The link was not copied. 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). It also develops a theoretical framework for the . Freedom Houses ratings see a pattern of decline since 2005 and note that 10 out of 25 countries (worldwide) with declining ratings are in Africa. The book contains eight separate papers produced by scholars working in the field of anthropology, each of which focuses in on a different society in Sub-Saharan Africa. not because of, the unique features of US democracy . Indeed, it should be added that a high percentage of todays conflicts are recurrences of previous ones, often in slightly modified form with parties that may organize under more than one flag. Another basic question is, whom to include? 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. State Systems in Pre-colonial, Colonial and Post-colonial - Jstor 2. (2005), customary systems operating outside of the state regime are often the dominant form of regulation and dispute resolution, covering up to 90% of the population in parts of Africa. As Mamdani has argued, understanding the role of traditional leadership and customary law in contemporary African societies requires us to understand its history. They include: Monarchs (absolute or constitutional): While the colonial state reduced most African kings to chiefs, a few survived as monarchs. Types of Government in Africa - Synonym 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. 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). It may be good to note, as a preliminary, that African political systems of the past dis played considerable variety. You cant impose middle class values on a pre-industrial society.13. Many others choose the customary laws and conflict resolution mechanisms because they correspond better to their way of life. The government system is a republic; the chief of state and head of government is the president. In African-style democracy the rule of law is only applicable to ordinary people unconnected to the governing party leadership or leader. 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. The participatory and consensus-based system of conflict resolution can also govern inter-party politics and curtail the frequent post-election conflicts that erupt in many African countries. They must know the traditional songs and must also be able to improvise songs about current events and chance incidents. 1. The quality and durability of such leader-defined adaptive resilience cannot be assured and can be reversed unless the associated norms become institutionalized. . Based on existing evidence, the authority systems in postcolonial Africa lie in a continuum between two polar points. 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. African governance trends were transformed by the geopolitical changes that came with the end of the Cold War. In the thankfully rare cases where national governance breaks down completelySouth Sudan, Somalia, CARits absence is an invitation to every ethnic or geographic community to fend for itselfa classic security dilemma. In some cases, they are also denied child custody rights. 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. 2007 Relevance of African Traditional Institutions of Governance Good and inclusive governance is imperative for Africa's future Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Politics. "Law" in traditional Africa includes enforceable traditions, customs, and laws. Indigenous African Education - 2392 Words | Studymode This adds to the challenge of building national identities; this identity vacuum increases the risk that political elites and social groups will capture the state for narrower, self-interested purposes that weaken, rather than strengthen, social cohesion. Africa's tumultuous political history has resulted in extreme disparities between the wealth and stability of its countries. There are very few similarities between democracy and dictatorship. This proposal will be subject to a referendum on the constitutional changes required.16.2e 2.4 Traditional leadership Traditional leaders are accorded These events point to extreme state fragility and a loss of sovereign control over violence in the 11 affected countries, led by Nigeria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR). A Long Journey: The Bantu Migrations. This theme, which is further developed below, is especially critical bearing in mind that Africa is the worlds most ethnically complex region, home to 20 of the worlds most diverse countries in terms of ethnic composition.8. Learn more about joining the community of supporters and scholars working together to advance Hoovers mission and values. A related reason for their relevance is that traditional institutions, unlike the state, provide rural communities the platform to participate directly in their own governance. 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. One common feature is recognition of customary property rights laws, especially that of land. Its marginalization, in turn, impedes the transformation of the traditional sector, thus extending the fragmentation of institutions. Somalilands strategy has brought traditional leaders into an active role in the countrys formal governance by creating an upper house in parliament, the Guurti, where traditional leaders exercise the power of approving all bills drafted by the lower house of parliament. Botswanas strategy has largely revolved around integrating parallel judicial systems. However, they do not have custodianship of land and they generally do not dispense justice on their own. 7. 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. While comprehensive empirical studies on the magnitude of adherence to traditional institutions are lacking, some studies point out that most people in rural areas prefer the judicial service provided by traditional institutions to those of the state, for a variety of reasons (Logan, 2011; Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). Following decolonization, several African countries attempted to abolish aspects of the traditional institutional systems. Maintenance of law and order: the primary and most important function of the government is to maintain law and order in a state. But African societies are exposed to especially severe pressures, and governments must operate in an environment of high social demands and limited resources and capacity with which to meet them. The swing against western norms was captured in an interview with Ugandas repeatedly re-elected president Yoweri Museveni who remarked How can you have structural adjustment without electricity? A second argument is that traditional institutions are hindrances to the development of democratic governance (Mamdani, 1996; Ntsebeza, 2005). The initial constitutions and legal systems were derived from the terminal colonial era. They are already governing much of rural Africa. In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. 