African Traditional Political System and Institution: University of The Gambia, Faculty of humanities and social sciences. 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. 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. 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. African traditional institutions continue to exist in most African countries, albeit at different levels of adherence by the populations of the continent. 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. 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. Many others choose the customary laws and conflict resolution mechanisms because they correspond better to their way of life. MyHoover delivers a personalized experience atHoover.org. Additionally, the transaction costs for services provided by the traditional institutions are much lower than the services provided by the state. Paramount chiefs: Another category of leadership structure is that of hereditary paramount chieftaincy with various traditional titles and various levels of accountability. 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 This is done through the enforcement agencies such as the police force. 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. The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions . This approach to governance was prominent in the Oyo empire. The leaders, their families and allies are exempt. The term covers the expressed commands of It is unlikely, however, that such harmony can be brought about by measures that aim to abolish the traditional system, as was attempted by some countries in the aftermath of decolonization. Using a second conflict lens, the number of non-state conflicts has increased dramatically in recent years, peaking in 2017 with 50 non-state conflicts, compared to 24 in 2011. However, the traditional modes of production and the institutional systems associated with them also remain entrenched among large segments of the population. 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. In this view, nations fail because of extractive economic and political institutions that do not provide incentives for growth and stability. The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. A second argument is that traditional institutions are hindrances to the development of democratic governance (Mamdani, 1996; Ntsebeza, 2005). 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. The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. 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. That is, each society had a set of rules, laws, and traditions, sometimes called customs, that established how the people would live together peacefully as part of larger group. Constitutions of postcolonial states have further limited the power of chiefs. 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. 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. 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. The nature of governance is central because it determines whether the exercise of authority is viewed as legitimate. In addition, resolution needs to be acceptable to all parties. Indications are, however, that the more centralized the system is, the lower the accountability and popular participation in decision making. Tribe Versus Ethnic Group. 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. Consequently, national and regional governance factors interact continuously. 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 fragmentation is also unlikely to go away anytime soon on its own. 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. Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation:
This proposal will be subject to a referendum on the constitutional changes required.16.2e 2.4 Traditional leadership Traditional leaders are accorded 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 role of chieftaincy within post-colonial African countries continues to incite lively debates, as the case of Ghana exemplifies. Table 1 shows the proportion of the population that operates under traditional economic systems in selected African countries. Nonhereditary selected leaders with constitutional power: A good example of this is the Gada system of the Oromo in Ethiopia and Kenya. Non-official institutions and civil society may have very different ideas from the national government on this issue, leading to debates about legitimacy. On the one side, there are the centralized systems where leaders command near absolute power. for a democratic system of government. Hoover Education Success Initiative | The Papers. 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".
In Botswana, for example, the consensual decision-making process in the kgotla (public meeting) regulates the power of the chiefs. The colonial state, for example, invented chiefs where there were no centralized authority systems and imposed them on the decentralized traditional systems, as among the Ibo of Eastern Nigeria, the Tonga in Zambia, various communities in Kenya, and the communities in Somalia. 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. 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. 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. Chester A. Crocker is the James R. Schlesinger Professor of Strategic Studies at Georgetown University. The council of elders, religious leaders, and administrative staff of the chiefs exercise checks on the power of the leaders and keep them accountable (Beattie, 1967; Busia, 1968; Coplan & Quinlan, 1997; Jones, 1983; Osaghae, 1989). 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. These include - murder, burglary, landcase, witchcraft, profaning the deities and homicide. 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 . 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. They dispense justice, resolve conflicts, and enforce contracts, even though such services are conducted in different ways in different authority systems. Lawmaking: government makes laws to regulate the behavior of its citizens. Government as a Structural Element of Society 2.2. Admittedly, the problem is by no means uniquely African, but it is very commonly experienced in Africa. 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. 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. Overturning regimes in Africas often fragile states could become easier to do, without necessarily leading to better 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). 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. 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). What policies and laws will determine relations between farmers and urban dwellers, between farmers and herders, between diverse identity groups living in close proximity or encroaching on each others farm land, and between public officials, criminal networks and ordinary citizens? 2. 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). 1. A more recent example of adaptive resilience is being demonstrated by Ethiopias Abiy Ahmed. . 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. In addition to these measures, reconciling fragmented institutions would be more successful when governments invest more resources in transforming the traditional socioeconomic space. Africa's tumultuous political history has resulted in extreme disparities between the wealth and stability of its countries. 28, (1984) pp. 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. The Obas and Caliphs of Nigeria and the Zulu of South Africa are other examples. . Different property rights laws are a notable source of conflict in many African countries. Note: The term rural population is used as a proxy for the population operating under traditional economic systems. Contents 1. 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. 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. 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. the system even after independence. The Aqils (elders) of Somalia and the chiefs in Kenya are good examples. The Alafin as the political head of the empire was . Rather, they are conveners of assemblies of elders or lower level chiefs who deliberate on settlement of disputes. With respect to their relevance, traditional institutions remain indispensable for several reasons. For these and other reasons, the state-society gap lies at the heart of the problems faced by many states. 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, 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. The quality and durability of such leader-defined adaptive resilience cannot be assured and can be reversed unless the associated norms become institutionalized. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. The Chinese understand the basics. However, three countries, Botswana, Somaliland, and South Africa, have undertaken differing measures with varying levels of success. The link was not copied. With the introduction of the Black Administration Act the African system of governance and administration was changed and the white government took control of the African population. However, they do not have custodianship of land and they generally do not dispense justice on their own. One scholar specializing on the Horn of Africa likens the situation a political marketplace in which politics and violence are simply options along the spectrum pursued by powerful actors.5. The cases of Nigeria, Kenya, and South Sudan suggest that each case must be assessed on its own merits. 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. Violating customary property rights, especially land takings, without adequate compensation impedes institutional reconciliation by impoverishing rather than transforming communities operating in the traditional economic system. THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, 27 Pages
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. Such a consensus-building mechanism can help resolve many of the conflicts related to diversity management and nation-building. This is in part because the role of traditional leaders has changed over time. 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. 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. Indeed, it should be added that a high percentage of todays conflicts are recurrences of previous ones, often in slightly modified form with parties that may organize under more than one flag. 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. Within this spectrum, some eight types of leadership structures can be identified. This kind of offences that attract capital punishment is usually . A second objective is to draw a tentative typology of the different authority systems of Africas traditional institutions. In Igbo land for example the system of government was quite unique and transcends the democracy of America and Europe. 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. A key factor in the size of adherents of rural institutions, however, seems to depend on the ratio of the population in the traditional economic systems to the total population. 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. 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. 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. A Long Journey: The Bantu Migrations. Political leaders everywhere face competing demands in this regard. Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) media system, was concerned with the more systematized dissemination of information between the traditional administrative organ and the people (subjects). During the colonial period, "tribe" was used to identify specific cultural and political groups in much the same way as "nation" is defined above. Traditional leaders would also be able to use local governance as a platform for exerting some influence on national policymaking. Careful analysis suggests that African traditional institutions lie in a continuum between the highly decentralized to the centralized systems and they all have resource allocation practices, conflict resolution, judicial systems, and decision-making practices, which are distinct from those of the state. 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. 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. A long-term route to political and economic success has been comprehensively documented by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in their global study of why nations fail or succeed. by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University. Yet, governments are expected to govern and make decisions after consulting relevant stakeholders. The swing against western norms was captured in an interview with Ugandas repeatedly re-elected president Yoweri Museveni who remarked How can you have structural adjustment without electricity? Poor gender relations: Traditional institutions share some common weaknesses. Institutional dichotomy also seems to be a characteristic of transitional societies, which are between modes of production. 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.