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. On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. By the mid-1970s, the politics of Africa had turned authoritarian. Some live in remote areas beyond the reach of some of the institutions of the state, such as courts. The geography of South Africa is vast scrubland in the interior, the Namib Desert in the northwest, and tropics in the southeast. 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. The key . Three layers of institutions characterize most African countries. 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. Yet, governments are expected to govern and make decisions after consulting relevant stakeholders. Democratic and dictatorial regimes both vest their authority in one person or a few individuals. The customary structures of governance of traditional leadership were put aside or transformed. The third section deals with the post-colonial period and discusses some problems associated with African administration. Different property rights laws are a notable source of conflict in many African countries. 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. They also serve as guardians and symbols of cultural values and practices. Non-official institutions and civil society may have very different ideas from the national government on this issue, leading to debates about legitimacy. Customary law also manages land tenure and land allocation patterns. Additionally, inequalities between parallel socioeconomic spaces, especially with respect to influence on policy, hinder a democratic system, which requires equitable representation and inclusive participation. African political elites are more determined than ever to shape their own destiny, and they are doing so. Competing land rights laws, for instance, often lead to appropriations by the state of land customarily held by communities, triggering various land-related conflicts in much of Africa, especially in areas where population growth and environmental degradation have led to land scarcity. In the past decade, traditional security systems utilized in commercial or government facilities have consisted of a few basic elements: a well-trained personnel, a CCTV system, and some kind of access control system. 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. The indigenous political system had some democratic features. 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). These circumstances can generate an authoritarian reflex and the temptation to circle the wagons against all sources of potential opposition. The result is transitory resilience of the regime, but shaky political stability, declining cohesion, and eventual conflict or violent change. There is little doubt that colonial occupation and the ensuing restructuring of African political entities and socioeconomic systems altered African traditional institutions of governance. This point links the reader to the other Africa chapters that have been prepared for this project. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. 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. Obstruction of nation-building: Nation-building entails a process of integrating different segments of the citizenry to form a community of citizens under shared institutions. In direct contrast is the second model: statist, performance-based legitimacy, measured typically in terms of economic growth and domestic stability as well as government-provided servicesthe legitimacy claimed by leaders in Uganda and Rwanda, among others. Should inclusion be an ongoing process or a single event? These dynamics often lead to increased state fragility or the re-authoritarianization of once more participatory governance systems.12 The trend is sometimes, ironically, promoted by western firms and governments more interested in commercial access and getting along with existing governments than with durable political and economic development. The movement towards a formal state system is characterized by its emphasis on retribution and punishment. As a result, customary law, which often is not recognized by the state or is recognized only when it does not contradict the constitution, does not protect communities from possible transgressions by the state. Although considerable differences exist among the various systems, opportunities for women to participate in decision making in most traditional systems are generally limited. 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. African indigenous education was. Africas states are the worlds newest, and it can hardly be surprising that Africans define themselves in terms of multiple identities including regional, tribal, clan-based, and religious onesin addition to being citizens of a relatively new state. 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. Some of these conflicts are, in reality, low-tech, sporadic skirmishes and armed attacks. 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). Poor statesociety relations and weak state legitimacy: Another critical outcome of institutional fragmentation and institutional detachment of the state from the overwhelming majority of the population is weak legitimacy of the state (Englebert, 2000). Why traditional institutional systems endure, how large the adherents to them is, and why populations, especially in rural areas, continue to rely on traditional institutions, even when an alternative system is provided by the state, and what the implications of institutional dichotomy is are questions that have not yet received adequate attention in the literature. They dispense justice, resolve conflicts, and enforce contracts, even though such services are conducted in different ways in different authority systems. The essay concludes with a sobering reflection on the challenge of achieving resilient governance. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). Music is a form of communication and it plays a functional role in African society . 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. not because of, the unique features of US democracy . 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. 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. 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. Oftentimes, however, they contradict each other, creating problems associated with institutional incoherence. By Sulayman Sanneh Date: September 10th, 2021. fIntroduction Africa is a vast and . The scope of the article is limited to an attempt to explain how the endurance of African traditional institutions is related to the continents economic systems and to shed light on the implications of fragmented institutional systems. 79 (3), (1995) pp. Somalilands strategy has brought traditional leaders into an active role in the countrys formal governance by creating an upper house in parliament, the Guurti, where traditional leaders exercise the power of approving all bills drafted by the lower house of parliament. 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. . African traditional administrative system with bureaucratization in the emerged new states of Africa. MyHoover delivers a personalized experience atHoover.org. The initial constitutions and legal systems were derived from the terminal colonial era. Most African countries have yet to develop carefully considered strategies of how to reconcile their fragmented institutional systems. Most of the regions states were defined geographically by European cartographers at the start of the colonial period. example of a traditional African political system. This section attempts to explain these seemingly contradictory implications of traditional institutions. Traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. Other governance systems in the post-independence era and their unique features, if any. This short article does not attempt to provide answers to all these questions, which require extensive empirical study. With its eminent scholars and world-renowned library and archives, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind. 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. 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. Understanding the Gadaa System. Misguided policies at the national level combined with cultural constraints facing these social groups may increase exclusion and create seeds of future trouble. . Even old-fashioned tyrants learn that inclusion or co-option are expensive. 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. 