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. In this respect, they complement official courts that are often unable to provide court services to all their rural communities. It is also highly unlikely that such broader aspects of traditional institutions can be eliminated without transforming the traditional modes of production that foster them. Government, Public Policy Performance, Types of Government. 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. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. 1.4. Customary law, for example, does not protect communities from violations of their customary land rights through land-taking by the state. Council of elders: These systems essentially operate on consensual decision-making arrangements that vary from one place to another. For these and other reasons, the state-society gap lies at the heart of the problems faced by many states. Posted: 12 May 2011. PDF The Local Government System in Ghana - Clgf Discuss any similarities between the key features of the fourth The African state system has gradually developed a stronger indigenous quality only in the last twenty-five years or so. by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University. 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. In Sierra Leone, paramount chiefs are community leaders and their tasks involve - among others - protecting community safety and resolving disputes. Some African nations are prosperous while others struggle. 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. 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). Unfortunately, little attention by African governments has been given to this paradoxical aspect of traditional institutions. The express prohibition in the African Charter against discrimination according to ethnic group constitutes a major step for the continent as a whole because the realization of this right will lead to greater economic opportunity for those people not of the same kinship as the head of government. A third objective is to examine the relevance of traditional institutions. 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. The first type is rights-based legitimacy deriving from rule of law, periodic elections, and alternation of political power, the kind generally supported by western and some African governments such as Ghana and Senegal. This section attempts to explain these seemingly contradictory implications of traditional institutions. In this regard, the president is both the head of state and government, and there are three arms and tiers of rules by which the country is ruled. 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. Comparing Ethiopia and Kenya, for example, shows that adherents to the traditional institutional system is greater in Ethiopia than in Kenya, where the ratio of the population operating in the traditional economic system is smaller and the penetration of the capitalist economic system in rural areas is deeper. Suggested Citation, 33 West 60th StreetNew York, NY 10023United States, Public International Law: Sources eJournal, Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic, Political Institutions: Parties, Interest Groups & Other Political Organizations eJournal, Political Institutions: Legislatures eJournal, We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content. Module Ten, Activity Two - Exploring Africa The indigenous political system had some democratic features. 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. The traditional justice system, thus, does not have the power to grant any rights beyond the local level. Challenges confronting the institution of chieftaincy have continued from the colonial era into recent times. The US system has survived four years of a norm-busting president by the skin of its teeth - which areas need most urgent attention? On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. At the same time, traditional institutions represent institutional fragmentation, which has detrimental effects on Africas governance and economic transformation. 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. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. Click here to get an answer to your question Discuss any similarities between the key features of the fourth republican democracy and the traditional afri Such post-electoral pacts reflect the conclusion that stability is more important than democracy. But it also reflects the impact of Arab, Russian, Chinese, Indian, European and U.S. vectors of influence which project their differences into African societies. This discussion leads to an analysis of African conflict trends to help identify the most conflict-burdened sub-regions and to highlight the intimate link between governance and conflict patterns. 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. However, they are not merely customs and norms; rather they are systems of governance, which were formal in precolonial times and continue to exist in a semiformal manner in some countries and in an informal manner in others. 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. Note: The term rural population is used as a proxy for the population operating under traditional economic systems. Government: A Multifarious Concept 1.2. There is one constitution and one set of laws and rules for ordinary people, and quite other for the ruling family and the politically connected elite. 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. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. Regardless, fragmentation of institutional systems poses a number of serious challenges to Africas governance and economic development. The endurance of traditional institutions entails complex and paradoxical implications for contemporary Africas governance. The origins of this institutional duality, the implications of which are discussed in Relevance and Paradox of Traditional Institutions, are largely traceable to the colonial state, as it introduced new economic and political systems and superimposed corresponding institutional systems upon the colonies without eradicating the existed traditional economic, political, and institutional systems. Prominent among these Sudanic states was the Soninke Kingdom of Ancient Ghana. Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. In the past decade, traditional security systems utilized in commercial or government facilities have consisted of a few basic elements: a well-trained personnel, a CCTV system, and some kind of access control system. Another category of chiefs is those who theoretically are subject to selection by the community. The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. We know a good deal about what Africans want and demand from their governments from public opinion surveys by Afrobarometer. Judicial Administration. Perhaps one of the most serious shared weakness relates to gender relations. The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions . The structures of leadership of African traditional institutions are diverse and they have yet to be mapped out comprehensively. 14 L.A. Ayinla 'African Philosophy of Law: A Critique' 151, available at These features include nonprofits, non-profits and hybrid entities are now provide goods and services that were once delivered by the government. 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. The political history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans andat least 200,000 years agoanatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. Seeming preference for Democracy in Africa over other governance systems in Africa before and after independence 15-17 1.5. Government acknowledges the critical role of traditional leadership institutions in South Africa's constitutional democracy and in communities, particularly in relation to the Rural . Despite apparent differences, the strategies of the three countries have some common features as well that may inform other counties about the measures institutional reconciliation may entail. Communities like the Abagusii, Ameru, Akamba, Mijikenda, and Agikuyu in Kenya had this system of government. Similarities between Democratic and Authoritarian Government. It seems clear that Africas conflict burden declined steadily after the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s owing to successful peace processes outstripping the outbreak of new conflicts; but the burden has been spiking up again since then. 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. 7 Main Features of a Traditional Society - Sociology Discussion The third section deals with the post-colonial period and discusses some problems associated with African administration. In Botswana, for example, the consensual decision-making process in the kgotla (public meeting) regulates the power of the chiefs. The government is undertaking a review of local government, which includes a commitment to introduce direct election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs). 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. In this context the chapter further touches on the compatibility of the institution of chieftaincy with constitutional principles such as equality, accountability, natural justice, good governance, and respect for fundamental human rights. Analysis here is thus limited to traditional authority systems under the postcolonial experience. 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. PDF Development of African Administration: Pre-Colonial Times and since - EOLSS TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT - Modish Project Against this broad picture, what is striking is the more recent downward trend in democratic governance in Africa and the relative position of African governance when viewed on a global basis. Often women are excluded from participation in decision making, especially in patrilineal social systems. In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. Towards a Definition of Government 1.3. The regime in this case captures the state, co-opts the security organs, and dissolves civil society. Enlightened leaders face a more complex version of the same challenge: how to find and mobilize the resources for broad-based inclusiveness? A third pattern flows from the authoritarian reflex where big men operate arbitrary political machines, often behind a thin democratic veneer. 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 end of colonialism, however, did not end institutional dichotomy, despite attempts by some postcolonial African states to abolish the traditional system, especially the chieftaincy-based authority systems. Access to Justice In Sub-Saharan Africa: Role of Traditional and 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. Leaders may not be the only ones who support this definition of legitimacy. Transforming the traditional economic system is also likely to require embracing and utilizing the traditional institutional systems as vehicles for the provision of public services. On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power. West Africa has a long and complex history. 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. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. Note that Maine and . Typically, such leaders scheme to rig elections or to change constitutional term limitsactions seen in recent years in such countries as Rwanda and Uganda. By the mid-1970s, the politics of Africa had turned authoritarian. 3. Africa: Laws and Legal Systems - Geography The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. By the mid-1970s, the military held power in one-third of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. While traditional institutions remain indispensable for the communities operating under traditional economic systems, they also represent institutional fragmentation, although the underlying factor for fragmentation is the prevailing dichotomy of economic systems.
Ancajas Vs Martinez Purse,
Articles F
