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The question then becomes, how to be inclusive?19 A number of African states have decentralized their political decision-making systems and moved to share or delegate authority from the center to provincial or local levels. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Chiefs with limited power: Another category of chiefs is those that are hereditary, like the paramount chiefs, but have limited powers. FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, Available at SSRN: If you need immediate assistance, call 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 212 448 2500 outside of the United States, 8:30AM to 6:00PM U.S. Eastern, Monday - Friday. This fragmentation is also unlikely to go away anytime soon on its own. The endurance of traditional institutions entails complex and paradoxical implications for contemporary Africas governance. Long-standing kingdoms such as those in Morocco and Swaziland are recognized national states. He served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1981 to 1989. Paramount chiefs: Another category of leadership structure is that of hereditary paramount chieftaincy with various traditional titles and various levels of accountability. This enhanced his authority. A third pattern flows from the authoritarian reflex where big men operate arbitrary political machines, often behind a thin democratic veneer. The earliest known recorded history arose in Ancient Egypt . These communities select the Aba Gada, who serves a nonrenewable term of 8 years as leader. Indications are, however, that the more centralized the system is, the lower the accountability and popular participation in decision making. Issues of corruption and transparency are likely to become driving themes in African politics. 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. The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. As a result, they are not dispensable as long as the traditional economic systems endure. For Acemoglu and Robinson, such turning points occur in specific, unique historical circumstances that arise in a societys development. References: Blakemore and Cooksey (1980). In the postcolonial era, their roles changed again. 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. 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 reasons why rural communities adhere to the traditional institutions are many (Logan, 2011; Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. 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. 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. Although much has been lost in the shadows and fogs of a time before people created written accounts, historians . 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. Under conditions where nation-building is in a formative stage, the retribution-seeking judicial system and the winner-take-all multiparty election systems often lead to combustible conditions, which undermine the democratization process. Another common feature is the involvement of traditional authorities in the governance process, at least at the local level. Similarities between Democratic and Authoritarian Government. They also serve as guardians and symbols of cultural values and practices. Perhaps a more realistic transitional approach would be to reconcile the parallel institutions while simultaneously pursuing policies that transform traditional economic systems. 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. It considers the nature of the state in sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. Throughout our over one-hundred-year history, our work has directly led to policies that have produced greater freedom, democracy, and opportunity in the United States and the world. Posted: 12 May 2011. Another issue that needs some clarification is the neglect by the literature of the traditional institutions of the political systems without centralized authority structures. Institutions represent an enduring collection of formal laws and informal rules, customs, codes of conduct, and organized practices that shape human behavior and interaction. 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. 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. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. Yet, governments are expected to govern and make decisions after consulting relevant stakeholders. 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 kings and chiefs of Angola and Asante, for example, allowed European merchants to send their representatives to their courts. In traditional African communities, it was not possible to distinguish between religious and non-religious areas of life. The leaders in this system have significant powers, as they often are custodians of their communitys land and they dispense justice in their courts. On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power. The debate is defined by "traditionalists" and "modernists." . Hoover scholars form the Institutions core and create breakthrough ideas aligned with our mission and ideals. Poor gender relations: Traditional institutions share some common weaknesses. One of these will be the role and weight of various powerful external actors. 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 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. This concept paper focuses on the traditional system of governance in Africa including their consensual decision-making models, as part of a broader effort to better define and advocate their role in achieving good governance. 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. 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. However, institutions are rarely static and they undergo changes induced by internal transformations of broader socioeconomic systems or by external influences or imposition, and in some cases by a combination of the two forces. In this respect, they complement official courts that are often unable to provide court services to all their rural communities. Other governance systems in the post-independence era and their unique features, if any. The indigenous political system had some democratic features. . The customary structures of governance of traditional leadership were put aside or transformed. 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. Strictly speaking, Ghana was the title of the King, but the Arabs, who left records . Such chiefs also have rather limited powers. 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. The features associated with this new form of governmental administration deal with smaller government responsibility for providing goods and services. the system even after independence. 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. Fitzpatrick 'Traditionalism and Traditional Law' Journal of African Law, Vol. 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. 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. Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. Yet political stability cannot be based on state power alone, except in the short run. The system of government in the traditional Yoruba society was partially centralised and highly democratic. 