The place and role of African Youth in Pre-independence African Governance Systems 19-20 1.7. Obstruction of nation-building: Nation-building entails a process of integrating different segments of the citizenry to form a community of citizens under shared institutions. They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. A more recent example of adaptive resilience is being demonstrated by Ethiopias Abiy Ahmed. Indigenous education is a process of passing the inherited knowledge, skills, cultural traditions norms and values of the tribe, among the tribal member from one generation to another Mushi (2009). African traditional institutions continue to exist in most African countries, albeit at different levels of adherence by the populations of the continent. Despite the adoption of constitutional term limits in many African countries during the 1990s, such restrictions have been reversed or defied in at least 15 countries since 2000, according to a recent report.6, The conflict-governance link takes various forms, and it points to the centrality of the variable of leadership. As a result, it becomes highly complex to analyze their roles and structures without specifying the time frame. 15 Facts on African Religions The Interfaith Observer Editorial Citizenship and Accountability: Customary Law and Traditional 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. African Style Democracy? - Public Seminar Among the attributes of the traditional system with such potential is the systems transparent and participatory process of resolving conflicts, which takes place in open public meetings. 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. Less than 20% of Africa's states achieved statehood following rebellion or armed insurgency; in the others, independence flowed from . Problems and Purpose. Our data indicate that traditional leaders, chiefs and elders clearly still play an important role in the lives 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. A second attribute is the participatory decision-making system. Long-standing kingdoms such as those in Morocco and Swaziland are recognized national states. The same factors that hinder nation-building hinder democratization. Misguided policies at the national level combined with cultural constraints facing these social groups may increase exclusion and create seeds of future trouble. Traditional African Religions - The Spiritual Life Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University. References: Blakemore and Cooksey (1980). However, their participation in the electoral process has not enabled them to influence policy, protect their customary land rights, and secure access to public services that would help them overcome their deprivation. Features Of Traditional Government Administration | Bartleby Evidence from case studies, however, suggests that the size of adherents varies from country to country. It assigned them new roles while stripping away some of their traditional roles. African Traditions - Centuries of African heritage - Victoria Falls Guide To sum up, traditional institutions provide vital governance services to communities that operate under traditional socioeconomic spaces. 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. While empirical data are rather scanty, indications are that the traditional judicial system serves the overwhelming majority of rural communities (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). The evidence suggests that traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. Some live in remote areas beyond the reach of some of the institutions of the state, such as courts. Due to the influence of previous South African and Nigerian leaders, the African Union established the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to review and report on a range of governance criteria. While this seems obvious, it is less clear what vectors and drivers will have the most weight in shaping that outcome. Invented chiefs and state-paid elders: These were chiefs imposed by the colonial state on decentralized communities without centralized authority systems. In addition, they have traditional institutions of governance of various national entities, including those surrounding the Asantehene of the Ashanti in Ghana and the Kabaka of the Buganda in Uganda. 134-141. The African Charter embodies some of the human . 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. media system, was concerned with the more systematized dissemination of information between the traditional administrative organ and the people (subjects). There are several types of government that are traditionally instituted around the world. This is in part because the role of traditional leaders has changed over time. Ehret 2002 emphasizes the diversity and long history of precolonial social and political formations, whereas Curtin, et al. Relatively unfettered access to the internet via smart phones and laptops brings informationand hence potential powerto individuals and groups about all kinds of things: e.g., market prices, the views of relatives in the diaspora, conditions in the country next door, and the self-enrichment of corrupt officials. Countries such as Burkina Faso, Guinea, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, for example, attempted to strip chiefs of most of their authority or even abolish chieftaincy altogether. 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. 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. 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 political elites are more determined than ever to shape their own destiny, and they are doing so. Abstract. 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. One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African . The reasons why rural communities adhere to the traditional institutions are many (Logan, 2011; Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). 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, community elders select future Sultanes at a young age and groom them for the position. Why the traditional systems endure, how the institutional dichotomy impacts the process of building democratic governance, and how the problems of institutional incoherence might be mitigated are issues that have not yet received adequate attention in African studies. Traditional institutions already adjudicate undisclosed but large proportions of rural disputes. There is strong demand for jobs, better economic management, reduced inequality and corruption and such outcome deliverables as health, education and infrastructure.22 Those outcomes require effective governance institutions. 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. 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. Womens inequality in the traditional system is related, at least in part, to age- and gender-based divisions of labor characterizing traditional economic systems. South Africa has a mixed economy in which there is a variety of private freedom, combined with centralized economic . The council system of the Berbers in Northern Africa also falls within this category (UNECA, 2007). How these differences in leadership structures impinge on the broader institutions of resources allocation patterns, judicial systems, and decision-making and conflict resolution mechanisms is still understudied. This article contends that postcolonial African traditional institutions lie in a continuum between the highly decentralized to the centralized systems and they all have resource allocation practices, conflict resolution and judicial systems, and decision-making practices, which are distinct from those of the state. African political systems are described in a number of textbooks and general books on African history. The population in the traditional system thus faces a vicious cycle of deprivation. On the other hand, their endurance creates institutional fragmentation that has adverse impacts on Africas governance and socioeconomic transformation. The challenge facing Africas leadersperhaps above all othersis how to govern under conditions of ethnic diversity. Why traditional institutional systems endure, how large the adherents to them is, and why populations, especially in rural areas, continue to rely on traditional institutions, even when an alternative system is provided by the state, and what the implications of institutional dichotomy is are questions that have not yet received adequate attention in the literature. Discuss any similarities between the key features of the fourth The fourth part draws a conclusion with a tentative proposal on how the traditional institutions might be reconciled with the formal institutions to address the problem of institutional incoherence. A third, less often recognized base of legitimacy can be called conventional African diplomatic legitimacy wherein a governmenthowever imperfectly establishedis no more imperfect than the standard established by its regional neighbors. (PDF) INDIGENOUS AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS - Academia.edu Based on existing evidence, the authority systems in postcolonial Africa lie in a continuum between two polar points. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. (PDF) The role and significance of traditional leadership in the A third pattern flows from the authoritarian reflex where big men operate arbitrary political machines, often behind a thin democratic veneer. 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. Towards a Definition of Government 1.3. Uneven access to public services, such as educational, health, and communication services, and the disproportionately high poverty rates in the traditional sector are manifestations of the sectors marginalization. f Basic Features cont. At the same time, traditional institutions represent institutional fragmentation, which has detrimental effects on Africas governance and economic transformation. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . A second objective is to draw a tentative typology of the different authority systems of Africas traditional institutions. As noted, African countries have experienced the rise of the modern (capitalist) economic system along with its corresponding institutional systems. This study points to a marked increase in state-based conflicts, owing in significant part to the inter-mixture of Islamic State factions into pre-existing conflicts. 1.4. Most African countries have yet to develop carefully considered strategies of how to reconcile their fragmented institutional systems. They are the key players in providing judicial service and in conflict management in much of rural Africa. Authority in this system was shared or distributed to more people within the community. Note: The term rural population is used as a proxy for the population operating under traditional economic systems. The means by which the traditional government reached out to her subjects varied from sounds, signs to symbol, and the central disseminator was the "town crier". No doubt rural communities participate in elections, although they are hardly represented in national assemblies by people from their own socioeconomic space. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. 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. They dispense justice, resolve conflicts, and enforce contracts, even though such services are conducted in different ways in different authority systems. With the dawn of colonialism in Africa, the traditional African government was sys-tematically weakened, and the strong and influential bond between traditional lead- . Another reason is that African leaders of the postcolonial state, who wanted to consolidate their power, did not want other points of power that would compromise their control. 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. 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. Even the court system is designed to provide for consociational, provincial, and local organization, not as separate courts but as divisions of the key national courts; once again, a compromise between a fully federal or consociational arrangement and the realities of the South African situation that emphasize the preservation of national unity . For these and other reasons, the state-society gap lies at the heart of the problems faced by many states. Paramount chiefs with rather weak system of accountability: The Buganda of Uganda and the Nupe in Nigeria are good examples. Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. Features of Yoruba Pre colonial Administration - Bscholarly Issues of corruption and transparency are likely to become driving themes in African politics. In a few easy steps create an account and receive the most recent analysis from Hoover fellows tailored to your specific policy interests. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. Roughly 80% of rural populations in selected research sites in Ethiopia, for example, say that they rely on traditional institutions to settle disputes, while the figure is around 65% in research sites in Kenya (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). 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. Located on the campus of Stanford University and in Washington, DC, the Hoover Institution is the nations preeminent research center dedicated to generating policy ideas that promote economic prosperity, national security, and democratic governance. The Role and Significance of Traditional Leadership in South African PDF Traditional Systems of Communication in Nigeria PDF African Traditional Justice Systems Francis Kariuki* 1.1 Introduction The parallel institutional systems often complement each other in the continents contemporary governance. The role of traditional leaders in modern Africa, especially in modern African democracies, is complex and multifaceted. The first three parts deal with the principal objectives of the article. As a result, customary law, which often is not recognized by the state or is recognized only when it does not contradict the constitution, does not protect communities from possible transgressions by the state. 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.
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