A look at the economic systems of the adherents of the two institutional systems also gives a good indication of the relations between economic and institutional systems. In general, 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. This can happen in several ways. 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. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. Legitimate authority, in turn, is based on accepted laws and norms rather than the arbitrary, unconstrained power of the rulers. A third objective is to examine the relevance of traditional institutions. 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. The indigenous political system had some democratic features. 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). 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. This we might call transformative resilience.21. West Africa has a long and complex history. Hoover Education Success Initiative | The Papers. Non-official institutions and civil society may have very different ideas from the national government on this issue, leading to debates about legitimacy. 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. In some cases, they are also denied child custody rights. The usual plethora of bour- A more recent example of adaptive resilience is being demonstrated by Ethiopias Abiy Ahmed. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. This fragmentation is also unlikely to go away anytime soon on its own. For Acemoglu and Robinson, such turning points occur in specific, unique historical circumstances that arise in a societys development. The implementation of these systems often . States would be more effective in reforming the traditional judicial system if they recognized them rather than neglecting them, as often is the case. Certain offences were regarded as serious offences. Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University. In direct contrast is the second model: statist, performance-based legitimacy, measured typically in terms of economic growth and domestic stability as well as government-provided servicesthe legitimacy claimed by leaders in Uganda and Rwanda, among others. media system, was concerned with the more systematized dissemination of information between the traditional administrative organ and the people (subjects). Despite apparent differences, the strategies of the three countries have some common features as well that may inform other counties about the measures institutional reconciliation may entail. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. These partners, for their part, sometimes disengaged from close political ties and often brought new governance conditions into their assistance programs. One of these is the potential influence exerted by the regions leading states, measured in terms of size, population, economic weight, and overall political clout and leadership prestige. 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. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. These include macro variables such as educational access (especially for women), climate change impact and mitigation, development and income growth rates, demographic trends, internet access, urbanization rates, and conflict events. The debate is defined by "traditionalists" and "modernists." . The African Charter embodies some of the human . Its ability to influence policy is limited in large part because of its institutional detachment from the state and because of its poverty and lack of capacity to participate in the political process. Misguided policies at the national level combined with cultural constraints facing these social groups may increase exclusion and create seeds of future trouble. This kind of offences that attract capital punishment is usually . The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions . One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today. 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. The role of chieftaincy within post-colonial African countries continues to incite lively debates, as the case of Ghana exemplifies. Political and economic inclusion is the companion requirement for effective and legitimate governance. Note that Maine and . Consequently, national and regional governance factors interact continuously. The terms Afrocentrism, Afrocology, and Afrocentricity were coined in the 1980s by the African American scholar and activist Molefi Asante. 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. Less than 20% of Africa's states achieved statehood following rebellion or armed insurgency; in the others, independence flowed from . One of these will be the role and weight of various powerful external actors. The quality and durability of such leader-defined adaptive resilience cannot be assured and can be reversed unless the associated norms become institutionalized. Since institutional fragmentation is a major obstacle to nation-building and democratization, it is imperative that African countries address it and forge institutional harmony. 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. No doubt rural communities participate in elections, although they are hardly represented in national assemblies by people from their own socioeconomic space. In addition, according to Chirayath et al. Enlightened leaders face a more complex version of the same challenge: how to find and mobilize the resources for broad-based inclusiveness? The regime in this case captures the state, co-opts the security organs, and dissolves civil society. This page was processed by aws-apollo-l2 in 0.093 seconds, Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely. Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Politics. In Africa, as in every region, it is the quality and characteristics of governance that shape the level of peace and stability and the prospects for 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. We know a good deal about what Africans want and demand from their governments from public opinion surveys by Afrobarometer. Communities like the Abagusii, Ameru, Akamba, Mijikenda, and Agikuyu in Kenya had this system of government. 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. Ten years later, in 2017, the number of conflicts was 18, taking place in 13 different countries. Government as a Structural Element of Society 2.2. The parallel institutional systems often complement each other in the continents contemporary governance. Oftentimes, however, they contradict each other, creating problems associated with institutional incoherence. Traditional governments have the following functions; Such adjustments, however, may require contextualization of the institutions of democracy by adjusting these institutions to reflect African realities. The essay concludes with a sobering reflection on the challenge of achieving resilient governance. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. 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. We do not yet know whether such institutions will consistently emerge, starting with relatively well-governed states, such as Ghana or Senegal, as a result of repeated, successful alternations of power; or whether they will only occur when Africas political systems burst apart and are reconfigured. Judicial marginalization: Another challenge posed by institutional fragmentation relates to marginalization of the traditional system within the formal legal system. 