hand, traditional institutions are highly relevant and indispensable, although there are arguments to the contrary (see Mengisteab & Hagg [2017] for a summary of such arguments). Third, Africas conflict burden reflects different forms and sources of violence that sometimes become linked to each other: political movements may gain financing and coercive support from criminal networks and traffickers, while religious militants with connections to terrorist groups are often adept at making common cause with local grievance activists.
Indigenous African Education - 2392 Words | Studymode Broadly speaking, indigenous systems of governance are those that were practiced by local populations in pre-colonial times. But established and recognized forms of inherited rule cannot be lightly dismissed as un-modern, especially when linked to the identity of an ethnic or tribal group, and could be construed as a building block of legitimacy. The regime in this case captures the state, co-opts the security organs, and dissolves civil society. The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. Should inclusion be an ongoing process or a single event? Highlight 5 features of government. The pre-colonial system in Yoruba can be described to be democratic because of the inclusion of the principle of checks and balances that had been introduced in the system of administration. Many African countries, Ghana and Uganda, for example, have, like all other states, formal institutions of the state and informal institutions (societal norms, customs, and practices). An alternative strategy of bringing about institutional harmony would be to transform the traditional economic systems into an exchange-based economy that would be compatible with the formal institutions of the state. Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. Africas geopolitical environment is shaped by Africans to a considerable degree.
Africa: Laws and Legal Systems - Geography However, their endurance, along with that of traditional economic systems, have fostered institutional fragmentation, which has serious adverse effects on Africas governance and economic development. Some regimes seem resilient because of their apparent staying power but actually have a narrow base of (typically ethnic or regional) support. At times, devolution has had major fiscal and governance consequences, including serving as a vehicle for co-option and corruption. The cases of Nigeria, Kenya, and South Sudan suggest that each case must be assessed on its own merits. African Traditional Political System and Institution: University of The Gambia, Faculty of humanities and social sciences. Others choose the traditional institutions, for example, in settling disputes because of lower transactional costs. Another category of chiefs is those who theoretically are subject to selection by the community. The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. Greater access to public services and to productivity-enhancing technology would also help in enhancing the transformation of the subsistence sector.
Module Ten, Activity Two - Exploring Africa Large states and those with complex ethnic and geographic featurese.g., the DRC, Nigeria, Uganda, the Sudans, Ethiopiamay be especially prone to such multi-sourced violence. Hoover scholars form the Institutions core and create breakthrough ideas aligned with our mission and ideals. The problems that face African governments are universal. After examining the history, challenges, and opportunities for the institution of traditional leadership within a modern democracy, the chapter considers the effect of the current constitutional guarantee for chieftaincy and evaluates its practical workability and structural efficiency under the current governance system. A second argument is that traditional institutions are hindrances to the development of democratic governance (Mamdani, 1996; Ntsebeza, 2005). A look at the economic systems of the adherents of the two institutional systems also gives a good indication of the relations between economic and institutional systems. These dynamics often lead to increased state fragility or the re-authoritarianization of once more participatory governance systems.12 The trend is sometimes, ironically, promoted by western firms and governments more interested in commercial access and getting along with existing governments than with durable political and economic development. If more leaders practice inclusive politics or find themselves chastened by the power of civil society to do so, this could point the way to better political outcomes in the region. Yet, the traditional judicial system in most cases operates outside of the states institutional framework. The settlement of conflicts and disputes in such consensus-based systems involves narrowing of differences through negotiations rather than through adversarial procedures that produce winners and losers. These different economic systems have corresponding institutional systems with divergent property rights laws and resource allocation mechanisms, disparate decision-making systems, and distinct judicial systems and conflict resolution mechanisms. The introduction of alien economic and political systems by the colonial state relegated Africas precolonial formal institutions to the sphere of informality, although they continued to operate in modified forms, in part due to the indirect rule system of colonialism and other forms of reliance by colonial states on African institutions of governance to govern their colonies. MyHoover delivers a personalized experience atHoover.org. South Africas strategy revolves around recognition of customary law when it does not conflict with the constitution and involves traditional authorities in local governance. For example, the electoral college forces a republic type of voting system. As a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) study (2007) notes, traditional leaders often operate as custodians of customary law and communal assets, especially land. A third objective is to examine the relevance of traditional institutions. These include - murder, burglary, landcase, witchcraft, profaning the deities and homicide. The differences are in terms of how leaders come to assume their positions, how much power they command, and how accountable they are to their communities. To complicate matters further, the role of traditional institutions is likely to be critical in addressing the problem of institutional fragmentation. Another common feature is the involvement of traditional authorities in the governance process, at least at the local level. Galizzi, Paolo and Abotsi, Ernest K., Traditional Institutions and Governance in Modern African Democracies (May 9, 2011). This kind of offences that attract capital punishment is usually . One is the controversy over what constitutes traditional institutions and if the African institutions referred to as traditional in this inquiry are truly indigenous traditions, since colonialism as well as the postcolonial state have altered them notably, as Zack-Williams (2002) and Kilson (1966) observe. The endurance of traditional institutions entails complex and paradoxical implications for contemporary Africas governance. Each of these societies had a system of government.
