Other governance systems in the post-independence era and their unique features, if any. 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. There are several types of government systems in African politics: in an absolute monarchy, the head of state and head of government is a monarch with unlimited legal authority,; in a constitutional monarchy, the monarch is a ceremonial figurehead who has few political competences,; in a presidential system, the president is the head of state and head of government, Following decolonization, several African countries attempted to abolish aspects of the traditional institutional systems. Africas geopolitical environment is shaped by Africans to a considerable degree. In Igbo land for example the system of government was quite unique and transcends the democracy of America and Europe. Chieftaincy is further plagued with its own internal problems, including issues of relevance, succession, patriarchy, jurisdiction, corruption and intra-tribal conflict. The purpose is to stress that such efforts and the attendant will Features Of Traditional Government Administration. The analysis presented here suggests that traditional institutions are relevant in a number of areas while they are indispensable for the governance of Africas traditional economic sector, which lies on the fringes of formal state institutions. Traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. 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. The chapter further examines the dabbling of traditional leaders in the political process in spite of the proscription of the institution from mainstream politics and, in this context, analyzes the policy rationale for attempting to detach chieftaincy from partisan politics. 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. Some live in remote areas beyond the reach of some of the institutions of the state, such as courts. The indigenous political system had some democratic features. In Module Seven A: African History, you explored the histories of a wide diversity of pre-colonial African societies. In some cases, they are also denied child custody rights. Traditional African religions are less of faith traditions and more of lived traditions. Tribes had relatively little power outside their own group during the colonial period. There is one constitution and one set of laws and rules for ordinary people, and quite other for the ruling family and the politically connected elite. Poor statesociety relations and weak state legitimacy: Another critical outcome of institutional fragmentation and institutional detachment of the state from the overwhelming majority of the population is weak legitimacy of the state (Englebert, 2000). The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. A partial explanation as to why the traditional systems endure was given in the section Why African Traditional Institutions Endure. The argument in that section was that they endure primarily because they are compatible with traditional economic systems, under which large segments of the African population still operate. Oftentimes, however, they contradict each other, creating problems associated with institutional incoherence. They must know the traditional songs and must also be able to improvise songs about current events and chance incidents. On the opposite side are the decentralized systems, led by a council of elders, that command little formal power. Chief among them is that they remain key players in governing and providing various types of service in the traditional sector of the economy because of their compatibility with that economic system. In the postcolonial era, their roles changed again. Despite such changes, these institutions are referred to as traditional not because they continue to exist in an unadulterated form as they did in Africas precolonial past but because they are largely born of the precolonial political systems and are adhered to principally, although not exclusively, by the population in the traditional (subsistent) sectors of the economy. 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. Customary law also manages land tenure and land allocation patterns. 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. Chiefs administer land and people, contribute to the creation of rules that regulate the lives of those under their jurisdiction, and are called on to solve disputes among their subjects. Against this backdrop, where is African governance headed? Finally, the chapter considers the future of the institution against the background of the many issues and challenges considered. Most of the regions states were defined geographically by European cartographers at the start of the colonial period. The traditional justice system, thus, does not have the power to grant any rights beyond the local level. 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. This layer of institutions is the subject of inquiry of this article. These communities select the Aba Gada, who serves a nonrenewable term of 8 years as leader. 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 Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. The government is undertaking a review of local government, which includes a commitment to introduce direct election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs). Such a consensus-building mechanism can help resolve many of the conflicts related to diversity management and nation-building. As noted, African countries have experienced the rise of the modern (capitalist) economic system along with its corresponding institutional systems. These dynamics often lead to increased state fragility or the re-authoritarianization of once more participatory governance systems.12 The trend is sometimes, ironically, promoted by western firms and governments more interested in commercial access and getting along with existing governments than with durable political and economic development. 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. Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. Stagnant economy, absence of diversification in occupational patterns and allegiance to traditionall these have a bearing on the system of education prevailing in these societies. These circumstances can generate an authoritarian reflex and the temptation to circle the wagons against all sources of potential opposition. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. For example, the electoral college forces a republic type of voting system. The post-colonial State, on the other hand . The key . Their endurance and coexistence with the institutions of the state has created an institutional dichotomy in much of Africa. It is also highly unlikely that such broader aspects of traditional institutions can be eliminated without transforming the traditional modes of production that foster them. But established and recognized forms of inherited rule cannot be lightly dismissed as un-modern, especially when linked to the identity of an ethnic or tribal group, and could be construed as a building block of legitimacy. There is little doubt that colonial occupation and the ensuing restructuring of African political entities and socioeconomic systems altered African traditional institutions of governance. Most of the states that had attempted to abolish chieftaincy have retracted the abolitionist decrees and reinstated chiefs. The balance of power between official and non-official actors will likely shift, as networked activists assert their ability to organize and take to the streets on behalf of diverse causes. This page was processed by aws-apollo-l2 in. At times, devolution has had major fiscal and governance consequences, including serving as a vehicle for co-option and corruption. 