Presently, Nigeria practices the federal system. 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. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today. Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation: There are several types of government that are traditionally instituted around the world. An analytical study and impact of colonialism on pre-colonial centralized and decentralized African Traditional and Political Systems. The third section looks at the critical role of political and economic inclusion in shaping peace and stability and points to some of the primary challenges leaders face in deciding how to manage inclusion: whom to include and how to pay for it. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. The role of chieftaincy within post-colonial African countries continues to incite lively debates, as the case of Ghana exemplifies. 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 . West Africa has a long and complex history. The traditional and informal justice systems, it is argued offers greater access to justice. Others contend that African countries need to follow a mixed institutional system incorporating the traditional and formal systems (Sklar, 2003). 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. Another layer represents the societal norms and customs that differ along various cultural traits. In many cases European or Islamic legal traditions have replaced or significantly modified traditional African ones. Your gift helps advance ideas that promote a free society. Some trust traditional leaders more than they trust state authorities. THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, 27 Pages 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. However, the traditional judicial system has some weaknesses, especially with respect to gender equality. For these and other reasons, the state-society gap lies at the heart of the problems faced by many states. The key . Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) 28, (1984) pp. Land privatization is, thus, unworkable in pastoral communities, as communal land ownership would be unworkable in a capitalist economy. The population in the traditional system thus faces a vicious cycle of deprivation. The pre-colonial system in Yoruba can be described to be democratic because of the inclusion of the principle of checks and balances that had been introduced in the system of administration. This is in part because the role of traditional leaders has changed over time. The link between conflict and governance is a two-way street. 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. Perhaps one of the most serious shared weakness relates to gender relations. In addition to these measures, reconciling fragmented institutions would be more successful when governments invest more resources in transforming the traditional socioeconomic space. 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 council system of the Berbers in Northern Africa also falls within this category (UNECA, 2007). Certain offences were regarded as serious offences. Security challenges can impose tough choices on governments that may act in ways that compound the problem, opening the door to heightened risks of corruption and the slippery slope of working with criminal entities. Afrocentrism, also called Africentrism, cultural and political movement whose mainly African American adherents regard themselves and all other Blacks as syncretic Africans and believe that their worldview should positively reflect traditional African values. Hoover Education Success Initiative | The Papers. There were several reasons for such measures. Contents 1. Virtually every group was involved in the . In addition, according to Chirayath et al. These communities select the Aba Gada, who serves a nonrenewable term of 8 years as leader. Analysis here is thus limited to traditional authority systems under the postcolonial experience. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. 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. This proposal will be subject to a referendum on the constitutional changes required.16.2e 2.4 Traditional leadership Traditional leaders are accorded During the colonial period, "tribe" was used to identify specific cultural and political groups in much the same way as "nation" is defined above. 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. Introduction: The Meaning of the Concept Government 1.1. 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. This enhanced his authority. It is too soon to tell whether such institutions can evolve in modern Africa as a result of gradual tinkering with reformist agendas, as the legacy of wise leaders; or whether they will only happen as a result of fundamental tests of strength between social and political groups. Both can be identified as forms of governance. 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. Strictly speaking, Ghana was the title of the King, but the Arabs, who left records . 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. What sets Hoover apart from all other policy organizations is its status as a center of scholarly excellence, its locus as a forum of scholarly discussion of public policy, and its ability to bring the conclusions of this scholarship to a public audience. Ten years later, in 2017, the number of conflicts was 18, taking place in 13 different countries. Authority in this system was shared or distributed to more people within the community. A second objective is to draw a tentative typology of the different authority systems of Africas traditional institutions. Most African countries have yet to develop carefully considered strategies of how to reconcile their fragmented institutional systems. The movement towards a formal state system is characterized by its emphasis on retribution and punishment. For example, the election day itself goes more or less peacefully, the vote tabulation process is opaque or obscure, and the entire process is shaped by a pre-election playing field skewed decisively in favor of the incumbents. 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. There is little doubt that colonial occupation and the ensuing restructuring of African political entities and socioeconomic systems altered African traditional institutions of governance. 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. On the opposite side are the decentralized systems, led by a council of elders, that command little formal power. 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). This kind of offences that attract capital punishment is usually . Building an inclusive political system also raises the question of what levels of the society to include and how to assure that local communities as well as groups operating at the national level can get their voices heard. 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 common feature is the involvement of traditional authorities in the governance process, at least at the local level. A related reason for their relevance is that traditional institutions, unlike the state, provide rural communities the platform to participate directly in their own governance. 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). In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. In these relatively new nations, the critical task for leadership is to build a social contract that is sufficiently inclusive to permit the management of diversity. 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. Abstract. not because of, the unique features of US democracy . Unfortunately, little attention by African governments has been given to this paradoxical aspect of traditional institutions. Understanding the Gadaa System. Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. Customary law also manages land tenure and land allocation patterns. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. African political systems are described in a number of textbooks and general books on African history. Note that Maine and . For example, the electoral college forces a republic type of voting system. The reasons why rural communities adhere to the traditional institutions are many (Logan, 2011; Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). Such post-electoral pacts reflect the conclusion that stability is more important than democracy. Even old-fashioned tyrants learn that inclusion or co-option are expensive. Communities like the Abagusii, Ameru, Akamba, Mijikenda, and Agikuyu in Kenya had this system of government. Some live in remote areas beyond the reach of some of the institutions of the state, such as courts. Broadly speaking, indigenous systems of governance are those that were practiced by local populations in pre-colonial times. The book contains eight separate papers produced by scholars working in the field of anthropology, each of which focuses in on a different society in Sub-Saharan Africa. The most promising pattern is adaptive resilience in which leaders facing such pressures create safety valves or outlets for managing social unrest. 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. While this seems obvious, it is less clear what vectors and drivers will have the most weight in shaping that outcome. Traditional and informal justice systems aim at restoring social cohesion within the community by promoting reconciliation between disputing parties. 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. 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. The size and intensity of adherence to the traditional economic and institutional systems, however, vary from country to country. The Chinese understand the basics. 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. Music is a form of communication and it plays a functional role in African society . They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . In the postcolonial era, their roles changed again. The implementation of these systems often . General Overviews. By Sulayman Sanneh Date: September 10th, 2021. fIntroduction Africa is a vast and . 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. Since institutional fragmentation is a major obstacle to nation-building and democratization, it is imperative that African countries address it and forge institutional harmony. One influential research group, SIPRI in Sweden, counted a total of 9 active armed conflicts in 2017 (in all of Africa) plus another 7 post-conflict and potential conflict situations.3, More revealing is the granular comparison of conflict types over time. However, their participation in the electoral process has not enabled them to influence policy, protect their customary land rights, and secure access to public services that would help them overcome their deprivation. 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. 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. In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. Decision making is generally participatory and often consensus-based. 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. In this respect, they complement official courts that are often unable to provide court services to all their rural communities. Although much has been lost in the shadows and fogs of a time before people created written accounts, historians . 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. Cold War geopolitics reinforced in some ways the state-society gap as the global rivalry tended to favor African incumbents and frequently assured they would receive significant assistance from external powers seeking to build diplomatic ties with the new states. Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. 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). 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. Overturning regimes in Africas often fragile states could become easier to do, without necessarily leading to better governance. Settling a case in an official court, for example, may involve long-distance travel for villagers and it may require lawyers, translators, a long wait, and court fees, while a traditional court rarely involves such costs and inconveniences. This outline leads us to examine more closely the sources of legitimacy in African governance 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. 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. 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. Africas rural communities, which largely operate under subsistent economic systems, overwhelmingly adhere to the traditional institutional systems while urban communities essentially follow the formal institutional systems, although there are people who negotiate the two institutional systems in their daily lives. Before then, traditional authorities essentially provided leadership for the various communities and kingdoms. Thus, another report by PRIO and the University of Uppsala (two Norwegian and Swedish centers) breaks conflict down into state-based (where at least one party is a government), non-state-based (neither party is an official state actor), and one-sided conflicts (an armed faction against unarmed civilians). 