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. Some African nations are prosperous while others struggle. Among them were those in Ethiopia, Morocco, Swaziland, and Lesotho. 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. Government and Political Systems. This study notes that in 2007 Africa saw 12 conflicts in 10 countries. The means by which the traditional government reached out to her subjects varied from sounds, signs to symbol, and the central disseminator was the "town crier". Towards a Definition of Government 1.3. In Sierra Leone, paramount chiefs are community leaders and their tasks involve - among others - protecting community safety and resolving disputes. In many cases, the invented chieftaincies were unsuccessful in displacing the consensus-based governance structures (Gartrell, 1983; Uwazie, 1994). Presently, Nigeria practices the federal system. Poor gender relations: Traditional institutions share some common weaknesses. 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. FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. This brief essay began by identifying the state-society gap as the central challenge for African governance. Introduction. 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). Authority in this system was shared or distributed to more people within the community. It may be good to note, as a preliminary, that African political systems of the past dis played considerable variety. Legal norms are an integral part of the discussion about inclusivity since they affect every aspect of economic and personal life; this poses a critical question over whether individual rights or group rights take precedence in the normative hierarchy. 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? Unfortunately, little attention by African governments has been given to this paradoxical aspect of traditional institutions. Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. 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. 1995 focuses on social, economic, and intellectual trends up to the end of the colonial era. Each of these societies had a system of government. This layer of institutions is the subject of inquiry of this article. African Governance: Challenges and Their Implications. Some trust traditional leaders more than they trust state authorities. Changes in economic and political systems trigger the need for new institutional systems to manage the new economic and political systems, while endurance of economic and political systems foster durability of existing institutional systems. 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. Yet political stability cannot be based on state power alone, except in the short run. 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. African states, along with Asian, Middle Eastern, and even European governments, have all been affected. 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. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. 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. The leaders in this system have significant powers, as they often are custodians of their communitys land and they dispense justice in their courts. The swing against western norms was captured in an interview with Ugandas repeatedly re-elected president Yoweri Museveni who remarked How can you have structural adjustment without electricity? 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. A Functional Approach to define Government 2. Aristotle was the first to define three principal types of government systems in the fourth century B.C. The Sultanes of Somalia are examples of this category and the community has specific criteria as to who is qualified to be a chief (Ahmed, 2017). The guiding principle behind these two attributes is that conflict is a societal problem and that resolving conflict requires societal engagement. Paramount chieftaincy is a traditional system of local government and an integral element of governance in some African countries such as Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and Ivory Coast. 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. Another layer represents the societal norms and customs that differ along various cultural traits. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . 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. 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 . Others contend that African countries need to follow a mixed institutional system incorporating the traditional and formal systems (Sklar, 2003). Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. Tribe Versus Ethnic Group. African Political Systems is an academic anthology edited by the anthropologists Meyer Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard which was published by Oxford University Press on the behalf of the International African Institute in 1940. African political systems are described in a number of textbooks and general books on African history. This approach to governance was prominent in the Oyo empire. Chieftaincy is further plagued with its own internal problems, including issues of relevance, succession, patriarchy, jurisdiction, corruption and intra-tribal conflict. With the dawn of colonialism in Africa, the traditional African government was sys-tematically weakened, and the strong and influential bond between traditional lead- . 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. Traditional leaders would also be able to use local governance as a platform for exerting some influence on national policymaking. 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. 3. Prominent among these Sudanic states was the Soninke Kingdom of Ancient Ghana. Traditional leadership in South Africa pre-existed both the colonial and apartheid systems of governance and was the main known system of governance amongst indigenous people. Analysis here is thus limited to traditional authority systems under the postcolonial experience. Basing key political decisions on broad societal and inter-party consensus may help to de-escalate cutthroat competition that often leads to violent conflicts. Although much has been lost in the shadows and fogs of a time before people created written accounts, historians . Regardless, fragmentation of institutional systems poses a number of serious challenges to Africas governance and economic development. In light of this discussion of types of inclusion, the implications for dealing with state fragility and building greater resilience can now be spelled out. 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. Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. In West Africa, a griot is a praise singer or poet who possesses a repository of oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. The link was not copied. A third argument claims that chieftaincy heightens primordial loyalties, as chiefs constitute the foci of ethnic identities (Simwinga quoted in van Binsberger, 1987, p. 156). This discussion leads to an analysis of African conflict trends to help identify the most conflict-burdened sub-regions and to highlight the intimate link between governance and conflict patterns. The size and intensity of adherence to the traditional economic and institutional systems, however, vary from country to country. Because these governmental institutions reject the indigenous political systems on which African society was built, they have generally failed to bring political . What policies and laws will determine relations between farmers and urban dwellers, between farmers and herders, between diverse identity groups living in close proximity or encroaching on each others farm land, and between public officials, criminal networks and ordinary citizens? The Aqils (elders) of Somalia and the chiefs in Kenya are good examples. 