Problems with African Democracy - Research Paper Example

 Problems with African Democracy The concept of Democracy was originally formulated by the Greek scholars. This fact shows that, although in the recent times the western world governance systems have become synonymous with Democracy, the western world did not originate this concept. One of the apt definitions of Democracy was given by Aristotle, a Greek scholar. Aristotle conceived Democracy as a rule of the poor and the rule of the majority (What is Aristotle’s Definition of Philosophy? Web). Abraham Lincoln had a similar view of Democracy. Lincoln defined Democracy as government of the people, by the people, and for the people (Abraham Lincoln on Democracy, web). Although Aristotle did not view democracy as the best system of governance, Democracy however has become the most common system of governance in the modern world. This paper is an analytic paper on the problems of democracy in Africa. Although most African countries embrace democracy system of governance, a critical look at the history of democracy Africa, however, shows that democracy has faced many problems in Africa. The main cause of the challenges that Democracy has faced in Africa is that the African realities are inconsistent with the Western World conception of Democracy. To better understand the main challenges that Democracy has faced in Africa, it is important to briefly look at the history of Democracy in Africa. As Samuel Decalo argues in his book Psychosis of Power: African Personal Dictatorship, the struggle for independence in Africa since the first half of the twentieth century was based on the view that the colonized people had the right and the ability to determine their political destinies on the basis of self-determination (Decalo, 1989). Decalo goes ahead to argue in this book that many African countries embraced democracy as an ideal system of governance because democracy offered all the citizens of a country the opportunity to participate in the decision making of their countries. Decalo goes ahead to argue that African countries embraced Democracy because they were tired of the authoritarian rule of the colonizers and they therefore wanted a system of governance that would ensure that all the citizens of their countries would participate in making crucial decision of their countries. However, when many African countries became independent from late 1950s up to the early 1990s, what followed was a history of authoritarian regimes and many coup d’états (Owusu, 1991). In his article “Democracy and Africa- A view from the Village”, Owusu says that from 1960 up to 1990, more than thirty African countries had experienced either a coup d’état, or an abortive coup d’état. In this article, Owusu wonders what happened of African countries that had yearned for democracy as the ideal form of governance. In this article, Owusu concludes that it was the selfishness of the first African presidents that precipitated coup d’états in Africa. However, a closer look at the problems of Democracy in Africa shows that the egocentrism of the first African presidents is not the main cause of the problems that Democracy has faced in Africa. The following are actually the main causes of the problems that Democracy has faced in Africa. First, the concept of Democracy is actually foreign to the most traditional African systems of governance (Sklar, 1991). In his article, “Problems of Democracy in Africa”, Sklar argues that traditionally, most African countries were ruled by paramount chiefs and the Kings. For instance among the Zulu of South Africa, the hereditary chiefs were the rulers. Also, Among the Nandi of Kenya, it was the hereditary chiefs who ruled. The Egyptians, on the other hand had pharaohs, who were very powerful kings; the pharaohs were not democratically elected however. Traditionally, therefore, according to Sklar, Africans did not use democratic system of governance. It can, however, be argued that even some communities in the western world, and other parts of the world where Democracy is flourishing, did not have democratic systems of governance in their traditional systems of governance. In response to this valid claim, it is important to note that the traditional African systems of governance were different from the western systems of governance. In African, the systems of governance were based on tribe; every tribe had its own autonomous system of governance (Owusu, 1991). This fact therefore means that, traditionally, every tribe had its leader and the tribal leader was not democratically elected. With the introduction of democracy in Africa, however, the traditional, tribal-based systems of governance were dismantled for the democrat national government system. This was one of the main problems of democracy in Africa, the Africans found it hard to overhaul their traditional systems of governance and to embrace the democratic system of governance, with its far reaching consequences. The introduction of democracy in Africa affected all the aspects of traditional African lifestyle. As Prof. Nwabueze notes in his book Democratisation, democracy system of governance affects all aspects of the society, “democracy is concerned with certain conditions of things, conditions such as virile civil society, a democratic society, a free society, a just society, equal treatment by the state, an ordered, stable society, a society infused with the spirit of liberty, democracy, and equality” (Nwabueze, 1994). This fact shows that democracy affects all aspects of the people’s lives and Africans found it difficult to overhaul their lifestyles and to embrace democracy. The second major problem of democracy in Africa is ignorance or political illiteracy. As professor Anyang Nyong’o argues, for democracy to thrive, there must be a political literate and active citizenry who take a direct, personal responsibility in the working of society, including government (Nyong’o, 1993). For Nyong’o therefore, for democracy to thrive there is need for the citizenry to have knowledge of the aim and purpose of government-how it is constituted, maintained, and renewed. But with the high percentage of the population in African countries being illiterate, it is hard for the people to really understand the benefits of democracy and to embrace it. Education is important for the intellectual liberation of the people; people need to be well educated on the benefits of democracy before they can wholeheartedly embrace it. Ignorance therefore is the second major challenge of democracy in Africa. The third major challenge of democracy in Africa is corruption in many African countries. While democracy involves systems, institutions, procedures, and rules, it must be guided by a cultural ethic that embraces democratic ideals (Kobia, 1993). Despite many African countries claiming to be democratic, the culture of democracy has failed to thrive in Africa due to