Legitimate authority, in turn, is based on accepted laws and norms rather than the arbitrary, unconstrained power of the rulers. 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 . Large segments of the rural populations, the overwhelming majority in most African countries, continue to adhere principally to traditional institutions. Hoover scholars form the Institutions core and create breakthrough ideas aligned with our mission and ideals. However, at the lower level of the hierarchy of the centralized system, the difference between the centralized and decentralized systems tends to narrow notably. Ehret 2002 emphasizes the diversity and long history of precolonial social and political formations, whereas Curtin, et al. This short article does not attempt to provide answers to all these questions, which require extensive empirical study. Some trust traditional leaders more than they trust state authorities. 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). Today, the five most common government systems include democracy, republic, monarchy, communism and . Paramount chiefs: Another category of leadership structure is that of hereditary paramount chieftaincy with various traditional titles and various levels of accountability. 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. Political leaders everywhere face competing demands in this regard. 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. 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. In Module Seven A: African History, you explored the histories of a wide diversity of pre-colonial African societies. Perhaps a more realistic transitional approach would be to reconcile the parallel institutions while simultaneously pursuing policies that transform traditional economic systems. Rather, they often rely on voluntary compliance, although they also apply some soft power to discourage noncompliance by members with customary laws. Before then, traditional authorities essentially provided leadership for the various communities and kingdoms. Oromos are one of the largest ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa belonging to the Cushitic-speaking peoples in Northeastern Africa in general and in modern Ethiopia and Kenya in particular. Virtually every group was involved in the . The system of government in the traditional Yoruba society was partially centralised and highly democratic. Another layer represents the societal norms and customs that differ along various cultural traits. A strict democracy would enforce the "popular vote" total over the entire United States. 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. These events point to extreme state fragility and a loss of sovereign control over violence in the 11 affected countries, led by Nigeria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR). This category of chiefs serves their communities in various and sometimes complex roles, which includes spiritual service. It seems clear that Africas conflict burden declined steadily after the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s owing to successful peace processes outstripping the outbreak of new conflicts; but the burden has been spiking up again since then. Poor leadership can result in acts of commission or omission that alienate or disenfranchise geographically distinct communities. In other words, the transition from traditional modes of production to a capitalist economic system has advanced more in some countries than in others. 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. Chieftaincy is further plagued with its own internal problems, including issues of relevance, succession, patriarchy, jurisdiction, corruption and intra-tribal conflict. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. References: Blakemore and Cooksey (1980). 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. Some live in remote areas beyond the reach of some of the institutions of the state, such as courts. Rather, they are conveners of assemblies of elders or lower level chiefs who deliberate on settlement of disputes. 1.4. On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, Available at SSRN: If you need immediate assistance, call 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 212 448 2500 outside of the United States, 8:30AM to 6:00PM U.S. Eastern, Monday - Friday. African traditional institutions continue to exist in most African countries, albeit at different levels of adherence by the populations of the continent. 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. Others choose the traditional institutions, for example, in settling disputes because of lower transactional costs. The selection, however, is often from the children of a chief. However, almost invariably the same functions, whether or not formally defined and characterized in the same terms or exercised in the same manner, are also performed by traditional institutions and their leaders. One-sided violence against unarmed civilians has also spiked up since 2011.4, These numbers require three major points of clarification. 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. 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. 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 term covers the expressed commands of However, the traditional modes of production and the institutional systems associated with them also remain entrenched among large segments of the population. 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. Ten years later, in 2017, the number of conflicts was 18, taking place in 13 different countries. Even the court system is designed to provide for consociational, provincial, and local organization, not as separate courts but as divisions of the key national courts; once again, a compromise between a fully federal or consociational arrangement and the realities of the South African situation that emphasize the preservation of national unity . The government system is a republic; the chief of state and head of government is the president. Why the traditional systems endure, how the institutional dichotomy impacts the process of building democratic governance, and how the problems of institutional incoherence might be mitigated are issues that have not yet received adequate attention in African studies. 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. 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. Ideally, African nations will benefit when civil society respects the states role (as well as the other way around); rather than one-sided advocacy, both sides should strive to create a space for debate in order to legitimize tolerance of multiple views in society. 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. The customary structures of governance of traditional leadership were put aside or transformed. African political systems are described in a number of textbooks and general books on African history. The problems that face African governments are universal. Womens inequality in the traditional system is related, at least in part, to age- and gender-based divisions of labor characterizing traditional economic systems. This chapter examines traditional leadership within the context of the emerging constitutional democracy in Ghana. Other governance systems in the post-independence era and their unique features, if any. Key Takeaways. Yet, governments are expected to govern and make decisions after consulting relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, for generations, Africans were taught the Western notion of the tribe as . Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. These communities select the Aba Gada, who serves a nonrenewable term of 8 years as leader. Ethiopias monarchy ended in 1974 while the other three remain, with only the king of Swaziland enjoying absolute power. 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. 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? Countries such as Burkina Faso, Guinea, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, for example, attempted to strip chiefs of most of their authority or even abolish chieftaincy altogether. The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. Note: The term rural population is used as a proxy for the population operating under traditional economic systems. Invented chiefs and state-paid elders: These were chiefs imposed by the colonial state on decentralized communities without centralized authority systems. 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. . Uneven access to public services, such as educational, health, and communication services, and the disproportionately high poverty rates in the traditional sector are manifestations of the sectors marginalization. Another issue that needs some clarification is the neglect by the literature of the traditional institutions of the political systems without centralized authority structures. They are the key players in providing judicial service and in conflict management in much of rural Africa. A Sociology of Education for Africa . This enhanced his authority. 3. The colonial system constitutes the second section. 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. 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. 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. However, they do not have custodianship of land and they generally do not dispense justice on their own. 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. For example, is it more effective to negotiate a power-sharing pact among key parties and social groups (as in Kenya) or is there possible merit in a periodic national dialogue to address issues that risk triggering conflict? 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 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. The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. 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. In new countries such as most of those in Africa,7 where the rule of law is in competition with the rule of men, leaders play a strikingly critical role, for good or ill. 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. They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. The council system of the Berbers in Northern Africa also falls within this category (UNECA, 2007). Learn more about joining the community of supporters and scholars working together to advance Hoovers mission and values. You cant impose middle class values on a pre-industrial society.13. In this view, nations fail because of extractive economic and political institutions that do not provide incentives for growth and stability. 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. Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University. Such chiefs also have rather limited powers. 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. . Regardless, fragmentation of institutional systems poses a number of serious challenges to Africas governance and economic development. Broadly speaking, indigenous systems of governance are those that were practiced by local populations in pre-colonial times. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. 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. The relationship between traditional leadership and inherited western-style governance institutions often generates tensions. African governance trends were transformed by the geopolitical changes that came with the end of the Cold War. Hindrance to democratization: Perhaps among the most important challenges institutional fragmentation poses is to the process of democratization. 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. The implementation of these systems often . Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. The Constitution states that the institution, status and roles of traditional leadership, according to customary law, are recognised. Chiefs such as those of the Nuer and Dinka are examples of this category. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. If more leaders practice inclusive politics or find themselves chastened by the power of civil society to do so, this could point the way to better political outcomes in the region. 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 Sierra Leone, paramount chiefs are community leaders and their tasks involve - among others - protecting community safety and resolving disputes. One of these will be the role and weight of various powerful external actors. Somalilands strategy has brought traditional leaders into an active role in the countrys formal governance by creating an upper house in parliament, the Guurti, where traditional leaders exercise the power of approving all bills drafted by the lower house of parliament. f Basic Features cont. 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 . Under the circumstances, it becomes critical that traditional leaders are directly involved in local governance so that they protect the interests of their communities. Certain offences were regarded as serious offences. Botswanas strategy has largely revolved around integrating parallel judicial systems. Traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. 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. A Functional Approach to define Government 2. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). Africa's tumultuous political history has resulted in extreme disparities between the wealth and stability of its countries. A second argument is that traditional institutions are hindrances to the development of democratic governance (Mamdani, 1996; Ntsebeza, 2005). 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. Against this backdrop, where is African governance headed? The reasons why rural communities adhere to the traditional institutions are many (Logan, 2011; Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). While this attribute of the traditional system may not be practical at the national level, it can be viable at local levels and help promote democratic values. The leader is accountable to various levels of elders, who serve as legislators and as judges (Legesse, 1973; Taa, 2017). This we might call transformative resilience.21. Despite the adoption of constitutional term limits in many African countries during the 1990s, such restrictions have been reversed or defied in at least 15 countries since 2000, according to a recent report.6, The conflict-governance link takes various forms, and it points to the centrality of the variable of leadership. With the dawn of colonialism in Africa, the traditional African government was sys-tematically weakened, and the strong and influential bond between traditional lead- . 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. However, the system of traditional government varied from place to place. The US system has survived four years of a norm-busting president by the skin of its teeth - which areas need most urgent attention? The traditional justice system, thus, does not have the power to grant any rights beyond the local level. 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). 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 know a good deal about what Africans want and demand from their governments from public opinion surveys by Afrobarometer. 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 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. Additionally, the Guurti is charged with resolving conflicts in the country using traditional conflict resolution mechanisms. This kind of offences that attract capital punishment is usually . The Dutch dispatched an embassy to the Asantehene's . Among the attributes of the traditional system with such potential is the systems transparent and participatory process of resolving conflicts, which takes place in open public meetings. 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 nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. Often women are excluded from participation in decision making, especially in patrilineal social systems. 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. Most African countries have yet to develop carefully considered strategies of how to reconcile their fragmented institutional systems. While traditional institutions remain indispensable for the communities operating under traditional economic systems, they also represent institutional fragmentation, although the underlying factor for fragmentation is the prevailing dichotomy of economic systems. 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. A third layer lies between the other two layers and is referred to in this article as traditional institutions. Government, Public Policy Performance, Types of Government. Such a transformation would render traditional institutions dispensable. Executive, legislative, and judicial functions are generally attributed by most modern African constitutions to presidents and prime ministers, parliaments, and modern judiciaries. Their "rediscovery" in modern times has led to an important decolonization of local and community management in order to pursue genuine self-determination. The Obas and Caliphs of Nigeria and the Zulu of South Africa are other examples. Misguided policies at the national level combined with cultural constraints facing these social groups may increase exclusion and create seeds of future trouble. Regional governance comes into play here, and certain precedents may get set and then ratified by regional or sub-regional organizations. The population in the traditional system thus faces a vicious cycle of deprivation. 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. 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. The abolishment of chieftaincy does not eradicate the systems broader underlying features, such as customary law, decision-making systems, and conflict resolution practices. During the colonial period, "tribe" was used to identify specific cultural and political groups in much the same way as "nation" is defined above. 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. There are also various arguments in the literature against traditional institutions.2 One argument is that chieftaincy impedes the pace of development as it reduces the relevance of the state in the area of social services (Tom Mboya in Osaghae, 1989). 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. 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. Both types of government can be effective or infective depending on . This provides wide opportunity for governments to experiment, to chart a course independent of Western preferences, but it can also encourage them to move toward authoritarian, state capitalist policies when that is the necessary or the expedient thing to do.
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