1. South Africas strategy revolves around recognition of customary law when it does not conflict with the constitution and involves traditional authorities in local governance. Roughly 80% of rural populations in selected research sites in Ethiopia, for example, say that they rely on traditional institutions to settle disputes, while the figure is around 65% in research sites in Kenya (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). 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. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. The selection, however, is often from the children of a chief. Judicial Administration. In this view, nations fail because of extractive economic and political institutions that do not provide incentives for growth and stability. To illustrate, when there are 2.2 billion Africans, 50% of whom live in cities, how will those cities (and surrounding countryside) be governed? The relationship between traditional leadership and inherited western-style governance institutions often generates tensions. The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. African traditional administrative system with bureaucratization in the emerged new states of Africa. Some regimes seem resilient because of their apparent staying power but actually have a narrow base of (typically ethnic or regional) support. A second attribute is the participatory decision-making system. They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. Note: The term rural population is used as a proxy for the population operating under traditional economic systems. In this context the chapter further touches on the compatibility of the institution of chieftaincy with constitutional principles such as equality, accountability, natural justice, good governance, and respect for fundamental human rights. Many of the chieftaincy systems, such as those in much of South Africa, the Asantehene of the Ashanti of Ghana, the Tswana of Botswana, and the Busoga of Uganda seem to fall within this category. To complicate matters further, the role of traditional institutions is likely to be critical in addressing the problem of institutional fragmentation. The role of traditional leaders in modern Africa, especially in modern African democracies, is complex and multifaceted. Figure 1 captures this turn to authoritarianism in postindependence Africa. 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. 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 related reason for their relevance is that traditional institutions, unlike the state, provide rural communities the platform to participate directly in their own governance. The leader is accountable to various levels of elders, who serve as legislators and as judges (Legesse, 1973; Taa, 2017). Nonhereditary selected leaders with constitutional power: A good example of this is the Gada system of the Oromo in Ethiopia and Kenya. Its marginalization, in turn, impedes the transformation of the traditional sector, thus extending the fragmentation of institutions. 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. 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.) On the opposite side are the decentralized systems, led by a council of elders, that command little formal power. Another category of chiefs is those who theoretically are subject to selection by the community. Both types of government can be effective or infective depending on . Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) The system of government in the traditional Yoruba society was partially centralised and highly democratic. Afrocentrism, also called Africentrism, cultural and political movement whose mainly African American adherents regard themselves and all other Blacks as syncretic Africans and believe that their worldview should positively reflect traditional African values. African Traditional Political System and Institution: University of The Gambia, Faculty of humanities and social sciences. Hoover scholars offer analysis of current policy challenges and provide solutions on how America can advance freedom, peace, and prosperity. As a result, it becomes highly complex to analyze their roles and structures without specifying the time frame. 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. In Ghana, for example, local governance is an area where traditional leadership and the constitutional government sometimes lock horns. Traditional leaders often feel left out when the government takes decisions affecting their people and land without their consent or involvement. While this seems obvious, it is less clear what vectors and drivers will have the most weight in shaping that outcome. The three countries have pursued rather different strategies of reconciling their institutional systems and it remains to be seen if any of their strategies will deliver the expected results, although all three countries have already registered some progress in reducing conflicts and in advancing the democratization process relative to countries around them. Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. Abstract. In Igbo land for example the system of government was quite unique and transcends the democracy of America and Europe. 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. Decision making is generally participatory and often consensus-based. The colonial system constitutes the second section. An analytical study and impact of colonialism on pre-colonial centralized and decentralized African Traditional and Political Systems. While empirical data are rather scanty, indications are that the traditional judicial system serves the overwhelming majority of rural communities (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). Typically, such leaders scheme to rig elections or to change constitutional term limitsactions seen in recent years in such countries as Rwanda and Uganda. Most of the regions states were defined geographically by European cartographers at the start of the colonial period. Customary law also manages land tenure and land allocation patterns. 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. Some live in remote areas beyond the reach of some of the institutions of the state, such as courts. These include - murder, burglary, landcase, witchcraft, profaning the deities and homicide. The colonial state, for example, invented chiefs where there were no centralized authority systems and imposed them on the decentralized traditional systems, as among the Ibo of Eastern Nigeria, the Tonga in Zambia, various communities in Kenya, and the communities in Somalia. According to this analysis, Africas traditional institutional systems are likely to endure as long as the traditional subsistent economic systems continue to exist.
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