features of traditional african system of government

With its eminent scholars and world-renowned library and archives, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind. Legitimate authority, in turn, is based on accepted laws and norms rather than the arbitrary, unconstrained power of the rulers. 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 20th century. 7. Yet political stability cannot be based on state power alone, except in the short run. Many others choose the customary laws and conflict resolution mechanisms because they correspond better to their way of life. Most of the states that had attempted to abolish chieftaincy have retracted the abolitionist decrees and reinstated chiefs. 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. for a democratic system of government. Gadaa as an Alternative Understanding of Democracy in Africa 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. It may be good to note, as a preliminary, that African political systems of the past dis played considerable variety. Oromos are one of the largest ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa belonging to the Cushitic-speaking peoples in Northeastern Africa in general and in modern Ethiopia and Kenya in particular. (PDF) INDIGENOUS AFRICAN POLITICAL SYSTEMS - Academia.edu 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 colonial state modified their precolonial roles. Differences and Similarities between Democracy and Authoritarian The guiding principle behind these two attributes is that conflict is a societal problem and that resolving conflict requires societal engagement. 3. The population in the traditional system thus faces a vicious cycle of deprivation. However, there are customs and various arrangements that restrain their power. The parallel institutional systems often complement each other in the continents contemporary governance. The role of chieftaincy within post-colonial African countries continues to incite lively debates, as the case of Ghana exemplifies. Each of these societies had a system of government. A Long Journey: The Bantu Migrations. The features associated with this new form of governmental administration deal with smaller government responsibility for providing goods and services. During the colonial period, "tribe" was used to identify specific cultural and political groups in much the same way as "nation" is defined above. This proposal will be subject to a referendum on the constitutional changes required.16.2e 2.4 Traditional leadership Traditional leaders are accorded PDF Development of African Administration: Pre-Colonial Times and since - EOLSS The campaign by some (but not all) African states to pull out of the International Criminal Court is but one illustration of the trend. Most African countries are characterized by parallel institutions, one representing the formal laws of the state and the other representing the traditional institutions that are adhered to more commonly in rural areas. Editorial Citizenship and Accountability: Customary Law and Traditional Non-official institutions and civil society may have very different ideas from the national government on this issue, leading to debates about legitimacy. It then analyzes the implications of the dual allegiance of the citizenry to chiefs and the government. South Africas strategy revolves around recognition of customary law when it does not conflict with the constitution and involves traditional authorities in local governance. The roles that traditional authorities can play in the process of good governance can broadly be separated into three categories: first, their advisory role to government, as well as their participatory role in the administration of regions and districts; second, their developmental role, complementing government?s efforts in mobilizing the . 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. African Politics - Political Science - iResearchNet Some live in remote areas beyond the reach of some of the institutions of the state, such as courts. 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. African countries are characterized by fragmentation of various aspects of their political economy, including their institutions of governance. The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. The council of elders, religious leaders, and administrative staff of the chiefs exercise checks on the power of the leaders and keep them accountable (Beattie, 1967; Busia, 1968; Coplan & Quinlan, 1997; Jones, 1983; Osaghae, 1989). This short article does not attempt to provide answers to all these questions, which require extensive empirical study. Any insurrection by a segment of the population has the potential to bring about not only the downfall of governments but also the collapse of the entire apparatus of the state because the popular foundation of the African state is weak. 20 A brief account of that history will help to highlight key continuities spanning the colonial, apartheid and the post-apartheid eras in relation to the place of customary law and the role of traditional leaders. Different property rights laws are a notable source of conflict in many African countries. Seeming preference for Democracy in Africa over other governance systems in Africa before and after independence 15-17 1.5. The key . The same technology vectors can also empower criminal, trafficking, and terrorist networks, all of which pose threats to state sovereignty. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. Their endurance and coexistence with the institutions of the state has created an institutional dichotomy in much of Africa. Perhaps a more realistic transitional approach would be to reconcile the parallel institutions while simultaneously pursuing policies that transform traditional economic 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. 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. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. This point links the reader to the other Africa chapters that have been prepared for this project. They are already governing much of rural Africa. Ancient West Africa: Bantu Migrations & the Stateless Society Invented chiefs and state-paid elders: These were chiefs imposed by the colonial state on decentralized communities without centralized authority systems. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. 2007 Relevance of African Traditional Institutions of Governance African political systems are described in a number of textbooks and general books on African history. The point here is that peer pressure, examples, and precedents are especially important in a region of 54 states, many of them dependent on satisfactory relations with their neighbors. Against this backdrop, where is African governance headed? In many tribes, the chief was the representative of the ancestors. West Africa has a long and complex history. Ideally, African nations will benefit when civil society respects the states role (as well as the other way around); rather than one-sided advocacy, both sides should strive to create a space for debate in order to legitimize tolerance of multiple views in society. Even old-fashioned tyrants learn that inclusion or co-option are expensive. The key lies in identifying the variables that will shape its context. 15 Facts on African Religions The Interfaith Observer 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 . African Solutions for African Problems - The Real Meaning Such a transformation would render traditional institutions dispensable. Before delving into the inquiry, clarification of some issues would be helpful in avoiding confusion. Command economies, as opposed to free-market economies, do not allow market forces like supply and demand to determine production or prices. Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. 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. The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. 17-19 1.6. (No award was made in 50% of the years since the program was launched in 2007; former Liberian president Ellen John Sirleaf won the award in 2017. 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. To illustrate, when there are 2.2 billion Africans, 50% of whom live in cities, how will those cities (and surrounding countryside) be governed? 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. The Boundaries of Tradition: An Examination of the Traditional Settling a case in an official court, for example, may involve long-distance travel for villagers and it may require lawyers, translators, a long wait, and court fees, while a traditional court rarely involves such costs and inconveniences. Leaders may not be the only ones who support this definition of legitimacy. Because these governmental institutions reject the indigenous political systems on which African society was built, they have generally failed to bring political . On the opposite side are the decentralized systems, led by a council of elders, that command little formal power. This section attempts to explain these seemingly contradictory implications of traditional institutions. It considers the nature of the state in sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. Traditional African Religions - The Spiritual Life 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. African traditional institutions continue to exist in most African countries, albeit at different levels of adherence by the populations of the continent. Both can be identified as forms of governance. Perhaps one of the most serious shared weakness relates to gender relations. 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). Overturning regimes in Africas often fragile states could become easier to do, without necessarily leading to better governance. Today, the five most common government systems include democracy, republic, monarchy, communism and . The cases of Nigeria, Kenya, and South Sudan suggest that each case must be assessed on its own merits. Misguided policies at the national level combined with cultural constraints facing these social groups may increase exclusion and create seeds of future trouble. 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. General Overviews. 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. This is done through the enforcement agencies such as the police force. This outline leads us to examine more closely the sources of legitimacy in African governance systems. First, many of the conflicts enumerated take place within a limited number of conflict-affected countries and in clearly-defined geographic zones (the Sahel and Nigeria; Central Africa; and the Horn.) Another measure is recognition of customary law and traditional judicial systems by the state. In Module Seven A: African History, you explored the histories of a wide diversity of pre-colonial African societies. Contents 1. In any case, as . Some African nations are prosperous while others struggle. States would be more effective in reforming the traditional judicial system if they recognized them rather than neglecting them, as often is the case. The earliest known recorded history arose in Ancient Egypt . 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. Within this spectrum, some eight types of leadership structures can be identified.