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

THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN CUSTOMARY LAW, Fenrich, Galizzi, Higgins, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2011, Available at SSRN: If you need immediate assistance, call 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 212 448 2500 outside of the United States, 8:30AM to 6:00PM U.S. Eastern, Monday - Friday. African indigenous education was. For Acemoglu and Robinson, such turning points occur in specific, unique historical circumstances that arise in a societys development. by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University. The same source concluded that 7 out of the 12 worst scores for political rights and civil liberties are African.11 As noted, the reasons vary: patrimonialism gone wrong (the big man problem), extreme state fragility and endemic conflict risks, the perverse mobilization of ethnicity by weak or threatened leaders. 7. To learn more, visit Pre-colonial Administration of the Yorubas. Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. 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. It should not be surprising that there is a weak social compact between state and society in many African states. 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). 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. f Basic Features cont. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. 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. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. The usual plethora of bour- In some countries, such as Botswana, customary courts are estimated to handle approximately 80% of criminal cases and 90% of civil cases (Sharma, 2004). Such chiefs also have rather limited powers. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . This can happen in several ways. Keywords: Legal Pluralism, African Customary Law, Traditional Leadership, Chieftaincy, Formal Legal System Relationship With, Human Rights, Traditional Norms, Suggested Citation: 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. 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). Council of elders: These systems essentially operate on consensual decision-making arrangements that vary from one place to another. 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. 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. Their "rediscovery" in modern times has led to an important decolonization of local and community management in order to pursue genuine self-determination. 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. However, the system of traditional government varied from place to place. 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. Botswanas strategy has largely revolved around integrating parallel judicial systems. 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. In other cases, however, they survived as paid civil servants of the state without displacing the traditional elder-based traditional authority systems. Traditional and informal justice systems aim at restoring social cohesion within the community by promoting reconciliation between disputing parties. In the thankfully rare cases where national governance breaks down completelySouth Sudan, Somalia, CARits absence is an invitation to every ethnic or geographic community to fend for itselfa classic security dilemma. 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. Abstract. 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. Hindrance to democratization: Perhaps among the most important challenges institutional fragmentation poses is to the process of democratization. FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. In addition, they have traditional institutions of governance of various national entities, including those surrounding the Asantehene of the Ashanti in Ghana and the Kabaka of the Buganda in Uganda. Another issue that needs some clarification is the neglect by the literature of the traditional institutions of the political systems without centralized authority structures. Traditional governments have the following functions; This concept paper focuses on the traditional system of governance in Africa including their consensual decision-making models, as part of a broader effort to better define and advocate their role in achieving good governance. 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. However, three countries, Botswana, Somaliland, and South Africa, have undertaken differing measures with varying levels of success. 1. Most of the regions states were defined geographically by European cartographers at the start of the colonial period. The Constitution states that the institution, status and roles of traditional leadership, according to customary law, are recognised. Within this spectrum, some eight types of leadership structures can be identified. The Chinese understand the basics. Since then, many more have been formulated, but the main themes and ideas have remained. 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. 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 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). As noted, African countries have experienced the rise of the modern (capitalist) economic system along with its corresponding institutional systems. This principle is particularly relevant for diversity management, nation-building, and democratization in contemporary Africa. 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. Africa contains more sovereign nations than any other continent, with 54 countries compared to Asia's 47. Traditional leaders would also be able to use local governance as a platform for exerting some influence on national policymaking. The leaders in this system have significant powers, as they often are custodians of their communitys land and they dispense justice in their courts. Wise leadership respects ethnic diversity and works toward inclusive policies. The most promising pattern is adaptive resilience in which leaders facing such pressures create safety valves or outlets for managing social unrest. History. As institutional scholars state, institutional incompatibility leads to societal conflicts by projecting different laws governing societal interactions (Eisenstadt, 1968; Helmke & Levitsky, 2004; March & Olsen, 1984; North, 1990; Olsen, 2007). 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. . Institutional dichotomy also seems to be a characteristic of transitional societies, which are between modes of production. The point here is that peer pressure, examples, and precedents are especially important in a region of 54 states, many of them dependent on satisfactory relations with their neighbors. 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 You cant impose middle class values on a pre-industrial society.13. 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. A Functional Approach to define Government 2. 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. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. 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). 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. for a democratic system of government. Additionally, the Guurti is charged with resolving conflicts in the country using traditional conflict resolution mechanisms. In traditional African communities, it was not possible to distinguish between religious and non-religious areas of life. Customary law, for example, does not protect communities from violations of their customary land rights through land-taking by the state. 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. The abolishment of chieftaincy does not eradicate the systems broader underlying features, such as customary law, decision-making systems, and conflict resolution practices. Ehret 2002 emphasizes the diversity and long history of precolonial social and political formations, whereas Curtin, et al. Click here to get an answer to your question Discuss any similarities between the key features of the fourth republican democracy and the traditional afri Paramount chiefs: Another category of leadership structure is that of hereditary paramount chieftaincy with various traditional titles and various levels of accountability. Before then, traditional authorities essentially provided leadership for the various communities and kingdoms. Chiefs such as those of the Nuer and Dinka are examples of this category. Extensive survey research is required to estimate the size of adherents to traditional institutions. As a result, they are not dispensable as long as the traditional economic systems endure. This point links the reader to the other Africa chapters that have been prepared for this project. Legitimate authority, in turn, is based on accepted laws and norms rather than the arbitrary, unconstrained power of the rulers. 