corruption in many African countries. At independence, the outgoing colonial authorities handed over the reigns of power to the emerging African political elites who had confronted the colonialists, sometimes by the use of force. However, as Owusu argues, the first African leaders started a culture of corruption and exploitation of the ignorant citizenry Politics therefore became the exclusive preserve of a few individuals who co-opted others by the use of a network of patronage, while the vast majority of citizens became passive onlookers, non-participatory and apolitical (Owusu, 1991). The ignorant citizenry involvement in politics, if it could be called that, was therefore limited to peripheral roles like participating in the general elections, without really knowing what was going on in the running of the government. Over time, however, the majority of the ignorant citizenry were pushed further away from the decision making process, thus becoming apathetic to politics (Wilson, 1994). Politics therefore came to be perceived as an evil activity by the ignorant citizenry. Many Christian leaders started preaching against politics claiming that, “politics is a dirty game” (Kobia, 1993). Kobia argues that the banishment of politics into the realm of evil made it impossible for many people to make any effective contribution to the post-independence political development and transformation of African countries. The disengagement of the church from politics in Africa, therefore, was surprising and regrettable because the church could have made significant contribution in educating the ignorant population on the need to participate in political matters. As the result of domination of politics by the few people elite who took the reigns of power from the colonizers, politics became an affair of the few, while the larger population became apathetic to politics. In Kenya, for example, the political scene is characterized by heavily centralized political management and is increasingly becoming a one man show, even with the advent of multiparty politics (Nyong’o, 1993). Nyong’o argues that this scenario portends disaster for the evolution of democracy in Kenya. Nyong’o goes on to argue that the denial of peoples natural rights to exercise their freedom of choice and conscience not only disenfranchises them but gravely undermines the political process. The domination of politics by few elites therefore made many people to view democracy as a bad system of governance. In the modern day Africa, politics has become an affair of the rich and the privileged (Nyong’o, 1993). It is only the rich people in Africa who are able to get the resources to campaign and to win seats in the general elections. This fact has made the poor population in Africa to feel left out in the political process. This therefore has made people to have a negative attitude towards democracy. This fact has been a major challenge of democracy in Africa. The forth major challenge of democracy in Africa is lack of democratic culture and a history of social injustices. Democratic culture is composed of certain values, attitudes, outlooks, and behaviour patterns (Lewis, 1969). Lewis contend that these core values include a preference for resolving conflict through peaceful, civilized means, equal and non-discriminate regard of all persons as having something worthwhile to contribute to societal management, as well as tolerance, fair play, and justice. This therefore means that in stable democracy, the winners do not beat up the losers or ban their publications; neither do the losers cause violence in protest. But in Africa, many leaders view ethnic violence as a mean to ascend and to maintain power (Lewis, 1993). For this reason, there is a history of injustices committed for political reasons. For instance, the Rwanda genocide of 1994 was instigated by the politicians (The Rwanda Genocide, web). The use of violence therefore as a political tool has led to many historical injustices in Africa, and this has made the citizenry to develop a negative attitude towards democracy. The fifth major challenge of democracy in Africa is ethnicity. In Africa, there are many ethnic groups and languages. In Kenya, for instance, there are 42 ethnic groups, with the corresponding 42 languages. This fact has made national integration a difficult thing because many people identify with their tribes more than with their nation (Owusu, 1991). For this reason, in most African countries elections are based on tribe, rather than on ideologies of those vying for political posts. Ethnicity therefore has posed a big challenge in African democracy. In conclusion, the main challenges of democracy in Africa are caused by the realities in Africa that are inconsistent with the western conception of democracy. As we have seen, the concept of democracy is foreign to the traditional African forms of governance. Secondly, ignorance has denied many Africans the opportunity to learn the importance of democracy and to embrace it. Thirdly, corruption and domination of politics by the elite in Africa has denied the masses the opportunity to democratically participate in the democratic running of their country. Also, a history of political injustices in Africa and lack of democratic culture has made the citizenry in many African countries to develop a negative attitude towards democratic system of governance. Again, ethnicity in Africa has posed a great challenge to democracy in Africa. All the five challenges of democracy in Africa that we have explained in this paper are realities of Africa that are not found in western countries where democracy flourish. And even if some of these factors may be found in some western countries where democracy flourish, these factors are found in less degree, and not all of them. This fact therefore shows that the problems of democracy in Africa are brought about by realities in Africa that are inconsistent with the western world conception of democracy. References Abraham Lincoln on Democracy. Web. Decalo, S. (1989). Psychoses of Power: African Personal Dictatorship. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Kobia, S. (1993). The quest for Democracy in Africa. Nairobi: National council of churches of Kenya Lewis, W. A. (1967). Politics in West Africa. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. Nyongo, A. (1993).The challenge of National Leadership and Democratic changes in Kenya. Nairobi: Shirikon Publishers. Nwabueze, B.O. (1994). Democratisation. USA:African Books Collective. Owusu, M. (1991). "Democracy and Africa--A View from the Village," The Journal of Modern African Studies, V. 30, N. 3, p. 384. Sklar, R. L. (1991). "Problems of Democracy in Africa". Paper Prepared for Second Sino-U.S. African Studies Conference. Malibu, California. The Rwanda Genocide. Web. What is Aristotle’s Definition of Democracy? Web. Wilson, H.S. (1994). African Decolonization. London: Edward Arnold. Read More