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

Beyond such macro factors, several less obvious variables seem important to the political and economic governance future of the region. 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. 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. Their endurance and coexistence with the institutions of the state has created an institutional dichotomy in much of Africa. 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. 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). The relationship between traditional leadership and inherited western-style governance institutions often generates tensions. Greater access to public services and to productivity-enhancing technology would also help in enhancing the transformation of the subsistence sector. The post-colonial State, on the other hand . There are several types of government systems in African politics: in an absolute monarchy, the head of state and head of government is a monarch with unlimited legal authority,; in a constitutional monarchy, the monarch is a ceremonial figurehead who has few political competences,; in a presidential system, the president is the head of state and head of government, The same technology vectors can also empower criminal, trafficking, and terrorist networks, all of which pose threats to state sovereignty. Hindrance to democratization: Perhaps among the most important challenges institutional fragmentation poses is to the process of democratization. In Botswana, for example, the consensual decision-making process in the kgotla (public meeting) regulates the power of the chiefs. As Mamdani has argued, understanding the role of traditional leadership and customary law in contemporary African societies requires us to understand its history. In some countries, such as Botswana, customary courts are estimated to handle approximately 80% of criminal cases and 90% of civil cases (Sharma, 2004). (2005), customary systems operating outside of the state regime are often the dominant form of regulation and dispute resolution, covering up to 90% of the population in parts of Africa. The debate is defined by "traditionalists" and "modernists." . Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. South Africas strategy revolves around recognition of customary law when it does not conflict with the constitution and involves traditional authorities in local governance. Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Contentious Politics and Political Violence, Political Values, Beliefs, and Ideologies, Why African Traditional Institutions Endure, Authority Systems of Africas Traditional Institutions, Relevance and Paradox of Traditional Institutions, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1347, United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, Global Actors: Networks, Elites, and Institutions, Traditional Leaders and Development in Africa. not because of, the unique features of US democracy . 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? However, three countries, Botswana, Somaliland, and South Africa, have undertaken differing measures with varying levels of success. One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today. African states are by no means homogeneous in terms of governance standards: as the Mo Ibrahim index based on 14 governance categories reported in 2015, some 70 points on a scale of 100 separated the best and worst performers.16. Tribes had relatively little power outside their own group during the colonial period. 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. On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power. 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. Because these governmental institutions reject the indigenous political systems on which African society was built, they have generally failed to bring political . It considers the nature of the state in sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. References: Blakemore and Cooksey (1980). Such a transformation would render traditional institutions dispensable. 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. 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. Perhaps a more realistic transitional approach would be to reconcile the parallel institutions while simultaneously pursuing policies that transform traditional economic systems. The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. Other governance systems in the post-independence era and their unique features, if any. 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. Learn more about joining the community of supporters and scholars working together to advance Hoovers mission and values. In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. During the colonial period, "tribe" was used to identify specific cultural and political groups in much the same way as "nation" is defined above. 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. Fitzpatrick 'Traditionalism and Traditional Law' Journal of African Law, Vol. The indigenous political system had some democratic features. Based on existing evidence, the authority systems in postcolonial Africa lie in a continuum between two polar points. Oftentimes, however, they contradict each other, creating problems associated with institutional incoherence. 1. 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. 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. Some African leaders such as Ghanas Jerry Rawlings, Zambias Kenneth Kaunda, or Mozambiques Joachim Chissano accept and respect term limits and stand down. 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. One common feature is recognition of customary property rights laws, especially that of land. 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. One layer represents the formal institutions (laws) of the state. African indigenous education was. 3. The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. Introduction: The Meaning of the Concept Government 1.1. Customary law also manages land tenure and land allocation patterns. The Obas and Caliphs of Nigeria and the Zulu of South Africa are other examples. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. 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. These migrations resulted in part from the formation and disintegration of a series of large states in the western Sudan (the region north of modern Ghana drained by the Niger River). Admittedly, the problem is by no means uniquely African, but it is very commonly experienced in Africa. Large segments of the rural populations, the overwhelming majority in most African countries, continue to adhere principally to traditional institutions. 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. Regional governance comes into play here, and certain precedents may get set and then ratified by regional or sub-regional organizations. African traditional institutions continue to exist in most African countries, albeit at different levels of adherence by the populations of the continent. 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 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. Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation: 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". Command economies, as opposed to free-market economies, do not allow market forces like supply and demand to determine production or prices. Customary law, for example, does not protect communities from violations of their customary land rights through land-taking by the state. Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) The Pre-Colonial Period: From the Ashes of Pharaohs to the Berlin Conference At the end of the prehistoric period (10 000 BC), some African nomadic bands began to 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. 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. In some cases, community elders select future Sultanes at a young age and groom them for the position. Similarities between Democratic and Authoritarian Government. One is the controversy over what constitutes traditional institutions and if the African institutions referred to as traditional in this inquiry are truly indigenous traditions, since colonialism as well as the postcolonial state have altered them notably, as Zack-Williams (2002) and Kilson (1966) observe. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals .