Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. One scholar specializing on the Horn of Africa likens the situation a political marketplace in which politics and violence are simply options along the spectrum pursued by powerful actors.5. Large states and those with complex ethnic and geographic featurese.g., the DRC, Nigeria, Uganda, the Sudans, Ethiopiamay be especially prone to such multi-sourced violence. The African Charter embodies some of the human . Ethiopias monarchy ended in 1974 while the other three remain, with only the king of Swaziland enjoying absolute power. Ehret 2002 emphasizes the diversity and long history of precolonial social and political formations, whereas Curtin, et al. Learn more about joining the community of supporters and scholars working together to advance Hoovers mission and values. West Africa has a long and complex history. Traditional Institutions and Governance in Modern African - SSRN Legitimacy based on successful predation and state capture was well known to the Plantagenets and Tudors as well as the Hapsburgs, Medicis, and Romanovs, to say nothing of the Mughal descendants of Genghis Khan.14 In this fifth model of imagined legitimacy, some African leaders operate essentially on patrimonial principles that Vladimir Putin can easily recognize (the Dos Santos era in Angola, the DRC under Mobutu and Kabila, the Eyadema, Bongo, Biya, and Obiang regimes in Togo, Gabon, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea, respectively).15 Such regimes may seek to perpetuate themselves by positioning wives or sons to inherit power. Different property rights laws are a notable source of conflict in many African countries. Challenges confronting the institution of chieftaincy have continued from the colonial era into recent times. Both can be identified as forms of governance. On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. MyHoover delivers a personalized experience atHoover.org. The council system of the Berbers in Northern Africa also falls within this category (UNECA, 2007). 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. . Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. Before then, traditional authorities essentially provided leadership for the various communities and kingdoms. Maintenance of law and order: the primary and most important function of the government is to maintain law and order in a state. This point links the reader to the other Africa chapters that have been prepared for this project. Almost at a stroke, the relationships between African governments and the major powers and major sources of concessional finance were upended, while political liberalization in the former Soviet bloc helped to trigger global political shock waves. Africas geopolitical environment is shaped by Africans to a considerable degree. 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. The same source concluded that 7 out of the 12 worst scores for political rights and civil liberties are African.11 As noted, the reasons vary: patrimonialism gone wrong (the big man problem), extreme state fragility and endemic conflict risks, the perverse mobilization of ethnicity by weak or threatened leaders. The campaign by some (but not all) African states to pull out of the International Criminal Court is but one illustration of the trend. Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation: 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. 1. 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. The abolishment of chieftaincy does not eradicate the systems broader underlying features, such as customary law, decision-making systems, and conflict resolution practices. Traditional Political Ideas, Values, and Practices: Their Status in the Among them were those in Ethiopia, Morocco, Swaziland, and Lesotho. 14 L.A. Ayinla 'African Philosophy of Law: A Critique' 151, available at The laws and legal systems of Africa have developed from three distinct legal traditions: traditional or customary African law, Islamic law, and the legal systems of Western Europe. Africa: Laws and Legal Systems - Geography Some regimes seem resilient because of their apparent staying power but actually have a narrow base of (typically ethnic or regional) support. The African Charter: A Printed Futility or a Reflection of Human Rights The colonial state modified their precolonial roles. Following decolonization, several African countries attempted to abolish aspects of the traditional institutional systems. 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 leaders in this system have significant powers, as they often are custodians of their communitys land and they dispense justice in their courts. 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. Pre-colonial Political System In Nigeria (Yoruba Traditional System) 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. media system, was concerned with the more systematized dissemination of information between the traditional administrative organ and the people (subjects). If African political elite opinion converges with that of major external voices in favoring stabilization over liberal peacebuilding agendas, the implications for governance are fairly clear.17. On the other hand, their endurance creates institutional fragmentation that has adverse impacts on Africas governance and socioeconomic transformation. Based on existing evidence, the authority systems in postcolonial Africa lie in a continuum between two polar points. The implementation of these systems often . The regime in this case captures the state, co-opts the security organs, and dissolves civil society. African countries are characterized by fragmentation of various aspects of their political economy, including their institutions of governance. 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. In addition, resolution needs to be acceptable to all parties. . The parallel institutional systems often complement each other in the continents contemporary governance. by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University. 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. Within this spectrum, some eight types of leadership structures can be identified. However, the winner takes all system in the individual states is a democracy type of voting system, as the minority gets none of the electoral college votes. Key Takeaways. 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. Aristotle was the first to define three principal types of government systems in the fourth century B.C. They succeed when there are political conditions that permit a broad coalition to impose pluralist political institutions and limits and restraints on ruling elites.20 Thus, resilience of both state and society may hinge in the end on the rule of law replacing the rule of men. A second attribute is the participatory decision-making system. 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. There is little doubt that colonial occupation and the ensuing restructuring of African political entities and socioeconomic systems altered African traditional institutions of governance. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. 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. However, the system of traditional government varied from place to place. Invented chiefs and state-paid elders: These were chiefs imposed by the colonial state on decentralized communities without centralized authority systems. 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. Most of the states that had attempted to abolish chieftaincy have retracted the abolitionist decrees and reinstated chiefs. Traditional leaders would also be able to use local governance as a platform for exerting some influence on national policymaking. African Traditions - Centuries of African heritage - Victoria Falls Guide References: Blakemore and Cooksey (1980). The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. Similarly, the process of conflict resolution is undertaken in an open assembly and is intended to reconcile parties in conflict rather than to merely punish offenders. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. 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. 2. The debate is defined by "traditionalists" and "modernists." . What Is a Command Economy? - The Balance 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. A third layer lies between the other two layers and is referred to in this article as traditional institutions. With the introduction of the Black Administration Act the African system of governance and administration was changed and the white government took control of the African population. One common feature is recognition of customary property rights laws, especially that of land. 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. Beyond such macro factors, several less obvious variables seem important to the political and economic governance future of the region. Introduction: The Meaning of the Concept Government 1.1. This brief essay began by identifying the state-society gap as the central challenge for African governance. 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. Such a consensus-building mechanism can help resolve many of the conflicts related to diversity management and nation-building. 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. The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. 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. This enhanced his authority. 2007 Relevance of African Traditional Institutions of Governance The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions . In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. Differences and Similarities between Democracy and Authoritarian Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. Pre-colonial Administration of the Yorubas. Traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve.

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