Democracy and Indirect Rule

Africa ◽  
1947 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. H. Ashton
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Free Play ◽  
The Political ◽  
Present System ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
Indirect Rule

Opening ParagraphWhen discussing the political development of the African it is important to ask whether in his social organization there is a sufficiently strong element of popular participation in government to form a basis for modern democratic institutions. Another question is, to what extent the present system of colonial government (which for the sake of convenience, I shall call Indirect Rule, without analysing the various meanings and application of the term) gives free play to such democratic institutions as may already exist. In this article, an attempt is made to answer these two questions, so far as they apply to Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The position in the latter territory has recently been referred to by two writers when dealing with the second question and, as their findings were almost diametrically opposed, a detailed analysis of the position will not be out of place.

Anthropological Models in Yoruba History

Africa ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. C. Law
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Imperial Expansion ◽  
History Of ◽  
Descent Group ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Social Anthropologist

Opening ParagraphThe recent appearance of a monograph by a social anthropologist, Peter Lloyd, on The Political Development of Yoruba Kingdoms in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries is likely to arouse considerable interest among historians of Africa, whose appetites have been whetted by adumbrations of his interpretation in some of his earlier publications. Lloyd traces the political development of the kingdom of Oyo through its period of imperial expansion in the eighteenth century until its collapse in the 1830s, and of five Yoruba states in the nineteenth century—Ibadan, Ado Ekiti, Abeokuta, Iwo, and Ilorin. He seeks to apply to the history of these states a model of the process whereby ‘tribal kingdoms’ develop into ‘highly centralised monarchies’. A ‘tribal kingdom’ is defined as one in which ‘political power…rests with a council of chiefs, each of which is selected by and from among members of a descent group—[and] the king is seen more as an arbiter between the chiefs than as an autocrat’. In a centralized monarchy, on the other hand, power rests with the king, the senior chiefs are appointed by the king, and a concept of ‘citizenship’ develops to replace descent-group loyalties. The Yoruba states discussed in this monograph did not, in fact, develop in this way, and Lloyd's theme is their failure to achieve centralization. The analysis is applied principally to Oyo. Of the nineteenth-century states discussed, relatively little is said of Iwo and Ado Ekiti, while Ibadan, Abeokuta, and Ilorin did not start out as ‘tribal kingdoms’ but as war-camps without kings. Moreover, it is suggested that the failure of Oyo to achieve centralization provided precedents for decentralization which influenced the development of its successors in the nineteenth century.

From village autonomy to modern village administration among the Kulere of central Nigeria

Africa ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Frank
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
The Impact

Opening ParagraphIn studies of change in indigenous political organisations under the impact of colonial administration, the precolonial situation in Africa is often depicted as essentially static. Anthropologists tend to project a relatively ‘uninfluenced’ state of affairs from the early colonial period into the past. Change seems to occur under European influence. This picture is the result less of the conviction of the authors that conditions were static than of a lack of information on precolonial development. This is especially true for ‘acephalous’ societies; centralised societies often possess detailed traditions concerning their institutional history. In the following case, of the political development of a village in the Nigerian Middle Belt, it has been possible to record precolonial changes of organisation in an acephalous society.

scholarly journals Federalism as Protagonist or as Nemesis for Nigeria’S Political Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Babatunde Oyedeji
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Federal System ◽  
Indirect Rule

Despite the plethora of findings and feelings surrounding federalism and the acerbity of the cynical discomfort at the negative nuances about the ideology, the federal system has produced stable and settled societies in Canada, Australia, the United States of America, India, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, Brazil, Malaysia and Mexico. Nevertheless, the frequent conclusion is its inherent attraction to ‘inevitability of instability’ generally in Africa and specifically in Nigeria. This typology seems to apply to developing countries more than others, in any case, at least nineteen countries containing some 40% of the world’s population. This puts and acute pressure on Nigeria, the surviving big federal country in Africa. It can be asked, did the British leave meaningful alternatives to federalism whilst ruling Nigeria between 1900 and 1914 and 1960? Can’t it not be deduced that federalism was indeed a natural product of decisions and phenomena like the Indirect Rule, the political activism on the part of Southern Nigerian politicians. Was the complex nature of Nigeria’s federalism a product of residual colonialist autocracy? The paper aims at delving into variants contributing to the sticky challenge and complexities of the Nigerian federation. It would be expository and analytical as it examines the advantages and attractions prior to the shortcomings and deficiencies of federalism. There would be references to the applicability of these deductions to the Nigerian example.

Chiefship and Politics in the Mlanje District of Southern Nyasaland

Africa ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-45
Author(s):  
R. L. Wishlade
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Administrative District ◽  
Southern Province ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphMlanje is an Administrative District in the Southern Province of Nyasaland. It is densely populated compared with other parts of Central Africa, having a population of 209,522 in 1945, which represented a density of 138 per square mile. The population is tribally heterogeneous, and was composed, in 1945, of 71 per cent. Nguru, 21 per cent. Nyanja, and 5 per cent. Yao people. The Nguru are the most recent arrivals, having immigrated into Nyasaland mainly during the present century. The term Nguru is used to refer to the representatives in Nyasaland of a number of tribes inhabiting that part of Portuguese East Africa which Lies to the east of Nyasaland; these immigrants call themselves Lomwe and in Mlanje are mainly Mihavani and Kokola. The Nyanja are the indigenous inhabitants of the area, who were living there before the invasion of the Mangoche Yao during the nineteenth century. Although they are linguistically distinct, the social organization of these three groups is markedly similar, and there has been a great deal of intermarriage between them, particularly between the Nyanja and the Nguru. No one of them is in sole occupation of a continuous stretch of territory, even the smallest residential groups are often tribally heterogeneous, the similarity of the social organization enabling Nyanja to be absorbed into Nguru hamlets and vice versa. For this reason it is impossible to use a tribal unit as a unit of reference in a discussion of the political organization of this area.

