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features of traditional african system of government
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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. Another issue that needs some clarification is the neglect by the literature of the traditional institutions of the political systems without centralized authority structures. It should not be surprising that there is a weak social compact between state and society in many African states. The Alafin as the political head of the empire was . 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, 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. 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. Political and economic inclusion is the companion requirement for effective and legitimate governance. On the opposite side are the decentralized systems, led by a council of elders, that command little formal power. 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 first three parts deal with the principal objectives of the article. The challenge facing Africas leadersperhaps above all othersis how to govern under conditions of ethnic diversity. 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 some cases, community elders select future Sultanes at a young age and groom them for the position. Others choose the traditional institutions, for example, in settling disputes because of lower transactional costs. But African societies are exposed to especially severe pressures, and governments must operate in an environment of high social demands and limited resources and capacity with which to meet them. Certain offences were regarded as serious offences. Issues of corruption and transparency are likely to become driving themes in African politics. 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. "Law" in traditional Igbo and other African societies assumes a wide dimension and should be understood, interpreted, and applied as such, even if such a definition conflicts with the Western idea. Basing key political decisions on broad societal and inter-party consensus may help to de-escalate cutthroat competition that often leads to violent conflicts. The introduction of alien economic and political systems by the colonial state relegated Africas precolonial formal institutions to the sphere of informality, although they continued to operate in modified forms, in part due to the indirect rule system of colonialism and other forms of reliance by colonial states on African institutions of governance to govern their colonies. Overturning regimes in Africas often fragile states could become easier to do, without necessarily leading to better governance. Both types of government can be effective or infective depending on . 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. Paramount chiefs: Another category of leadership structure is that of hereditary paramount chieftaincy with various traditional titles and various levels of accountability. This article contends that postcolonial African traditional institutions lie in a continuum between the highly decentralized to the centralized systems and they all have resource allocation practices, conflict resolution and judicial systems, and decision-making practices, which are distinct from those of the state. The leader is accountable to various levels of elders, who serve as legislators and as judges (Legesse, 1973; Taa, 2017). The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. Seeming preference for Democracy in Africa over other governance systems in Africa before and after independence 15-17 1.5. Virtually every group was involved in the . 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. 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". 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. During the colonial period, "tribe" was used to identify specific cultural and political groups in much the same way as "nation" is defined above. Should inclusion be an ongoing process or a single event? Among them were those in Ethiopia, Morocco, Swaziland, and Lesotho. This brief overview of conflict in Africa signals the severity of the security challenges to African governance, especially in those sub-regions that feature persistent and recurrent outbreaks of violence. Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation: On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power. This approach to governance was prominent in the Oyo empire. 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. African traditional administrative system with bureaucratization in the emerged new states of Africa. Because these governmental institutions reject the indigenous political systems on which African society was built, they have generally failed to bring political . 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. 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. Challenges confronting the institution of chieftaincy have continued from the colonial era into recent times. As a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) study (2007) notes, traditional leaders often operate as custodians of customary law and communal assets, especially land. Institutional dichotomy also seems to be a characteristic of transitional societies, which are between modes of production. 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. On the one hand, traditional institutions are highly relevant and indispensable, although there are arguments to the contrary (see Mengisteab & Hagg [2017] for a summary of such arguments). The same technology vectors can also empower criminal, trafficking, and terrorist networks, all of which pose threats to state sovereignty. Space opened up for African citizens and civil society movements, while incumbent regimes were no longer able to rely on assured support from erstwhile external partners. In Sierra Leone, for example, approximately 85% of the population falls under the jurisdiction of customary law, defined under the constitution as the rules of law which, by custom, are applicable to particular communities in Sierra Leone. One is that the leaders of the postcolonial state saw traditional institutions and their leadership as archaic vestiges of the past that no longer had a place in Africas modern system of governance. States would be more effective in reforming the traditional judicial system if they recognized them rather than neglecting them, as often is the case. 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. 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. Institutions represent an enduring collection of formal laws and informal rules, customs, codes of conduct, and organized practices that shape human behavior and interaction. 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. Communities like the Abagusii, Ameru, Akamba, Mijikenda, and Agikuyu in Kenya had this system of government. Some of these conflicts are, in reality, low-tech, sporadic skirmishes and armed attacks. Since institutional fragmentation is a major obstacle to nation-building and democratization, it is imperative that African countries address it and forge institutional harmony. However, the traditional modes of production and the institutional systems associated with them also remain entrenched among large segments of the population. 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 regime in this case captures the state, co-opts the security organs, and dissolves civil society. All life was religious . 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. In Sierra Leone, paramount chiefs are community leaders and their tasks involve - among others - protecting community safety and resolving disputes. Chieftaincy is further plagued with its own internal problems, including issues of relevance, succession, patriarchy, jurisdiction, corruption and intra-tribal conflict. THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, 27 Pages The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. This principle is particularly relevant for diversity management, nation-building, and democratization in contemporary Africa. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. 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 . However, there are customs and various arrangements that restrain their power. 3. 1995 focuses on social, economic, and intellectual trends up to the end of the colonial era. Leaders may not be the only ones who support this definition of legitimacy. On the other hand, their endurance creates institutional fragmentation that has adverse impacts on Africas governance and socioeconomic transformation. Lawmaking: government makes laws to regulate the behavior of its citizens. Ethiopias monarchy ended in 1974 while the other three remain, with only the king of Swaziland enjoying absolute power. Traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. Another measure is recognition of customary law and traditional judicial systems by the state. The Obas and Caliphs of Nigeria and the Zulu of South Africa are other examples. 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. It is imperative that customary land rights are recognized and respected so that communities in the traditional economic system exercise control of land and other resources under their customary ownership, at least until alternative sources of employment are developed to absorb those who might be displaced. 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. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. A third layer lies between the other two layers and is referred to in this article as 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. example of a traditional African political system. Government and Political Systems. Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. A second conflict pattern can develop along the lines of ethnic cleavages which can be readily politicized and then militarized into outright ethnic violence. In this respect, they complement official courts that are often unable to provide court services to all their rural communities. Land privatization is, thus, unworkable in pastoral communities, as communal land ownership would be unworkable in a capitalist economy. Learn more about joining the community of supporters and scholars working together to advance Hoovers mission and values. Another basic question is, whom to include? 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. Introduction: The Meaning of the Concept Government 1.1. The purpose is to stress that such efforts and the attendant will Unfortunately, little attention by African governments has been given to this paradoxical aspect of traditional institutions. You cant impose middle class values on a pre-industrial society.13. Ndlela (2007: 34) confirms that traditional leaders continue to enjoy their role and recognition in the new dispensation, just like in other African states; and Good (2002: 3) argues that the system of traditional leadership in Botswana exists parallel to the democratic system of government and the challenge is of forging unity. The Dutch dispatched an embassy to the Asantehene's . A strict democracy would enforce the "popular vote" total over the entire United States. 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. The campaign by some (but not all) African states to pull out of the International Criminal Court is but one illustration of the trend. Any insurrection by a segment of the population has the potential to bring about not only the downfall of governments but also the collapse of the entire apparatus of the state because the popular foundation of the African state is weak. Even so, customary law still exerts a strong . Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. One common feature is recognition of customary property rights laws, especially that of land. 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. Although considerable differences exist among the various systems, opportunities for women to participate in decision making in most traditional systems are generally limited. The rise of non-Western centers of power and the return of global polarization among major powers reduce the presence and weight of western influence. The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. A third, less often recognized base of legitimacy can be called conventional African diplomatic legitimacy wherein a governmenthowever imperfectly establishedis no more imperfect than the standard established by its regional neighbors. Features Of Traditional Government Administration. 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. Traditional institutions already adjudicate undisclosed but large proportions of rural disputes. 1. Your gift helps advance ideas that promote a free society. Obstruction of nation-building: Nation-building entails a process of integrating different segments of the citizenry to form a community of citizens under shared institutions. A third pattern flows from the authoritarian reflex where big men operate arbitrary political machines, often behind a thin democratic veneer. 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. Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Politics. They include: Monarchs (absolute or constitutional): While the colonial state reduced most African kings to chiefs, a few survived as monarchs. Using a second conflict lens, the number of non-state conflicts has increased dramatically in recent years, peaking in 2017 with 50 non-state conflicts, compared to 24 in 2011. The most promising pattern is adaptive resilience in which leaders facing such pressures create safety valves or outlets for managing social unrest. 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). While this seems obvious, it is less clear what vectors and drivers will have the most weight in shaping that outcome. Given its institutional disconnect with the state, the traditional sector and the communities that operate under it invariably face marginalization in influencing policy as well as in access to economic resources throughout the continent. 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. In some cases, they are also denied child custody rights. Figure 1 captures this turn to authoritarianism in postindependence Africa. Different property rights laws are a notable source of conflict in many African countries. Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University. 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. This is done through the enforcement agencies such as the police force. This category of chiefs serves their communities in various and sometimes complex roles, which includes spiritual service. A second attribute is the participatory decision-making system. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Transforming the traditional economic system is also likely to require embracing and utilizing the traditional institutional systems as vehicles for the provision of public services. Yet political stability cannot be based on state power alone, except in the short run. Decision making is generally participatory and often consensus-based. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. 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 short article does not attempt to provide answers to all these questions, which require extensive empirical study. Contents 1. Traditional governments have the following functions; 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. Each of these societies had a system of government. The key lies in identifying the variables that will shape its context. 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- No doubt rural communities participate in elections, although they are hardly represented in national assemblies by people from their own socioeconomic space. Additionally, the Guurti is charged with resolving conflicts in the country using traditional conflict resolution mechanisms. Government: A Multifarious Concept 1.2.
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