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. 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. A more recent example of adaptive resilience is being demonstrated by Ethiopias Abiy Ahmed. In Botswana, for example, the consensual decision-making process in the kgotla (public meeting) regulates the power of the chiefs. FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. 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. Virtually every group was involved in the . Among the key challenges associated with institutional fragmentation are the following: Policy incoherence: Fragmented economies and institutions represent dichotomous socioeconomic spaces, which makes it highly challenging for policy to address equitably the interests of the populations in these separate socioeconomic spaces. Misguided policies at the national level combined with cultural constraints facing these social groups may increase exclusion and create seeds of future trouble. An analytical study and impact of colonialism on pre-colonial centralized and decentralized African Traditional and Political Systems. By Sulayman Sanneh Date: September 10th, 2021. fIntroduction Africa is a vast and . 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). A second attribute is the participatory decision-making system. Some African nations are prosperous while others struggle. At times, these traditional security system elements are sufficient enough for some uses, but there's certainly no denying . The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. The campaign by some (but not all) African states to pull out of the International Criminal Court is but one illustration of the trend. Prominent among these Sudanic states was the Soninke Kingdom of Ancient Ghana. 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. Government acknowledges the critical role of traditional leadership institutions in South Africa's constitutional democracy and in communities, particularly in relation to the Rural . Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation: There was a lot of consultation between the elders before any major decision was made. 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 conflict trends point to a complex picture, made more so by the differing methodologies used by different research groups. The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (Alkire, Chatterjee, Conconi, Seth, & Vaz, 2014) estimates that the share of rural poverty to total poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is about 73.8%. 1. Wise leadership respects ethnic diversity and works toward inclusive policies. A more recent argument is that traditional institutions are incompatible with economic, social, and civil rights (Chirayath, Sage, & Woolcock, 2005). The African state system has gradually developed a stronger indigenous quality only in the last twenty-five years or so. 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. 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. That is, each society had a set of rules, laws, and traditions, sometimes called customs, that established how the people would live together peacefully as part of larger group. Sometimes, another precedent flows from thesenamely, pressure from outside the country but with some support internally as well for creating a transitional government of national unity. As Mamdani has argued, understanding the role of traditional leadership and customary law in contemporary African societies requires us to understand its history. 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. This section attempts to explain these seemingly contradictory implications of traditional institutions. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. Such adjustments, however, may require contextualization of the institutions of democracy by adjusting these institutions to reflect African realities. African states, along with Asian, Middle Eastern, and even European governments, have all been affected. 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. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. In West Africa, a griot is a praise singer or poet who possesses a repository of oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. Since then, many more have been formulated, but the main themes and ideas have remained. In other words, the transition from traditional modes of production to a capitalist economic system has advanced more in some countries than in others. Enlightened leaders face a more complex version of the same challenge: how to find and mobilize the resources for broad-based inclusiveness? 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 . 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. This approach to governance was prominent in the Oyo empire. They include: Monarchs (absolute or constitutional): While the colonial state reduced most African kings to chiefs, a few survived as monarchs. This study notes that in 2007 Africa saw 12 conflicts in 10 countries. example of a traditional African political system. Some of these conflicts are, in reality, low-tech, sporadic skirmishes and armed attacks. The Constitution states that the institution, status and roles of traditional leadership, according to customary law, are recognised. Music is a form of communication and it plays a functional role in African society . The evidence suggests that traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. 3. 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. It is unlikely, however, that such harmony can be brought about by measures that aim to abolish the traditional system, as was attempted by some countries in the aftermath of decolonization. While this seems obvious, it is less clear what vectors and drivers will have the most weight in shaping that outcome. These partners, for their part, sometimes disengaged from close political ties and often brought new governance conditions into their assistance programs. A Sociology of Education for Africa . The government system is a republic; the chief of state and head of government is the president. THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, 27 Pages 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. Despite such changes, these institutions are referred to as traditional not because they continue to exist in an unadulterated form as they did in Africas precolonial past but because they are largely born of the precolonial political systems and are adhered to principally, although not exclusively, by the population in the traditional (subsistent) sectors of the economy. . Examine the definitions, strengths, and weaknesses of several common governments: monarchy, theocracy . Some regimes seem resilient because of their apparent staying power but actually have a narrow base of (typically ethnic or regional) support. 