features of traditional african system of government features of traditional african system of government

The traditional and informal justice systems, it is argued offers greater access to justice. 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. Long-standing kingdoms such as those in Morocco and Swaziland are recognized national states. 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). After examining the history, challenges, and opportunities for the institution of traditional leadership within a modern democracy, the chapter considers the effect of the current constitutional guarantee for chieftaincy and evaluates its practical workability and structural efficiency under the current governance system. The third section deals with the post-colonial period and discusses some problems associated with African administration. In Igbo land for example the system of government was quite unique and transcends the democracy of America and Europe. 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. The analysis presented here suggests that traditional institutions are relevant in a number of areas while they are indispensable for the governance of Africas traditional economic sector, which lies on the fringes of formal state institutions. No doubt rural communities participate in elections, although they are hardly represented in national assemblies by people from their own socioeconomic space. Allocation of resources, such as land, is also much more egalitarian under the traditional system than it is under the private ownership system in the formal state system. Finally, the chapter considers the future of the institution against the background of the many issues and challenges considered. 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. An election bound to be held in the year 2019 will unveil the new . Regardless, fragmentation of institutional systems poses a number of serious challenges to Africas governance and economic development. The regime in this case captures the state, co-opts the security organs, and dissolves civil society. 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. Since institutional fragmentation is a major obstacle to nation-building and democratization, it is imperative that African countries address it and forge institutional harmony. Maintenance of law and order: the primary and most important function of the government is to maintain law and order in a state. This page was processed by aws-apollo-l2 in 0.093 seconds, Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. All life was religious . the system even after independence. Consequently, national and regional governance factors interact continuously. On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. It then analyzes the implications of the dual allegiance of the citizenry to chiefs and the government. 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. Another basic question is, whom to include? Understanding the Gadaa System. 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. 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). 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. The key lies in identifying the variables that will shape its context. Throughout our over one-hundred-year history, our work has directly led to policies that have produced greater freedom, democracy, and opportunity in the United States and the world. There is one constitution and one set of laws and rules for ordinary people, and quite other for the ruling family and the politically connected elite. Furthermore, for generations, Africans were taught the Western notion of the tribe as . 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. Even old-fashioned tyrants learn that inclusion or co-option are expensive. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. 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- Communities like the Abagusii, Ameru, Akamba, Mijikenda, and Agikuyu in Kenya had this system of government. 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. Its lack of influence on policy also leads to its marginalization in accessing resources and public services, resulting in poverty, poor knowledge, and a poor information base, which, in turn, limits its ability to exert influence on policy. In other words, the transition from traditional modes of production to a capitalist economic system has advanced more in some countries than in others. 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. Perhaps a more realistic transitional approach would be to reconcile the parallel institutions while simultaneously pursuing policies that transform traditional economic systems. 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. Today, the five most common government systems include democracy, republic, monarchy, communism and . Large segments of the rural populations, the overwhelming majority in most African countries, continue to adhere principally to traditional institutions. To sum up, traditional institutions provide vital governance services to communities that operate under traditional socioeconomic spaces. 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. Our data indicate that traditional leaders, chiefs and elders clearly still play an important role in the lives 2. Judicial Administration. 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. 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. It is also challenging to map them out without specifying their time frame. All the characteristic features of a traditional society are, for obvious reasons, reflected in the education system. This fragmentation is also unlikely to go away anytime soon on its own. "Law" in traditional Africa includes enforceable traditions, customs, and laws. However, the traditional judicial system has some weaknesses, especially with respect to gender equality. We know a good deal about what Africans want and demand from their governments from public opinion surveys by Afrobarometer. By the mid-1970s, the military held power in one-third of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. 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. 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. 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". The Alafin as the political head of the empire was . The chapter further examines the dabbling of traditional leaders in the political process in spite of the proscription of the institution from mainstream politics and, in this context, analyzes the policy rationale for attempting to detach chieftaincy from partisan politics. At times, devolution has had major fiscal and governance consequences, including serving as a vehicle for co-option and corruption. The endurance of traditional institutions entails complex and paradoxical implications for contemporary Africas governance. The place and role of African Youth in Pre-independence African Governance Systems 19-20 1.7. The opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University. The population in the traditional system thus faces a vicious cycle of deprivation. These dynamics often lead to increased state fragility or the re-authoritarianization of once more participatory governance systems.12 The trend is sometimes, ironically, promoted by western firms and governments more interested in commercial access and getting along with existing governments than with durable political and economic development. Analysis here is thus limited to traditional authority systems under the postcolonial experience. 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. 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. 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 campaign by some (but not all) African states to pull out of the International Criminal Court is but one illustration of the trend. The roles assigned to them by the colonial state came to an end, and the new state imposed its own modifications of their roles. 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. Other governance systems in the post-independence era and their unique features, if any. Following decolonization, several African countries attempted to abolish aspects of the traditional institutional systems. However, there are customs and various arrangements that restrain their power. In some countries, such as Botswana, customary courts are estimated to handle approximately 80% of criminal cases and 90% of civil cases (Sharma, 2004). These include - murder, burglary, landcase, witchcraft, profaning the deities and homicide. 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. The role of traditional leaders in modern Africa, especially in modern African democracies, is complex and multifaceted. 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. 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 . 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. Non-official institutions and civil society may have very different ideas from the national government on this issue, leading to debates about legitimacy. Such a transformation would render traditional institutions dispensable. 1995 focuses on social, economic, and intellectual trends up to the end of the colonial era. The structures of leadership of African traditional institutions are diverse and they have yet to be mapped out comprehensively. Command economies, as opposed to free-market economies, do not allow market forces like supply and demand to determine production or prices. Ousted royals such as Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) and King Idriss (Libya) may be replaced by self-anointed secular rulers who behave as if they were kings until they, in turn, get overthrown. Government and the Political System 2.1. 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. 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. 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. 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. African political elites are more determined than ever to shape their own destiny, and they are doing so. Before delving into the inquiry, clarification of some issues would be helpful in avoiding confusion. 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. Government and Political Systems. 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. Introduction: The Meaning of the Concept Government 1.1. 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. The relationship between traditional leadership and inherited western-style governance institutions often generates tensions. (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. In African-style democracy the rule of law is only applicable to ordinary people unconnected to the governing party leadership or leader. 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. Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. 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). 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). for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. 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. f Basic Features cont. An alternative strategy of bringing about institutional harmony would be to transform the traditional economic systems into an exchange-based economy that would be compatible with the formal institutions of the state. 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. The first three parts deal with the principal objectives of the article. Due to the influence of previous South African and Nigerian leaders, the African Union established the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) to review and report on a range of governance criteria. Hoover scholars form the Institutions core and create breakthrough ideas aligned with our mission and ideals. 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. Ten years later, in 2017, the number of conflicts was 18, taking place in 13 different countries. 79 (3), (1995) pp. 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). Contents 1. 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. However, three countries, Botswana, Somaliland, and South Africa, have undertaken differing measures with varying levels of success. Its marginalization, in turn, impedes the transformation of the traditional sector, thus extending the fragmentation of institutions. When a seemingly brittle regime reaches the end of its life, it becomes clear that the state-society gap is really a regime-society gap; the state withers and its institutions become hollow shells that serve mainly to extract rents. Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. Paramount chiefs with rather weak system of accountability: The Buganda of Uganda and the Nupe in Nigeria are good examples.