African Style Democracy? - Public Seminar Violating customary property rights, especially land takings, without adequate compensation impedes institutional reconciliation by impoverishing rather than transforming communities operating in the traditional economic system. The Chinese understand the basics. In Africa, as in every region, it is the quality and characteristics of governance that shape the level of peace and stability and the prospects for economic development. Despite such changes, these institutions are referred to as traditional not because they continue to exist in an unadulterated form as they did in Africas precolonial past but because they are largely born of the precolonial political systems and are adhered to principally, although not exclusively, by the population in the traditional (subsistent) sectors of the economy. The leaders in this system have significant powers, as they often are custodians of their communitys land and they dispense justice in their courts.
Democracy and Consensus in African Traditional Politics: a Plea - Jstor Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Politics. Evidence from case studies, however, suggests that the size of adherents varies from country to country.
Public Administration and Traditional Administrative System in Africa As a result, it becomes highly complex to analyze their roles and structures without specifying the time frame. However, at the lower level of the hierarchy of the centralized system, the difference between the centralized and decentralized systems tends to narrow notably. It then analyzes the implications of the dual allegiance of the citizenry to chiefs and the government. Stagnant economy, absence of diversification in occupational patterns and allegiance to traditionall these have a bearing on the system of education prevailing in these societies. If a critical mass of the leaderse.g., South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Cote dIvoire, Algeria, Egyptare heading in a positive direction, they will pull some others along in their wake; of course, the reverse is also true. Security challenges can impose tough choices on governments that may act in ways that compound the problem, opening the door to heightened risks of corruption and the slippery slope of working with criminal entities. This is done through the enforcement agencies such as the police force. Such a transformation would render traditional institutions dispensable. There are several types of government that are traditionally instituted around the world. Beyond the traditional sector, traditional institutions also have important attributes that can benefit formal institutions. Maintenance of law and order: the primary and most important function of the government is to maintain law and order in a state. The three countries have pursued rather different strategies of reconciling their institutional systems and it remains to be seen if any of their strategies will deliver the expected results, although all three countries have already registered some progress in reducing conflicts and in advancing the democratization process relative to countries around them. Less than 20% of Africas states achieved statehood following rebellion or armed insurgency; in the others, independence flowed from peaceful transfers of authority from colonial officials to African political elites. By 2016, 35 AU members had joined it, but less than half actually subjected themselves to being assessed.
PDF The role and importance of the institution of traditional leadership in Since institutional fragmentation is a major obstacle to nation-building and democratization, it is imperative that African countries address it and forge institutional harmony. Consequently, national and regional governance factors interact continuously. Analysis here is thus limited to traditional authority systems under the postcolonial experience. Regardless, fragmentation of institutional systems poses a number of serious challenges to Africas governance and economic development. Before then, traditional authorities essentially provided leadership for the various communities and kingdoms. "Law" in traditional Igbo and other African societies assumes a wide dimension and should be understood, interpreted, and applied as such, even if such a definition conflicts with the Western idea. In many tribes, the chief was the representative of the ancestors. There is little doubt that colonial occupation and the ensuing restructuring of African political entities and socioeconomic systems altered African traditional institutions of governance. The development of inclusive institutions may involve struggles that enable political and societal actors to check the domination of entrenched rulers and to broaden rule-based participation in governance. Womens access to property rights is also limited, as they are often denied the right of access to inheritance as well as equal division of property in cases of divorce.
The Role and Significance of Traditional Leadership in South African African Politics - Political Science - iResearchNet The post-colonial State, on the other hand . In this view, nations fail because of extractive economic and political institutions that do not provide incentives for growth and stability. A third pattern flows from the authoritarian reflex where big men operate arbitrary political machines, often behind a thin democratic veneer.
African Politics: A Very Short Introduction | Oxford Academic In many cases, the invented chieftaincies were unsuccessful in displacing the consensus-based governance structures (Gartrell, 1983; Uwazie, 1994). One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. Government as a Structural Element of Society 2.2. The balance of power between official and non-official actors will likely shift, as networked activists assert their ability to organize and take to the streets on behalf of diverse causes. African conflict trends point to a complex picture, made more so by the differing methodologies used by different research groups. Their "rediscovery" in modern times has led to an important decolonization of local and community management in order to pursue genuine self-determination. The challenge facing Africas leadersperhaps above all othersis how to govern under conditions of ethnic diversity. During the colonial period, "tribe" was used to identify specific cultural and political groups in much the same way as "nation" is defined above. The initial constitutions and legal systems were derived from the terminal colonial era. The institution of traditional leadership in Africa pre-existed both the colonial and apartheid systems and was the only known system of governance among indigenous people. This can happen in several ways.