The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions . For these and other reasons, the state-society gap lies at the heart of the problems faced by many states. Traditional Institutions and Governance in Modern African - SSRN The selection, however, is often from the children of a chief. (PDF) INDIGENOUS AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS - Academia.edu Democracy and Consensus in African Traditional Politics: a Plea - Jstor Legitimacy based on successful predation and state capture was well known to the Plantagenets and Tudors as well as the Hapsburgs, Medicis, and Romanovs, to say nothing of the Mughal descendants of Genghis Khan.14 In this fifth model of imagined legitimacy, some African leaders operate essentially on patrimonial principles that Vladimir Putin can easily recognize (the Dos Santos era in Angola, the DRC under Mobutu and Kabila, the Eyadema, Bongo, Biya, and Obiang regimes in Togo, Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea, respectively).15 Such regimes may seek to perpetuate themselves by positioning wives or sons to inherit power. List of African Union member states by political system In Botswana, for example, the consensual decision-making process in the kgotla (public meeting) regulates the power of the chiefs. There is also the question of inclusion of specific demographic cohorts: women, youth, and migrants from rural to urban areas (including migrant women) all face issues of exclusion that can have an impact on conflict and governance. Although considerable differences exist among the various systems, opportunities for women to participate in decision making in most traditional systems are generally limited. 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. What policies and laws will determine relations between farmers and urban dwellers, between farmers and herders, between diverse identity groups living in close proximity or encroaching on each others farm land, and between public officials, criminal networks and ordinary citizens? Its marginalization, in turn, impedes the transformation of the traditional sector, thus extending the fragmentation of institutions. Traditional leadership in South Africa pre-existed both the colonial and apartheid systems of governance and was the main known system of governance amongst indigenous people. "Law" in traditional Africa includes enforceable traditions, customs, and laws. Our data indicate that traditional leaders, chiefs and elders clearly still play an important role in the lives However, the system of traditional government varied from place to place. Despite undergoing changes, present-day African traditional institutions, namely the customary laws, the judicial systems and conflict resolution mechanisms, and the property rights and resource allocation practices, largely originate from formal institutions of governance that existed under precolonial African political systems. We do not yet know whether such institutions will consistently emerge, starting with relatively well-governed states, such as Ghana or Senegal, as a result of repeated, successful alternations of power; or whether they will only occur when Africas political systems burst apart and are reconfigured. On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. In traditional African communities, it was not possible to distinguish between religious and non-religious areas of life. 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. The link was not copied. Africas rural communities, which largely operate under subsistent economic systems, overwhelmingly adhere to the traditional institutional systems while urban communities essentially follow the formal institutional systems, although there are people who negotiate the two institutional systems in their daily lives. The colonial system constitutes the second section. Within this spectrum, some eight types of leadership structures can be identified. Afrocentrism, also called Africentrism, cultural and political movement whose mainly African American adherents regard themselves and all other Blacks as syncretic Africans and believe that their worldview should positively reflect traditional African values. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. Regional governance comes into play here, and certain precedents may get set and then ratified by regional or sub-regional organizations. Nation, Tribe and Ethnic Group in Africa | Cultural Survival 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. There is no more critical variable than governance, for it is governance that determines whether there are durable links between the state and the society it purports to govern. Subsequent to the colonial experience, traditional institutions may be considered to be informal institutions in the sense that they are often not sanctioned by the state. Unfortunately, transforming the traditional sector is not an easy undertaking and cannot be achieved in a reasonably short time. Legitimate authority, in turn, is based on accepted laws and norms rather than the arbitrary, unconstrained power of the rulers. There is a basic distinction between those systems with a centralized authority exercised through the machinery of government and those without any such authority in which . The colonial state modified their precolonial roles. 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. Such post-electoral pacts reflect the conclusion that stability is more important than democracy. By the mid-1970s, the politics of Africa had turned authoritarian. African Governance: Challenges and Their Implications These communities select the Aba Gada, who serves a nonrenewable term of 8 years as leader. In addition, according to Chirayath et al. When conflicts evolve along ethnic lines, they are readily labelled ethnic conflict as if caused by ancient hatreds; in reality, it is more often caused by bad governance and by political entrepreneurs. This chapter examines traditional leadership within the context of the emerging constitutional democracy in Ghana. Ousted royals such as Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) and King Idriss (Libya) may be replaced by self-anointed secular rulers who behave as if they were kings until they, in turn, get overthrown. Ideally, African nations will benefit when civil society respects the states role (as well as the other way around); rather than one-sided advocacy, both sides should strive to create a space for debate in order to legitimize tolerance of multiple views in society. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. 