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. Often women are excluded from participation in decision making, especially in patrilineal social systems. Highlight 5 features of government. The traditional Africa system of government is open and inclusive, where strangers, foreigners and even slaves could participate in the decision-making process. 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. They must know the traditional songs and must also be able to improvise songs about current events and chance incidents. Maintenance of law and order: the primary and most important function of the government is to maintain law and order in a state. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. To sum up, traditional institutions provide vital governance services to communities that operate under traditional socioeconomic spaces. In some cases, community elders select future Sultanes at a young age and groom them for the position. 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. The endurance of traditional institutions entails complex and paradoxical implications for contemporary Africas governance. 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. 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. The post-colonial State, on the other hand . 20-27, at p. 21; Carey N. Vicenti 'The re-emergence of tribal society and traditional justice systems' Judicature, Vol. Only four states in AfricaBotswana, Gambia, Mauritius, and Senegalretained multiparty systems. A Functional Approach to define Government 2. The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions . 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. Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. Its marginalization, in turn, impedes the transformation of the traditional sector, thus extending the fragmentation of institutions. 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. 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. Today, the five most common government systems include democracy, republic, monarchy, communism and . Ehret 2002 emphasizes the diversity and long history of precolonial social and political formations, whereas Curtin, et al. In any case, as . South Africas strategy revolves around recognition of customary law when it does not conflict with the constitution and involves traditional authorities in local governance. . Freedom Houses ratings see a pattern of decline since 2005 and note that 10 out of 25 countries (worldwide) with declining ratings are in Africa. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. 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. Communities in the traditional socioeconomic space are hardly represented in any of the organizations of the state, such as the parliament, where they can influence policy and the legal system to reflect their interests. The indigenous political system had some democratic features. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. 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 formal institutions of checks and balances and accountability of leaders to the population are rather weak in this system. 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. 2. Almost at a stroke, the relationships between African governments and the major powers and major sources of concessional finance were upended, while political liberalization in the former Soviet bloc helped to trigger global political shock waves. 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. Paramount chiefs with rather weak system of accountability: The Buganda of Uganda and the Nupe in Nigeria are good examples. 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. This category of chiefs serves their communities in various and sometimes complex roles, which includes spiritual service. Non-official institutions and civil society may have very different ideas from the national government on this issue, leading to debates about legitimacy. Towards a Definition of Government 1.3. Wise leadership respects ethnic diversity and works toward inclusive policies. For Acemoglu and Robinson, such turning points occur in specific, unique historical circumstances that arise in a societys development. African governance trends were transformed by the geopolitical changes that came with the end of the Cold War. Africas geopolitical environment is shaped by Africans to a considerable degree. He served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1981 to 1989. The Constitution states that the institution, status and roles of traditional leadership, according to customary law, are recognised. FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. 2. Some of these conflicts are, in reality, low-tech, sporadic skirmishes and armed attacks. 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. In addition, resolution needs to be acceptable to all parties. Nonhereditary selected leaders with constitutional power: A good example of this is the Gada system of the Oromo in Ethiopia and Kenya. It should not be surprising that there is a weak social compact between state and society in many African states. 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. 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. Most of the regions states were defined geographically by European cartographers at the start of the colonial period. 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. The government system is a republic; the chief of state and head of government is the president. 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. Furthermore, for generations, Africans were taught the Western notion of the tribe as . The development of inclusive institutions may involve struggles that enable political and societal actors to check the domination of entrenched rulers and to broaden rule-based participation in governance. Less than 20% of Africa's states achieved statehood following rebellion or armed insurgency; in the others, independence flowed from . In many tribes, the chief was the representative of the ancestors. The features associated with this new form of governmental administration deal with smaller government responsibility for providing goods and services. A more recent example of adaptive resilience is being demonstrated by Ethiopias Abiy Ahmed. 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. On the other hand, their endurance creates institutional fragmentation that has adverse impacts on Africas governance and socioeconomic transformation.
features of traditional african system of government