There was a lot of consultation between the elders before any major decision was made. Chieftaincy is further plagued with its own internal problems, including issues of relevance, succession, patriarchy, jurisdiction, corruption and intra-tribal conflict. Most of the regions states were defined geographically by European cartographers at the start of the colonial period. 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. They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. Customary law, for example, does not protect communities from violations of their customary land rights through land-taking by the state. (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. 134-141. Governments that rely on foreign counterparts and foreign investment in natural resources for a major portion of their budgetsrather than on domestic taxationare likely to have weaker connections to citizens and domestic social groups. 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. 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. The guiding principle behind these two attributes is that conflict is a societal problem and that resolving conflict requires societal engagement. Traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. The geography of South Africa is vast scrubland in the interior, the Namib Desert in the northwest, and tropics in the southeast. Yet political stability cannot be based on state power alone, except in the short run. They dispense justice, resolve conflicts, and enforce contracts, even though such services are conducted in different ways in different authority systems. 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. 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? Since institutional fragmentation is a major obstacle to nation-building and democratization, it is imperative that African countries address it and forge institutional harmony. The term covers the expressed commands of 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 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. Careful analysis suggests that African traditional institutions lie in a continuum between the highly decentralized to the centralized systems and they all have resource allocation practices, conflict resolution, judicial systems, and decision-making practices, which are distinct from those of the state. In addition to these measures, reconciling fragmented institutions would be more successful when governments invest more resources in transforming the traditional socioeconomic space. Thus, despite abolition efforts by postcolonial states and the arguments against the traditional institutions in the literature, the systems endure and remain rather indispensable for the communities in traditional economic systems. In some societies, traditional, tribal authorities may offer informed and genuinely accepted governance, provided that they are not merely government appointees pursuing decentralized self-enrichment. While empirical data are rather scanty, indications are that the traditional judicial system serves the overwhelming majority of rural communities (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). Others choose the traditional institutions, for example, in settling disputes because of lower transactional costs. 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. By the mid-1970s, the politics of Africa had turned authoritarian. 1995 focuses on social, economic, and intellectual trends up to the end of the colonial era. example of a traditional African political system. 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? In some cases, community elders select future Sultanes at a young age and groom them for the position. Their "rediscovery" in modern times has led to an important decolonization of local and community management in order to pursue genuine self-determination. Today, the five most common government systems include democracy, republic, monarchy, communism and . Second, the levels of direct battle deaths from these events is relatively low when compared with far higher levels in the wars of the Middle East. Others contend that African countries need to follow a mixed institutional system incorporating the traditional and formal systems (Sklar, 2003). 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. 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. Rule that is based on predation and political monopoly is unlikely to enjoy genuine popular legitimacy, but it can linger for decades unless there are effective countervailing institutions and power centers. 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. On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power. Some African nations are prosperous while others struggle. African political elites are more determined than ever to shape their own destiny, and they are doing so. Another layer represents the societal norms and customs that differ along various cultural traits. In African-style democracy the rule of law is only applicable to ordinary people unconnected to the governing party leadership or leader. At times, devolution has had major fiscal and governance consequences, including serving as a vehicle for co-option and corruption. The campaign by some (but not all) African states to pull out of the International Criminal Court is but one illustration of the trend. The terms Afrocentrism, Afrocology, and Afrocentricity were coined in the 1980s by the African American scholar and activist Molefi Asante. 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. The leader is accountable to various levels of elders, who serve as legislators and as judges (Legesse, 1973; Taa, 2017). Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. 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. It is also challenging to map them out without specifying their time frame. Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Politics. 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 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. Towards a Definition of Government 1.3. Only four states in AfricaBotswana, Gambia, Mauritius, and Senegalretained multiparty systems. 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. Reconciling the parallel institutional systems is also unlikely to deliver the intended results in a short time; however, there may not be any better alternatives. It then analyzes the implications of the dual allegiance of the citizenry to chiefs and the government. 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. In many cases, the invented chieftaincies were unsuccessful in displacing the consensus-based governance structures (Gartrell, 1983; Uwazie, 1994). Traditional affairs. Traditional institutions already adjudicate undisclosed but large proportions of rural disputes. 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. 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. Music is a form of communication and it plays a functional role in African society . Note that Maine and . One-sided violence against unarmed civilians has also spiked up since 2011.4, These numbers require three major points of clarification. 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. By 2016, 35 AU members had joined it, but less than half actually subjected themselves to being assessed. 79 (3), (1995) pp. 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). The role of traditional leaders in modern Africa, especially in modern African democracies, is complex and multifaceted. Judicial Administration. 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. 17-19 1.6. 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. One of these will be the role and weight of various powerful external actors. By the mid-1970s, the military held power in one-third of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. 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. 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 indigenous political system had some democratic features. Some African leaders such as Ghanas Jerry Rawlings, Zambias Kenneth Kaunda, or Mozambiques Joachim Chissano accept and respect term limits and stand down. 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. Beyond such macro factors, several less obvious variables seem important to the political and economic governance future of the region. 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. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. Government and Political Systems. Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) Competing land rights laws, for instance, often lead to appropriations by the state of land customarily held by communities, triggering various land-related conflicts in much of Africa, especially in areas where population growth and environmental degradation have led to land scarcity. Nonhereditary selected leaders with constitutional power: A good example of this is the Gada system of the Oromo in Ethiopia and Kenya. African Governance: Challenges and Their Implications. The scope of the article is limited to an attempt to explain how the endurance of African traditional institutions is related to the continents economic systems and to shed light on the implications of fragmented institutional systems. Most African countries have yet to develop carefully considered strategies of how to reconcile their fragmented institutional systems. Large segments of the rural populations, the overwhelming majority in most African countries, continue to adhere principally to traditional institutions. 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. The Pre-Colonial Period: From the Ashes of Pharaohs to the Berlin Conference At the end of the prehistoric period (10 000 BC), some African nomadic bands began to Both types of government can be effective or infective depending on . My intention in this chapter is to explore the traditional African ideas and values of politics with a view to pointing up what may be described as the democratic features of the indigenous system of government and to examine whether, and in what ways, such features can be said to be harmonious with the ethos of contemporary political culture and hence can be said to be relevant to . Safeguarding womens rights thus becomes hard without transforming the economic system under which they operate. Examine the definitions, strengths, and weaknesses of several common governments: monarchy, theocracy . 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. In other words, the transition from traditional modes of production to a capitalist economic system has advanced more in some countries than in others. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. African conflict trends point to a complex picture, made more so by the differing methodologies used by different research groups. The place and role of African Youth in Pre-independence African Governance Systems 19-20 1.7. A more recent example of adaptive resilience is being demonstrated by Ethiopias Abiy Ahmed. The selection, however, is often from the children of a chief. 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). The movement towards a formal state system is characterized by its emphasis on retribution and punishment.
