features of traditional african system of government

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? Pre-Colonial Period in Ghana | Pre-Colonial Political Systems Under conditions where nation-building is in a formative stage, the retribution-seeking judicial system and the winner-take-all multiparty election systems often lead to combustible conditions, which undermine the democratization process. Another category of chiefs is those who theoretically are subject to selection by the community. The Aqils (elders) of Somalia and the chiefs in Kenya are good examples. This theme, which is further developed below, is especially critical bearing in mind that Africa is the worlds most ethnically complex region, home to 20 of the worlds most diverse countries in terms of ethnic composition.8. Overturning regimes in Africas often fragile states could become easier to do, without necessarily leading to better governance. Ten years later, in 2017, the number of conflicts was 18, taking place in 13 different countries. This situation supported an external orientation in African politics in which Cold War reference points and former colonial relationships assured that African governments often developed only a limited sense of connection to their own societies. In addition, resolution needs to be acceptable to all parties. They also serve as guardians and symbols of cultural values and practices. Finally, the chapter considers the future of the institution against the background of the many issues and challenges considered. The relationship between traditional leadership and inherited western-style governance institutions often generates tensions. The link between conflict and governance is a two-way street. African Solutions for African Problems - The Real Meaning Another measure is recognition of customary law and traditional judicial systems by the state. He served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1981 to 1989. 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 most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. However, there are customs and various arrangements that restrain their power. According to this analysis, Africas traditional institutional systems are likely to endure as long as the traditional subsistent economic systems continue to exist. Strictly speaking, Ghana was the title of the King, but the Arabs, who left records . Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) Democratic and dictatorial regimes both vest their authority in one person or a few individuals. African Politics: A Very Short Introduction explores how politics is practised on the African continent, providing an overview of the different states and their systems. The result is transitory resilience of the regime, but shaky political stability, declining cohesion, and eventual conflict or violent change. Relevance of African traditional institutions of governance | Eldis . They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. Some trust traditional leaders more than they trust state authorities. 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). As Legesse (1973, 2000) notes, the fundamental principles that guide the consensus-based (decentralized) authority systems include curbing the concentration of power in an institution or a person and averting the emergence of a rigid hierarchy. The link was not copied. The Role and Significance of Traditional Leadership in South African The reasons why rural communities adhere to the traditional institutions are many (Logan, 2011; Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). Sometimes, another precedent flows from thesenamely, pressure from outside the country but with some support internally as well for creating a transitional government of national unity. Rules of procedure were established through customs and traditions some with oral, some with written constitutions Women played active roles in the political system including holding leadership and military positions. However, they are not merely customs and norms; rather they are systems of governance, which were formal in precolonial times and continue to exist in a semiformal manner in some countries and in an informal manner in others. 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. 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 regime in this case captures the state, co-opts the security organs, and dissolves civil society. By the mid-1970s, the military held power in one-third of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. Authority in this system was shared or distributed to more people within the community. 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. 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. Land privatization is, thus, unworkable in pastoral communities, as communal land ownership would be unworkable in a capitalist economy. Changes in economic and political systems trigger the need for new institutional systems to manage the new economic and political systems, while endurance of economic and political systems foster durability of existing institutional systems. This page was processed by aws-apollo-l2 in 0.093 seconds, Using these links will ensure access to this page indefinitely. 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. 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. 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. Even so, customary law still exerts a strong . 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. Its marginalization, in turn, impedes the transformation of the traditional sector, thus extending the fragmentation of institutions. Features of Yoruba Pre colonial Administration - Bscholarly On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. Public Administration and Traditional Administrative System in Africa A third layer lies between the other two layers and is referred to in this article as traditional institutions. 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. Government: A Multifarious Concept 1.2. The political history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans andat least 200,000 years agoanatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. These features include nonprofits, non-profits and hybrid entities are now provide goods and services that were once delivered by the government. The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. 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. The Boundaries of Tradition: An Examination of the Traditional This is in part because the role of traditional leaders has changed over time. 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. In the postcolonial era, their roles changed again. Based on existing evidence, the authority systems in postcolonial Africa lie in a continuum between two polar points. Traditional institutions already adjudicate undisclosed but large proportions of rural disputes. In this paper, I look first at the emergence of the African state system historically, including colonial legacies and the Cold Wars impact on governance dynamics. The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. 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). Africa's tumultuous political history has resulted in extreme disparities between the wealth and stability of its countries. 