Poor gender relations: Traditional institutions share some common weaknesses. Traditional leaders would also be able to use local governance as a platform for exerting some influence on national policymaking. In African-style democracy the rule of law is only applicable to ordinary people unconnected to the governing party leadership or leader. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . MyHoover delivers a personalized experience atHoover.org. 3. Africas geopolitical environment is shaped by Africans to a considerable degree. The terms Afrocentrism, Afrocology, and Afrocentricity were coined in the 1980s by the African American scholar and activist Molefi Asante. 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. for a democratic system of government. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. These partners, for their part, sometimes disengaged from close political ties and often brought new governance conditions into their assistance programs. 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. Thus, another report by PRIO and the University of Uppsala (two Norwegian and Swedish centers) breaks conflict down into state-based (where at least one party is a government), non-state-based (neither party is an official state actor), and one-sided conflicts (an armed faction against unarmed civilians). With the dawn of colonialism in Africa, the traditional African government was sys-tematically weakened, and the strong and influential bond between traditional lead- . Each of these societies had a system of government. The role of chieftaincy within post-colonial African countries continues to incite lively debates, as the case of Ghana exemplifies. The debate is defined by "traditionalists" and "modernists." . In general, decentralized political systems, which are often elder-based with group leadership, have received little attention, even though these systems are widespread and have the institutions of judicial systems and mechanisms of conflict resolution and allocation of resources, like the institutions of the centralized systems. This approach to governance was prominent in the Oyo empire. On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. 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). While empirical data are rather scanty, indications are that the traditional judicial system serves the overwhelming majority of rural communities (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). The customary structures of governance of traditional leadership were put aside or transformed. 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. Cookie Settings. The jury is still out on the merits of this practice. In addition, resolution needs to be acceptable to all parties. The roles assigned to them by the colonial state came to an end, and the new state imposed its own modifications of their roles. not because of, the unique features of US democracy . The colonial state modified their precolonial roles. This section grapples with the questions of whether traditional institutions are relevant in the governance of contemporary Africa and what implications their endurance has on Africas socioeconomic development. 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. Paramount chiefs: Another category of leadership structure is that of hereditary paramount chieftaincy with various traditional titles and various levels of accountability. Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. Chief among them is that they remain key players in governing and providing various types of service in the traditional sector of the economy because of their compatibility with that economic system. The selection, however, is often from the children of a chief. Safeguarding womens rights thus becomes hard without transforming the economic system under which they operate. Political and economic inclusion is the companion requirement for effective and legitimate governance. Government and Political Systems. As Legesse (1973, 2000) notes, the fundamental principles that guide the consensus-based (decentralized) authority systems include curbing the concentration of power in an institution or a person and averting the emergence of a rigid hierarchy. In many cases, the invented chieftaincies were unsuccessful in displacing the consensus-based governance structures (Gartrell, 1983; Uwazie, 1994). In some countries, such as Botswana, customary courts are estimated to handle approximately 80% of criminal cases and 90% of civil cases (Sharma, 2004). The colonial state, for example, invented chiefs where there were no centralized authority systems and imposed them on the decentralized traditional systems, as among the Ibo of Eastern Nigeria, the Tonga in Zambia, various communities in Kenya, and the communities in Somalia. African governance trends were transformed by the geopolitical changes that came with the end of the Cold War. Paramount chieftaincy is a traditional system of local government and an integral element of governance in some African countries such as Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and Ivory Coast. African political elites are more determined than ever to shape their own destiny, and they are doing so. The third section deals with the post-colonial period and discusses some problems associated with African administration. Maintenance of law and order: the primary and most important function of the government is to maintain law and order in a state. At times, these traditional security system elements are sufficient enough for some uses, but there's certainly