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. The earliest known recorded history arose in Ancient Egypt . The indigenous political system had some democratic features. Similarities between Democratic and Authoritarian Government. Based on existing evidence, the authority systems in postcolonial Africa lie in a continuum between two polar points. There was a lot of consultation between the elders before any major decision was made. History. This can happen in several ways. (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. Learn more about joining the community of supporters and scholars working together to advance Hoovers mission and values. MyHoover delivers a personalized experience atHoover.org. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. 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. 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. Africas economic systems range from a modestly advanced capitalist system, symbolized by modern banking and stock markets, to traditional economic systems, represented by subsistent peasant and pastoral systems. It also develops a theoretical framework for the . There is strong demand for jobs, better economic management, reduced inequality and corruption and such outcome deliverables as health, education and infrastructure.22 Those outcomes require effective governance institutions. The colonial system constitutes the second section. Some trust traditional leaders more than they trust state authorities. . The question then becomes, how to be inclusive?19 A number of African states have decentralized their political decision-making systems and moved to share or delegate authority from the center to provincial or local levels. Another driver of governance trends will be the access enjoyed by youthful and rapidly urbanizing populations to the technologies that are changing the global communications space. However, their participation in the electoral process has not enabled them to influence policy, protect their customary land rights, and secure access to public services that would help them overcome their deprivation. To illustrate, when there are 2.2 billion Africans, 50% of whom live in cities, how will those cities (and surrounding countryside) be governed? Authority in this system was shared or distributed to more people within the community. However, they do not have custodianship of land and they generally do not dispense justice on their own. 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. The Aqils (elders) of Somalia and the chiefs in Kenya are good examples. The result is transitory resilience of the regime, but shaky political stability, declining cohesion, and eventual conflict or violent change. Yet, the traditional judicial system in most cases operates outside of the states institutional framework. 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". 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. 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. Admittedly, the problem is by no means uniquely African, but it is very commonly experienced in Africa. This kind of offences that attract capital punishment is usually . It considers the nature of the state in sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. A key factor in the size of adherents of rural institutions, however, seems to depend on the ratio of the population in the traditional economic systems to the total population. Traditional leaders would also be able to use local governance as a platform for exerting some influence on national policymaking. 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. Hoover scholars offer analysis of current policy challenges and provide solutions on how America can advance freedom, peace, and prosperity. 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 Stated another way, if the abolition of term limits, neo-patrimonialism, and official kleptocracy become a regionally accepted norm, this will make it harder for the better governed states to resist the authoritarian trend. 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). While comprehensive empirical studies on the magnitude of adherence to traditional institutions are lacking, some studies point out that most people in rural areas prefer the judicial service provided by traditional institutions to those of the state, for a variety of reasons (Logan, 2011; Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). 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. 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). Against this backdrop, where is African governance headed? 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. Contents 1. These different economic systems have corresponding institutional systems with divergent property rights laws and resource allocation mechanisms, disparate decision-making systems, and distinct judicial systems and conflict resolution mechanisms. The parallel institutional systems often complement each other in the continents contemporary governance. 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. Consequently, national and regional governance factors interact continuously. Most of the regions states were defined geographically by European cartographers at the start of the colonial period. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. The traditional Africa system of government is open and inclusive, where strangers, foreigners and even slaves could participate in the decision-making process. The challenge facing Africas leadersperhaps above all othersis how to govern under conditions of ethnic diversity. Subsequent to the colonial experience, traditional institutions may be considered to be informal institutions in the sense that they are often not sanctioned by the state. The endurance of traditional institutions entails complex and paradoxical implications for contemporary Africas governance. Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. The Ibo village assembly in eastern Nigeria, the Eritrean village Baito (assembly), the council of elders (kiama) of the Kikuyu in Kenya, and the kaya elders of the Mijikenda in the coast of Kenya are among well-known examples where decisions are largely made in a consensual manner of one kind or another (Andemariam, 2017; Mengisteab, 2003). General Overviews. 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. f Basic Features cont. 