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 20 th century. In this paper, I look first at the emergence of the African state system historically, including colonial legacies and the Cold Wars impact on governance dynamics. A Sociology of Education for Africa . It assigned them new roles while stripping away some of their traditional roles. The imperative for inclusion raises many questions: should the priority be to achieve inclusion of diverse elites, of ethnic and confessional constituencies, of a sample of grass roots opinion leaders? Another measure is recognition of customary law and traditional judicial systems by the state. Their endurance and coexistence with the institutions of the state has created an institutional dichotomy in much of Africa. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. 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. 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. In some cases, community elders select future Sultanes at a young age and groom them for the position. It also develops a theoretical framework for the . The result is transitory resilience of the regime, but shaky political stability, declining cohesion, and eventual conflict or violent change. Government and Political Systems. Wise leadership respects ethnic diversity and works toward inclusive policies. An election bound to be held in the year 2019 will unveil the new . In other words, the transition from traditional modes of production to a capitalist economic system has advanced more in some countries than in others. This kind of offences that attract capital punishment is usually . Africas states are the worlds newest, and it can hardly be surprising that Africans define themselves in terms of multiple identities including regional, tribal, clan-based, and religious onesin addition to being citizens of a relatively new state. Consequently, national and regional governance factors interact continuously. The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. Its marginalization, in turn, impedes the transformation of the traditional sector, thus extending the fragmentation of institutions. This page was processed by aws-apollo-l2 in 0.093 seconds, Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely. 2. 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. This section attempts to explain these seemingly contradictory implications of traditional institutions. 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. Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) 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. In these relatively new nations, the critical task for leadership is to build a social contract that is sufficiently inclusive to permit the management of diversity. Allocation of resources, such as land, is also much more egalitarian under the traditional system than it is under the private ownership system in the formal state system. Such a transformation would render traditional institutions dispensable. Beyond such macro factors, several less obvious variables seem important to the political and economic governance future of the region. 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. 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. With the dawn of colonialism in Africa, the traditional African government was sys-tematically weakened, and the strong and influential bond between traditional lead- . Pastoral economic systems, for example, foster communal land tenure systems that allow unhindered mobility of livestock, while a capitalist economic system requires a private land ownership system that excludes access to others and allows long-term investments on land. 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. 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. Not surprisingly, incumbent leaders facing these challenges look to short-term military remedies and extend a welcome to military partnerswith France, the United States, and the United Nations the leading candidates. 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. They include: Monarchs (absolute or constitutional): While the colonial state reduced most African kings to chiefs, a few survived as monarchs. Another basic question is, whom to include? In addition to these measures, reconciling fragmented institutions would be more successful when governments invest more resources in transforming the traditional socioeconomic space. Figure 1 captures this turn to authoritarianism in postindependence Africa. 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. You cant impose middle class values on a pre-industrial society.13. To learn more, visit 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. 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. There are very few similarities between democracy and dictatorship. Maintenance of law and order: the primary and most important function of the government is to maintain law and order in a state. Another category of chiefs is those who theoretically are subject to selection by the community. Botswanas strategy has largely revolved around integrating parallel judicial systems. 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 some cases, they are also denied child custody rights. 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. In addition, resolution needs to be acceptable to all parties. 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. Some trust traditional leaders more than they trust state authorities. By 2016, 35 AU members had joined it, but less than half actually subjected themselves to being assessed. The structures of leadership of African traditional institutions are diverse and they have yet to be mapped out comprehensively. Features Of Traditional Government Administration. Democratic and dictatorial regimes both vest their authority in one person or a few individuals. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. Greater access to public services and to productivity-enhancing technology would also help in enhancing the transformation of the subsistence sector. Institutional systems emanate from the broader economic and political systems, although they also affect the performance of the economic and political systems. As Mamdani has argued, understanding the role of traditional leadership and customary law in contemporary African societies requires us to understand its history. One-sided violence against unarmed civilians has also spiked up since 2011.4, These numbers require three major points of clarification. 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). The political systems of most African nations are based on forms of government put in place by colonial authorities during the era of European rule. Poor leadership can result in acts of commission or omission that alienate or disenfranchise geographically distinct communities. The key . The arguments against traditional institutions are countered by arguments that consider traditional institutions to be indispensable and that they should be the foundations of African institutions of governance (Davidson, 1992). 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). Another driver of governance trends will be the access enjoyed by youthful and rapidly urbanizing populations to the technologies that are changing the global communications space. All the characteristic features of a traditional society are, for obvious reasons, reflected in the education system.

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