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. 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. Safeguarding womens rights thus becomes hard without transforming the economic system under which they operate. Highlight 5 features of government. 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. The first objective of the article is to shed light on the socioeconomic foundations for the resilience of Africas traditional institutions. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. This study notes that in 2007 Africa saw 12 conflicts in 10 countries. Oromos are one of the largest ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa belonging to the Cushitic-speaking peoples in Northeastern Africa in general and in modern Ethiopia and Kenya in particular. One of these will be the role and weight of various powerful external actors. 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. 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. To learn more, visit African conflict trends point to a complex picture, made more so by the differing methodologies used by different research groups. Poor gender relations: Traditional institutions share some common weaknesses. 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. Unfortunately, transforming the traditional sector is not an easy undertaking and cannot be achieved in a reasonably short time. Additionally, the transaction costs for services provided by the traditional institutions are much lower than the services provided by the state. 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. Finally, the chapter considers the future of the institution against the background of the many issues and challenges considered. Government, Public Policy Performance, Types of Government. 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). A third, less often recognized base of legitimacy can be called conventional African diplomatic legitimacy wherein a governmenthowever imperfectly establishedis no more imperfect than the standard established by its regional neighbors. 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. 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. 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. Womens inequality in the traditional system is related, at least in part, to age- and gender-based divisions of labor characterizing traditional economic systems. Many other countries have non-centralized elder-based traditional institutions. As Mamdani has argued, understanding the role of traditional leadership and customary law in contemporary African societies requires us to understand its history. FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT. Paramount chiefs with rather weak system of accountability: The Buganda of Uganda and the Nupe in Nigeria are good examples. 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. Societal conflicts: Institutional dichotomy often entails incompatibility between the systems. Allocation of resources, such as land, is also much more egalitarian under the traditional system than it is under the private ownership system in the formal state system. They are well known, among others, for their advancement of an indigenous democratic process known as Gadaa. To complicate matters further, the role of traditional institutions is likely to be critical in addressing the problem of institutional fragmentation. 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. Africa's tumultuous political history has resulted in extreme disparities between the wealth and stability of its countries. 28, (1984) pp. African political systems are described in a number of textbooks and general books on African history. On the eve of the departure of the colonial power, the Nigerian power elite in collusion with the departing colonial authority, drew up an elaborate constitution for a liberal bourgeois state - complete with provisions for parties in government and those in opposition. Traditional governments have the following functions; The debate is defined by "traditionalists" and "modernists." . The place and role of African Youth in Pre-independence African Governance Systems 19-20 1.7. Towards a Definition of Government 1.3. It also develops a theoretical framework for the . 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. Its lack of influence on policy also leads to its marginalization in accessing resources and public services, resulting in poverty, poor knowledge, and a poor information base, which, in turn, limits its ability to exert influence on policy. 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. These partners, for their part, sometimes disengaged from close political ties and often brought new governance conditions into their assistance programs. Such a consensus-building mechanism can help resolve many of the conflicts related to diversity management and nation-building. In other cases, however, they survived as paid civil servants of the state without displacing the traditional elder-based traditional authority systems. General Overviews. The article has three principal objectives and is organized into four parts. 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. Institutional dichotomy also seems to be a characteristic of transitional societies, which are between modes of production. for in tradi-tional African communities, politics and religion were closely associated. Fitzpatrick 'Traditionalism and Traditional Law' Journal of African Law, Vol. However, the traditional judicial system has some weaknesses, especially with respect to gender equality. References: Blakemore and Cooksey (1980). The guiding principle behind these two attributes is that conflict is a societal problem and that resolving conflict requires societal engagement. The most promising pattern is adaptive resilience in which leaders facing such pressures create safety valves or outlets for managing social unrest. 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. The formal institutions of checks and balances and accountability of leaders to the population are rather weak in this system. 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. 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. Features Of Traditional Government Administration. 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. The evidence suggests that traditional institutions have continued to metamorphose under the postcolonial state, as Africas socioeconomic systems continue to evolve. 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). In other words, the transition from traditional modes of production to a capitalist economic system has advanced more in some countries than in others. We know a good deal about what Africans want and demand from their governments from public opinion surveys by Afrobarometer. Galizzi, Paolo and Abotsi, Ernest K., Traditional Institutions and Governance in Modern African Democracies (May 9, 2011). 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. In some cases, they are also denied child custody rights. Hindrance to democratization: Perhaps among the most important challenges institutional fragmentation poses is to the process of democratization. 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 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. An alternative strategy of bringing about institutional harmony would be to transform the traditional economic systems into an exchange-based economy that would be compatible with the formal institutions of the state. 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 issue that needs some clarification is the neglect by the literature of the traditional institutions of the political systems without centralized authority structures. However, they do not have custodianship of land and they generally do not dispense justice on their own. 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. 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. 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 . A second attribute is the participatory decision-making system. The structures of leadership of African traditional institutions are diverse and they have yet to be mapped out comprehensively. 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. According to this analysis, Africas traditional institutional systems are likely to endure as long as the traditional subsistent economic systems continue to exist. 1. 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).