Segmentation and Fission in Cape Nguni Political Units

Africa ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Hammond-Tooke
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
External Control ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Political Units ◽  
Traditional Structures ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphThe aim of this paper is to discuss certain aspects of the political organization of the Cape Nguni, with special reference to the formation of political units. Its preparation forms part of a larger study undertaken by the writer on the nature and direction of political development in the Transkeian Territories of the Republic of South Africa, which has culminated in the establishment of a system of what approximates to indirect rule based on indigenous structures, known as Bantu Authorities. It is one of the basic tenets of the study that in a situation in which indigenous populations are subjected to external control, and even more when traditional structures are themselves used as instruments of government, traditional premisses (to use a term of Maquet) must be taken into account. The acceptance, or otherwise, of authority must obviously depend to a large degree on traditional concepts of where authority resides, its sanctions, extent, and limitations. Some attempt at a reconstruction of the pattern of tribal governments as they were immediately before the imposition of White control was therefore necessary: this paper discusses a limited aspect of the problem—the formation of the political units themselves.

Sisters, wives, wards and daughters: a transformational analysis of the political organization of the Tiv and their neighbours. Part II: The transformations

Africa ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Fardon
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Competition ◽  
Fragmented Populations ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Supernatural Power ◽  
Unique Manner ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphIn the first part of this article I set myself two objectives, each of which took its cue from a generalization made about the political and social organization of the Tiv by their principal ethnographers, Laura and Paul Bohannan. I proposed to challenge the related views (1) that the political organization of the Tiv could adequately be described as a segmentary lineage organization and (2) that their organization was atypical of the area of middle-belt West Africa in which the Tiv live. Confining my attention to Tiv ethnogaphy, I argued in Part I that a persuasive case could be made for a more complex account of Tiv political processes which recognized the salience not only of descent but also of marriage, kinship and local competition for the achievement of personal prestige through manipulation of marriage strategies, mastery of the major akombo or cults and claims to the possession of legitimate tsav or supernatural power. Tiv society still retains remarkable features on this view of its political processes, but they are not those of complete atypicality. Instead, it becomes apparent that, while sharing many of its core institutions with neighbouring societies, Tiv culture combines them in a unique manner. The uniqueness of the combination becomes visible through the effects of Tiv social organization, the more important of which I would itemise as:1. The persistence of Tiv culture and identity in a region of generally fragmented populations.2. The capacity for expansion of Tiv society.3. The capacity of Tiv society to absorb so many circumstances conducive to the development of hierarchy yet to remain, by and large, acephelous.

scholarly journals SEARCHING FOR NEW AUTHORITARISM IN THE CONDITIONS OF GEOPOLITICAL TURBULENCE

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Stable Development

The main factors of the growing popularity and influence of undemocratic regimes are considered. In the modern world, in the context of geopolitical turbulence, the geopolitical centers of power and actors in the adoption of global management decisions are changing. But there is a need to manage socio-political and economic processes for the stable development of society. Therefore, the conditions of chaos only strengthen the attempts to search and create fuses for the uncontrollability of the development of the political regime. Especially in the conditions of the crisis of the formal institutions of liberal democracy, a clear proof of which was the emergence of post-democracy as a phenomenon and process of evolution of «modern» democracies. Several factors reinforce this trend. First of all, the reverse wave of democratization (S. Huntington), which lasts several decades. Secondly, the crisis of American hegemony and the completion of the next cycle of political hegemony. We must add the completion of the macrohistorical cycle of the internal political development of the political system of the USA itself (A. Schlesinger) with a number of crises throughout the entire first half of 2020. The weakening of the global hegemon resulted in the process of easternization and the emergence of new geopolitical centers (primarily, Asia, namely China with a powerful economy, which is a prerequisite for the formation of a new hegemon). The third factor is the growth of right-wing extremism and right-wing populism in countries of sustainable democracies and new democracies. The wave of populism is supported by a conservative turn in the form of legal consolidation of nationalism, the legitimation of the dominance of the collective over the individual. Another factor of destabilization is the crisis of traditional institutions of democracy, primarily political parties, party leaders who can refuse program promises and turn into lawyers of the «expression of the will of the people». Amid growing mistrust of traditional democratic institutions and the values of liberalism, there is a growing demand for leaders and institutions that can ensure the safe and stable development of society. And the actual uniqueness of the current development is the search for new forms of coexistence of authoritarian and democratic institutions within the same political regime.

Reconsideration of the Research Trajectory on the Carceral State

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-207
Author(s):  
Juliette Barbera
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Development ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Research Production ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
And Control

For decades, both incarceration and research on the topic have proliferated. Disciplines within the Western sciences have studied the topic of incarceration through their respective lenses. Decades of data reflect trends and consequences of the carceral state, and based on that data the various disciplines have put forth arguments as to how the trends and consequences are of relevance to their respective fields of study. The research trajectory of incarceration research, however, overlooks the assumptions behind punishment and control and their institutionalization that produce and maintain the carceral state and its study. This omission of assumptions facilitates a focus on outcomes that serve to reinforce Western perspectives, and it contributes to the overall stagnation in the incarceration research produced in Western disciplines. An assessment of the study of the carceral state within the mainstream of American Political Development in the political science discipline provides an example of how the research framework contributes to the overall stagnation, even though the framework of the subfield allows for an historical institutionalization perspective. The theoretical perspectives of Cedric J. Robinson reveal the limits of Western lenses to critically assess the state. The alternative framework he provides to challenge the limits imposed on research production by Western perspectives applies to the argument presented here concerning the limitations that hamper the study of the carceral state.

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