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. The Sultanes of Somalia are examples of this category and the community has specific criteria as to who is qualified to be a chief (Ahmed, 2017). The analysis presented here suggests that traditional institutions are relevant in a number of areas while they are indispensable for the governance of Africas traditional economic sector, which lies on the fringes of formal state institutions. On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power. It is too soon to tell whether such institutions can evolve in modern Africa as a result of gradual tinkering with reformist agendas, as the legacy of wise leaders; or whether they will only happen as a result of fundamental tests of strength between social and political groups. Types of government practiced in Nigeria, from monarchy to democracy Traditional leaders would also be able to use local governance as a platform for exerting some influence on national policymaking. Posted: 12 May 2011. When a seemingly brittle regime reaches the end of its life, it becomes clear that the state-society gap is really a regime-society gap; the state withers and its institutions become hollow shells that serve mainly to extract rents. Relevance of African traditional institutions of governance | Eldis African states are by no means homogeneous in terms of governance standards: as the Mo Ibrahim index based on 14 governance categories reported in 2015, some 70 points on a scale of 100 separated the best and worst performers.16. There are also various arguments in the literature against traditional institutions.2 One argument is that chieftaincy impedes the pace of development as it reduces the relevance of the state in the area of social services (Tom Mboya in Osaghae, 1989). The modern African state system has been gradually Africanized, albeit on more or less the identical territorial basis it began with at the time of decolonization in the second half of the 20th century. Freedom House calculated that 17 out of 50 countries it covered were free or partly free in 1988, compared to 31 out of 54 countries in these categories by 2015. Of the latter, 10 achieved the top rating of free, a conclusion close to ratings by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).9 A more bullish reading drawn again from multiple sources is that over 60% of people in sub-Saharan Africa live in free or partly free countries, a situation that enabled a Brookings Institution study to conclude that the region [is] moving in fits and starts towards greater democratic consolidation.10 Countries absent from the apparent democratic wave missed its beginnings in the early and mid-1990s, became caught up in protracted or recurrent civil conflicts, or degenerated as a result of electoral violence or big men patrimonialism. However, they do not have custodianship of land and they generally do not dispense justice on their own. This proposal will be subject to a referendum on the constitutional changes required.16.2e 2.4 Traditional leadership Traditional leaders are accorded In many cases European or Islamic legal traditions have replaced or significantly modified traditional African ones. The key lies in identifying the variables that will shape its context. Subsequent to the colonial experience, traditional institutions may be considered to be informal institutions in the sense that they are often not sanctioned by the state. As noted, there are notable differences in the authority systems of African traditional institutions. Virtually every group was involved in the . Most African countries have yet to develop carefully considered strategies of how to reconcile their fragmented institutional systems. 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. South Africa has a mixed economy in which there is a variety of private freedom, combined with centralized economic . In sum, the digitization of African politics raises real challenges for political leaders and has the potential to increase their determination to digitize their own tools of political control. Some African leaders such as Ghanas Jerry Rawlings, Zambias Kenneth Kaunda, or Mozambiques Joachim Chissano accept and respect term limits and stand down. The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. By 2016, 35 AU members had joined it, but less than half actually subjected themselves to being assessed. By the mid-1970s, the military held power in one-third of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. Ten years later, in 2017, the number of conflicts was 18, taking place in 13 different countries. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. Authority in this system was shared or distributed to more people within the community. The third section looks at the critical role of political and economic inclusion in shaping peace and stability and points to some of the primary challenges leaders face in deciding how to manage inclusion: whom to include and how to pay for it. They are already governing much of rural Africa. Stated another way, if the abolition of term limits, neo-patrimonialism, and official kleptocracy become a regionally accepted norm, this will make it harder for the better governed states to resist the authoritarian trend. In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. Rules of procedure were established through customs and traditions some with oral, some with written constitutions Women played active roles in the political system including holding leadership and military positions. 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. African Politics - Political Science - iResearchNet Legitimate authority, in turn, is based on accepted laws and norms rather than the arbitrary, unconstrained power of the rulers. the system even after independence. Botswanas strategy has largely revolved around integrating parallel judicial systems. According to the African Development Bank, good governance should be built on a foundation of (I) effective states, (ii) mobilized civil societies, and (iii) an efficient private sector. 1995 focuses on social, economic, and intellectual trends up to the end of the colonial era. Africa: Government and Political Systems - Geography Ehret 2002 emphasizes the diversity and long history of precolonial social and political formations, whereas Curtin, et al. A Long Journey: The Bantu Migrations. Similarities between Democratic and Authoritarian Government. 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. The cases of Nigeria, Kenya, and South Sudan suggest that each case must be assessed on its own merits. As a result, it becomes highly complex to analyze their roles and structures without specifying the time frame.
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