no denying . Within this spectrum, some eight types of leadership structures can be identified. Some regimes seem resilient because of their apparent staying power but actually have a narrow base of (typically ethnic or regional) support. The most promising pattern is adaptive resilience in which leaders facing such pressures create safety valves or outlets for managing social unrest. Similarities between Democratic and Authoritarian Government. For example, is it more effective to negotiate a power-sharing pact among key parties and social groups (as in Kenya) or is there possible merit in a periodic national dialogue to address issues that risk triggering conflict? For example, the election day itself goes more or less peacefully, the vote tabulation process is opaque or obscure, and the entire process is shaped by a pre-election playing field skewed decisively in favor of the incumbents. Since institutional fragmentation is a major obstacle to nation-building and democratization, it is imperative that African countries address it and forge institutional harmony. On the eve of the departure of the colonial power, the Nigerian power elite in collusion with the departing colonial authority, drew up an elaborate constitution for a liberal bourgeois state - complete with provisions for parties in government and those in opposition. African political systems are described in a number of textbooks and general books on African history. Their "rediscovery" in modern times has led to an important decolonization of local and community management in order to pursue genuine self-determination. In this view, nations fail because of extractive economic and political institutions that do not provide incentives for growth and stability. They succeed when there are political conditions that permit a broad coalition to impose pluralist political institutions and limits and restraints on ruling elites.20 Thus, resilience of both state and society may hinge in the end on the rule of law replacing the rule of men. Ehret 2002 emphasizes the diversity and long history of precolonial social and political formations, whereas Curtin, et al. With the exceptions of a few works, such as Legesse (1973), the institutions of the decentralized political systems, which are often elder-based with group leadership, have received little attention, even though these systems are widespread and have the institutions of judicial systems and mechanisms of conflict resolution and allocation of resources, like the institutions of the centralized systems. 17-19 1.6. Admittedly, the problem is by no means uniquely African, but it is very commonly experienced in Africa. 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. Africas economic systems range from a modestly advanced capitalist system, symbolized by modern banking and stock markets, to traditional economic systems, represented by subsistent peasant and pastoral systems. Regional governance comes into play here, and certain precedents may get set and then ratified by regional or sub-regional organizations. However, three countries, Botswana, Somaliland, and South Africa, have undertaken differing measures with varying levels of success. Its lack of influence on policy also leads to its marginalization in accessing resources and public services, resulting in poverty, poor knowledge, and a poor information base, which, in turn, limits its ability to exert influence on policy. 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. The abolishment of chieftaincy does not eradicate the systems broader underlying features, such as customary law, decision-making systems, and conflict resolution practices. 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. 14 L.A. Ayinla 'African Philosophy of Law: A Critique' 151, available at One influential research group, SIPRI in Sweden, counted a total of 9 active armed conflicts in 2017 (in all of Africa) plus another 7 post-conflict and potential conflict situations.3, More revealing is the granular comparison of conflict types over time. A Sociology of Education for Africa . Institutional dichotomy also seems to be a characteristic of transitional societies, which are between modes of production. One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today. Recent developments add further complications to the region: (a) the collapse of Libya after 2011, spreading large quantities of arms and trained fighters across the broader Sahel region; (b) the gradual toll of desertification placing severe pressure on traditional herder/farmer relationships in places like Sudan and Nigeria; and, (c) the proliferation of local IS or Al Qaeda franchises in remote, under-governed spaces. Governance also has an important regional dimension relating to the institutional structures and norms that guide a regions approach to challenges and that help shape its political culture.1 This is especially relevant in looking at Africas place in the emerging world since this large region consists of 54 statesclose to 25% of the U.N.s membershipand includes the largest number of landlocked states of any region, factors that dramatically affect the political environment in which leaders make choices. A third argument claims that chieftaincy heightens primordial loyalties, as chiefs constitute the foci of ethnic identities (Simwinga quoted in van Binsberger, 1987, p. 156). Hoover Education Success Initiative | The Papers. The usual plethora of bour- The relationship between traditional leadership and inherited western-style governance institutions often generates tensions.