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. This concept paper focuses on the traditional system of governance in Africa including their consensual decision-making models, as part of a broader effort to better define and advocate their role in achieving good governance. But the context in which their choices are made is directly influenced by global political trends and the room for maneuver that these give to individual governments and their leaders. The essay concludes with a sobering reflection on the challenge of achieving resilient governance. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. 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. Act,12 the African system of governance was changed and transformed, and new structures were put in place of old ones.13 Under the Union of South Africa, the Gov- 2. Understanding the Gadaa System. 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. It then analyzes the implications of the dual allegiance of the citizenry to chiefs and the government. 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. Their endurance and coexistence with the institutions of the state has created an institutional dichotomy in much of Africa. 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. 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. Unfortunately, transforming the traditional sector is not an easy undertaking and cannot be achieved in a reasonably short time. Africa contains more sovereign nations than any other continent, with 54 countries compared to Asia's 47. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. The Constitution states that the institution, status and roles of traditional leadership, according to customary law, are recognised. 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. 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. 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. Traditional and informal justice systems aim at restoring social cohesion within the community by promoting reconciliation between disputing parties. A Functional Approach to define Government 2. Constitutions of postcolonial states have further limited the power of chiefs. 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. In Botswana, for example, the consensual decision-making process in the kgotla (public meeting) regulates the power of the chiefs. In this view, nations fail because of extractive economic and political institutions that do not provide incentives for growth and stability. In traditional African communities, it was not possible to distinguish between religious and non-religious areas of life. 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. On the other hand, their endurance creates institutional fragmentation that has adverse impacts on Africas governance and socioeconomic transformation. Some regimes seem resilient because of their apparent staying power but actually have a narrow base of (typically ethnic or regional) support. Perhaps one of the most serious shared weakness relates to gender relations. But it also reflects the impact of Arab, Russian, Chinese, Indian, European and U.S. vectors of influence which project their differences into African societies. Regional governance comes into play here, and certain precedents may get set and then ratified by regional or sub-regional organizations. Today, the five most common government systems include democracy, republic, monarchy, communism and . At times, these traditional security system elements are sufficient enough for some uses, but there's certainly no denying . Key Takeaways. 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. In Igbo land for example the system of government was quite unique and transcends the democracy of America and Europe. There is little doubt that colonial occupation and the ensuing restructuring of African political entities and socioeconomic systems altered African traditional institutions of governance. It may be useful to recall that historical kingships or dynasties were the common form of rule in Europe, India, China until modern times, and still is the predominant form of rule on the Arabian Peninsula. The African state system has gradually developed a stronger indigenous quality only in the last twenty-five years or so. Africas geopolitical environment is shaped by Africans to a considerable degree. 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. Perhaps a more realistic transitional approach would be to reconcile the parallel institutions while simultaneously pursuing policies that transform traditional economic systems. They also serve as guardians and symbols of cultural values and practices. This brief essay began by identifying the state-society gap as the central challenge for African governance. Oftentimes, however, they contradict each other, creating problems associated with institutional incoherence. African countries are characterized by fragmentation of various aspects of their political economy, including their institutions of governance. South Africa has a mixed economy in which there is a variety of private freedom, combined with centralized economic . What sets Hoover apart from all other policy organizations is its status as a center of scholarly excellence, its locus as a forum of scholarly discussion of public policy, and its ability to bring the conclusions of this scholarship to a public audience. Institutional dichotomy also seems to be a characteristic of transitional societies, which are between modes of production. The government system is a republic; the chief of state and head of government is the president. 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. However, the traditional judicial system has some weaknesses, especially with respect to gender equality. 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. However, three countries, Botswana, Somaliland, and South Africa, have undertaken differing measures with varying levels of success. Such a transformation would render traditional institutions dispensable. Why can't democracy with African characteristics maintain the values, culture and traditional system of handling indiscipline, injustice and information management in society to take firm roots. 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. They include: Monarchs (absolute or constitutional): While the colonial state reduced most African kings to chiefs, a few survived as monarchs. In Module Seven A: African History, you explored the histories of a wide diversity of pre-colonial African societies. They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. 1. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. Towards a Definition of Government 1.3. Africas rural communities, which largely operate under subsistent economic systems, overwhelmingly adhere to the traditional institutional systems while urban communities essentially follow the formal institutional systems, although there are people who negotiate the two institutional systems in their daily lives. Often women are excluded from participation in decision making, especially in patrilineal social systems. Why traditional institutional systems endure, how large the adherents to them is, and why populations, especially in rural areas, continue to rely on traditional institutions, even when an alternative system is provided by the state, and what the implications of institutional dichotomy is are questions that have not yet received adequate attention in the literature. 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? 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. Since then, many more have been formulated, but the main themes and ideas have remained. Paramount chiefs: Another category of leadership structure is that of hereditary paramount chieftaincy with various traditional titles and various levels of accountability. 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. FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. Note: The term rural population is used as a proxy for the population operating under traditional economic systems. Among them were those in Ethiopia, Morocco, Swaziland, and Lesotho. The role of traditional leaders in modern Africa, especially in modern African democracies, is complex and multifaceted. 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. 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. 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. Thus, another report by PRIO and the University of Uppsala (two Norwegian and Swedish centers) breaks conflict down into state-based (where at least one party is a government), non-state-based (neither party is an official state actor), and one-sided conflicts (an armed faction against unarmed civilians). Third, Africas conflict burden reflects different forms and sources of violence that sometimes become linked to each other: political movements may gain financing and coercive support from criminal networks and traffickers, while religious militants with connections to terrorist groups are often adept at making common cause with local grievance activists. It is also challenging to map them out without specifying their time frame. A command economy, also known as a planned economy, is one in which the central government plans, organizes, and controls all economic activities to maximize social welfare. Governance also has an important regional dimension relating to the institutional structures and norms that guide a regions approach to challenges and that help shape its political culture.1 This is especially relevant in looking at Africas place in the emerging world since this large region consists of 54 statesclose to 25% of the U.N.s membershipand includes the largest number of landlocked states of any region, factors that dramatically affect the political environment in which leaders make choices. Although considerable differences exist among the various systems, opportunities for women to participate in decision making in most traditional systems are generally limited. The key lies in identifying the variables that will shape its context. Government: A Multifarious Concept 1.2. You cant impose middle class values on a pre-industrial society.13. Lawmaking: government makes laws to regulate the behavior of its citizens. One is the controversy over what constitutes traditional institutions and if the African institutions referred to as traditional in this inquiry are truly indigenous traditions, since colonialism as well as the postcolonial state have altered them notably, as Zack-Williams (2002) and Kilson (1966) observe. Regardless, fragmentation of institutional systems poses a number of serious challenges to Africas governance and economic development. 17-19 1.6. The customary structures of governance of traditional leadership were put aside or transformed. Political leaders everywhere face competing demands in this regard. Poor gender relations: Traditional institutions share some common weaknesses. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. 7. Both can be identified as forms of governance. Your gift helps advance ideas that promote a free society. 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. 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 debate is defined by "traditionalists" and "modernists." . Problems and Purpose. Decision making is generally participatory and often consensus-based. 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. Traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. The kings and chiefs of Angola and Asante, for example, allowed European merchants to send their representatives to their courts. Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University. Another issue that needs some clarification is the neglect by the literature of the traditional institutions of the political systems without centralized authority structures. The African Charter embodies some of the human . As institutional scholars state, institutional incompatibility leads to societal conflicts by projecting different laws governing societal interactions (Eisenstadt, 1968; Helmke & Levitsky, 2004; March & Olsen, 1984; North, 1990; Olsen, 2007). 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 most promising pattern is adaptive resilience in which leaders facing such pressures create safety valves or outlets for managing social unrest. Some African nations are prosperous while others struggle. Yet political stability cannot be based on state power alone, except in the short run. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. 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. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. 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 0.093 seconds, Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely. . The differences are in terms of how leaders come to assume their positions, how much power they command, and how accountable they are to their communities.

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