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. This brief overview of conflict in Africa signals the severity of the security challenges to African governance, especially in those sub-regions that feature persistent and recurrent outbreaks of violence. Even old-fashioned tyrants learn that inclusion or co-option are expensive. Large countries such as the DRC, Ethiopia, and Mozambique are likely to experience pressures against centralized, authoritarian, or one-party governance (whether accompanied by real elections or not). 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. 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. We know a good deal about what Africans want and demand from their governments from public opinion surveys by Afrobarometer. The geography of South Africa is vast scrubland in the interior, the Namib Desert in the northwest, and tropics in the southeast. Nonhereditary selected leaders with constitutional power: A good example of this is the Gada system of the Oromo in Ethiopia and Kenya. The government system is a republic; the chief of state and head of government is the president. 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. Lawmaking: government makes laws to regulate the behavior of its citizens. Hoover Education Success Initiative | The Papers. Regardless, fragmentation of institutional systems poses a number of serious challenges to Africas governance and economic development. At times, devolution has had major fiscal and governance consequences, including serving as a vehicle for co-option and corruption. 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 no more critical variable than governance, for it is governance that determines whether there are durable links between the state and the society it purports to govern. They also serve as guardians and symbols of cultural values and practices. Democratic and dictatorial regimes both vest their authority in one person or a few individuals. Key Takeaways. Africa's tumultuous political history has resulted in extreme disparities between the wealth and stability of its countries. These consisted of monarchy, aristocracy and polity. The problems that face African governments are universal. 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. This process becomes difficult when citizens are divided into parallel socioeconomic spaces with different judicial systems, property rights laws, and resource allocation mechanisms, which often may conflict with each other. Third, Africas conflict burden reflects different forms and sources of violence that sometimes become linked to each other: political movements may gain financing and coercive support from criminal networks and traffickers, while religious militants with connections to terrorist groups are often adept at making common cause with local grievance activists. 134-141. 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. In African-style democracy the rule of law is only applicable to ordinary people unconnected to the governing party leadership or leader. Admittedly, the problem is by no means uniquely African, but it is very commonly experienced in Africa. African states, along with Asian, Middle Eastern, and even European governments, have all been affected. Yet, governments are expected to govern and make decisions after consulting relevant stakeholders. These communities select the Aba Gada, who serves a nonrenewable term of 8 years as leader. Following decolonization, several African countries attempted to abolish aspects of the traditional institutional systems. Government acknowledges the critical role of traditional leadership institutions in South Africa's constitutional democracy and in communities, particularly in relation to the Rural . 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. Interestingly, small and mid-size state leaders have won the award so far.) 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. Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Politics. Before delving into the inquiry, clarification of some issues would be helpful in avoiding confusion. The roles that traditional authorities can play in the process of good governance can broadly be separated into three categories: first, their advisory role to government, as well as their participatory role in the administration of regions and districts; second, their developmental role, complementing government?s efforts in mobilizing the . But established and recognized forms of inherited rule cannot be lightly dismissed as un-modern, especially when linked to the identity of an ethnic or tribal group, and could be construed as a building block of legitimacy. The quality and durability of such leader-defined adaptive resilience cannot be assured and can be reversed unless the associated norms become institutionalized. Another issue that needs some clarification is the neglect by the literature of the traditional institutions of the political systems without centralized authority structures. 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. 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. The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. However, the traditional judicial system has some weaknesses, especially with respect to gender equality. He served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1981 to 1989. President Muhammadu Buhari is currently the federal head of state and government. Additionally, the transaction costs for services provided by the traditional institutions are much lower than the services provided by the state. 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. Impact of Historical Origins of African State System2. 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. 14 L.A. Ayinla 'African Philosophy of Law: A Critique' 151, available at 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. 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. While empirical data are rather scanty, indications are that the traditional judicial system serves the overwhelming majority of rural communities (Mengisteab & Hagg, 2017). It also develops a theoretical framework for the . Understanding the Gadaa System. 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. The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. In the centralized systems also, traditional leaders of various titles were reduced to chiefs and the colonial state modified notably the relations between the chiefs and their communities by making the chiefs accountable to the colonial state rather than to their communities (Coplan & Quinlan, 1997). Communities like the Abagusii, Ameru, Akamba, Mijikenda, and Agikuyu in Kenya had this system of government. 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. A more recent argument is that traditional institutions are incompatible with economic, social, and civil rights (Chirayath, Sage, & Woolcock, 2005). No doubt rural communities participate in elections, although they are hardly represented in national assemblies by people from their own socioeconomic space. The US system has survived four years of a norm-busting president by the skin of its teeth - which areas need most urgent attention? 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. 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, A strict democracy would enforce the "popular vote" total over the entire United States. 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). These include - murder, burglary, landcase, witchcraft, profaning the deities and homicide. Features Of Traditional Government Administration. Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. One can identify five bases of regime legitimacy in the African context today. The first type is rights-based legitimacy deriving from rule of law, periodic elections, and alternation of political power, the kind generally supported by western and some African governments such as Ghana and Senegal. In most African countries, constitutionally established authorities exercise the power of government alongside traditional authorities. The colonial state modified their precolonial roles. not because of, the unique features of US democracy . 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.