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. Similarly, the process of conflict resolution is undertaken in an open assembly and is intended to reconcile parties in conflict rather than to merely punish offenders. 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. 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. The abolishment of chieftaincy does not eradicate the systems broader underlying features, such as customary law, decision-making systems, and conflict resolution practices. 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. Traditional governments have the following functions; One of these will be the role and weight of various powerful external actors. The roles assigned to them by the colonial state came to an end, and the new state imposed its own modifications of their roles. Unfortunately, little attention by African governments has been given to this paradoxical aspect of traditional institutions. 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. 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. African Political Systems - Wikipedia Nation, Tribe and Ethnic Group in Africa | Cultural Survival The leader is accountable to various levels of elders, who serve as legislators and as judges (Legesse, 1973; Taa, 2017). The express prohibition in the African Charter against discrimination according to ethnic group constitutes a major step for the continent as a whole because the realization of this right will lead to greater economic opportunity for those people not of the same kinship as the head of government. 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 parallel institutional systems often complement each other in the continents contemporary governance. Such a consensus-building mechanism can help resolve many of the conflicts related to diversity management and nation-building. The customary structures of governance of traditional leadership were put aside or transformed. List of African Union member states by political system Roughly 80% of rural populations in selected research sites in Ethiopia, for example, say that they rely on traditional institutions to settle disputes, while the figure is around 65% in research sites in Kenya (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). Many others choose the customary laws and conflict resolution mechanisms because they correspond better to their way of life. Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation: Many African countries, Ghana and Uganda, for example, have, like all other states, formal institutions of the state and informal institutions (societal norms, customs, and practices). In general, decentralized political systems, which are often elder-based with group leadership, have received little attention, even though these systems are widespread and have the institutions of judicial systems and mechanisms of conflict resolution and allocation of resources, like the institutions of the centralized systems. 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. 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. In African-style democracy the rule of law is only applicable to ordinary people unconnected to the governing party leadership or leader. 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. 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. Pre-colonial Political System In Nigeria (Yoruba Traditional System) Chiefs with limited power: Another category of chiefs is those that are hereditary, like the paramount chiefs, but have limited powers. Reconciling the parallel institutional systems is also unlikely to deliver the intended results in a short time; however, there may not be any better alternatives. It assigned them new roles while stripping away some of their traditional roles. America's flawed democracy: the five key areas where it - The Guardian 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. Poor gender relations: Traditional institutions share some common weaknesses. 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. Key Takeaways. This is done through the enforcement agencies such as the police force. 1.4. 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. Highlight 5 features of government. His dramatic tenure since April of 2018 appears to be shaking up the states creaky authoritarian services and creating the space for important adaptations such as ending a long-standing state of emergency, freeing political prisoners, reaching out to a wide range of foreign partners, and extending the olive branch to Eritrea with whom Ethiopia had fought a costly war. THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, 27 Pages It then analyzes the implications of the dual allegiance of the citizenry to chiefs and the government. 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. Afrocentrism | Definition, Examples, History, Beliefs, & Facts The endurance of traditional institutions entails complex and paradoxical implications for contemporary Africas governance. Additionally, the Guurti is charged with resolving conflicts in the country using traditional conflict resolution mechanisms. Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. In many tribes, the chief was the representative of the ancestors. The jury is still out on the merits of this practice. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Note: The term rural population is used as a proxy for the population operating under traditional economic systems. However, they are not merely customs and norms; rather they are systems of governance, which were formal in precolonial times and continue to exist in a semiformal manner in some countries and in an informal manner in others.1. On the opposite side are the decentralized systems, led by a council of elders, that command little formal power. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. In many cases, the invented chieftaincies were unsuccessful in displacing the consensus-based governance structures (Gartrell, 1983; Uwazie, 1994). 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. More frequently, this form of rule operates at the sub-state level as in the case of the emir of Kano or the Sultan of Sokoto in Nigeria or the former royal establishments of the Baganda (Uganda) or the Ashanti (Ghana). The role of traditional leaders in modern Africa, especially in modern African democracies, is complex and multifaceted. African indigenous education was. Basing key political decisions on broad societal and inter-party consensus may help to de-escalate cutthroat competition that often leads to violent conflicts. Under the circumstances, it becomes critical that traditional leaders are directly involved in local governance so that they protect the interests of their communities. Music is a form of communication and it plays a functional role in African society . In Igbo land for example the system of government was quite unique and transcends the democracy of America and Europe. 2. It considers the nature of the state in sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. 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. 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. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. 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.

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