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. Against this broad picture, what is striking is the more recent downward trend in democratic governance in Africa and the relative position of African governance when viewed on a global basis. The problems that face African governments are universal. The link between conflict and governance is a two-way street. Indeed, it should be added that a high percentage of todays conflicts are recurrences of previous ones, often in slightly modified form with parties that may organize under more than one flag. David and Joan Traitel Building & Rental Information, National Security, Technology & Law Working Group, Middle East and the Islamic World Working Group, Military History/Contemporary Conflict Working Group, Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group, Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies, Understanding the Effects of Technology on Economics and Governance, Support the Mission of the Hoover Institution. Although much has been lost in the shadows and fogs of a time before people created written accounts, historians . 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. Integration of traditional and modern governance systems in Africa. Different property rights laws are a notable source of conflict in many African countries. Government, Public Policy Performance, Types of Government. Unlike the laws of the state, traditional institutions rarely have the coercive powers to enforce their customary laws. In many cases, the invented chieftaincies were unsuccessful in displacing the consensus-based governance structures (Gartrell, 1983; Uwazie, 1994). Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. media system, was concerned with the more systematized dissemination of information between the traditional administrative organ and the people (subjects). It then analyzes the implications of the dual allegiance of the citizenry to chiefs and the government. Based on existing evidence, the authority systems in postcolonial Africa lie in a continuum between two polar points. The movement towards a formal state system is characterized by its emphasis on retribution and punishment. 17-19 1.6. Strictly speaking, Ghana was the title of the King, but the Arabs, who left records . 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. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. 1995 focuses on social, economic, and intellectual trends up to the end of the colonial era. 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. 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. One-sided violence against unarmed civilians has also spiked up since 2011.4, These numbers require three major points of clarification. This situation supported an external orientation in African politics in which Cold War reference points and former colonial relationships assured that African governments often developed only a limited sense of connection to their own societies. Additionally, the Guurti is charged with resolving conflicts in the country using traditional conflict resolution mechanisms. 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. Many others choose the customary laws and conflict resolution mechanisms because they correspond better to their way of life. With the dawn of colonialism in Africa, the traditional African government was sys-tematically weakened, and the strong and influential bond between traditional lead- . One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today. Note that Maine and . Although considerable differences exist among the various systems, opportunities for women to participate in decision making in most traditional systems are generally limited. The US system has survived four years of a norm-busting president by the skin of its teeth - which areas need most urgent attention? 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. Yet, governments are expected to govern and make decisions after consulting relevant stakeholders. Legitimate authority, in turn, is based on accepted laws and norms rather than the arbitrary, unconstrained power of the rulers. 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. 2. Paramount chiefs with rather weak system of accountability: The Buganda of Uganda and the Nupe in Nigeria are good examples. 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. by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University. Fitzpatrick 'Traditionalism and Traditional Law' Journal of African Law, Vol. Their "rediscovery" in modern times has led to an important decolonization of local and community management in order to pursue genuine self-determination. Typically, such leaders scheme to rig elections or to change constitutional term limitsactions seen in recent years in such countries as Rwanda and Uganda. These include - murder, burglary, landcase, witchcraft, profaning the deities and homicide. 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). Rules of procedure were established through customs and traditions some with oral, some with written constitutions Women played active roles in the political system including holding leadership and military positions. The colonial state modified their precolonial roles. 20-27, at p. 21; Carey N. Vicenti 'The re-emergence of tribal society and traditional justice systems' Judicature, Vol. On the one hand, they recognize the need for strong, responsive state institutions; weak, fragile states do not lead to good governance. The place and role of African Youth in Pre-independence African Governance Systems 19-20 1.7. 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. 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 . Galizzi, Paolo and Abotsi, Ernest K., Traditional Institutions and Governance in Modern African Democracies (May 9, 2011). One snapshot by the influential Mo Ibrahim index of African Governance noted in 2015 that overall governance progress in Africa is stalling, and decided not to award a leadership award that year. One of these will be the role and weight of various powerful external actors. 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. 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. There are several types of government that are traditionally instituted around the world. The challenge facing Africas leadersperhaps above all othersis how to govern under conditions of ethnic diversity. Ethiopias monarchy ended in 1974 while the other three remain, with only the king of Swaziland enjoying absolute power. 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. Impact of Historical Origins of African State System2. No doubt rural communities participate in elections, although they are hardly represented in national assemblies by people from their own socioeconomic space. The long-term, global pushback by the leading authoritarian powers against liberal governance norms has consequences in Africa and other regions as governments directly act to close the space for civil society to operate. Tribe Versus Ethnic Group. A Functional Approach to define Government 2. Problems and Purpose. The third section deals with the post-colonial period and discusses some problems associated with African administration. Judicial marginalization: Another challenge posed by institutional fragmentation relates to marginalization of the traditional system within the formal legal system.

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