Chieftaincy, the State, and Democracy

Chieftaincy, the State, and Democracy PDF Author: J. Michael Williams
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253221552
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
As South Africa consolidates its democracy, chieftaincy has remained a controversial and influential institution that has adapted to recent changes. J. Michael Williams examines the chieftaincy and how it has sought to assert its power since the end of apartheid. By taking local-level politics seriously and looking closely at how chiefs negotiate the new political order, Williams takes a position between those who see the chieftaincy as an indigenous democratic form deserving recognition and protection, and those who view it as incompatible with democracy. Williams describes a network of formal and informal accommodations that have influenced the ways state and local authorities interact. By focusing on local perceptions of the chieftaincy and its interactions with the state, Williams reveals an ongoing struggle for democratization at the local and national levels in South Africa.

Democracy Compromised

Democracy Compromised PDF Author: Lungisile Ntsebeza
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047407903
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This book argues that the promulgation of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework and Communal Land Rights Acts runs the risk of compromising South Africa's democracy. The acts establish traditional councils with land administration powers. These structures are dominated by unelected members.

Traditional Leaders in a Democracy

Traditional Leaders in a Democracy PDF Author: Skosana, Dineo
Publisher: The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA)
ISBN: 0639923836
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Post-1994, South Africa's traditional leaders have fought for recognition, and positioned themselves as major players in the South African political landscape. Yet their role in a democracy is contested, with leaders often accused of abusing power, disregarding human rights, expropriating resources and promoting tribalism. Some argue that democracy and traditional leadership are irredeemably opposed and cannot co-exist. Meanwhile, shifts in the political economy of the former bantustans − the introduction of platinum mining in particular − have attracted new interests and conflicts to these areas, with chiefs often designated as custodians of community interests. This edited volume explores how chieftancy is practised, experienced and contested in contemporary South Africa. It includes case studies of how those living under the authority of chiefs, in a modern democracy, negotiate or resist this authority in their respective areas. Chapters in this book are organised around three major sites of contest: leadership, land and law.

Waiting for Democracy

Waiting for Democracy PDF Author: Jesse Craig Ribot
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
References pp. 115-132.

The Paradox of Traditional Chiefs in Democratic Africa

The Paradox of Traditional Chiefs in Democratic Africa PDF Author: Kate Baldwin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107127335
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This book shows that powerful hereditary chiefs do not undermine democracy in Africa but, on some level, facilitate it.

Chieftaincy in Ghana

Chieftaincy in Ghana PDF Author: Irene K. Odotei
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 724

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Book Description
Chieftaincy is one of the most enduring traditional institutions in Ghana, which has displayed remarkable resilience from pre-colonial through colonial to postcolonial times. In the past, the role of a chief was to lead his people in war to defend, protect and extend their territories. The modern role is to combat poverty and other social ills: illiteracy, ignorance, environmental degradation, and the depletion of resources. Nowadays, chiefs are under pressure to achieve good governance in their traditional areas. They are challenged to integrate tradition and modernity, a process about which there is considerable debate. They carry out their duties in an increasingly globalised world where the accent is on democracy, human rights, health delivery, employment, human development and regional integration. Their ability to come to terms with these challenges will provide an indication of their relevance and the relevance of the institution to Ghana?s long-term development. This massive volume is arguably the most comprehensive and detailed scholarly study of the institution of chieftaincy to appear on the subject to date. The subjects and approaches are wide- ranging, and cover most aspects of the institution in every geographical area in Ghana. Some thirty contributors from the humanities and social sciences tell the story of chieftaincy past and present from a multitude of perspectives: anthropological, historical, economic, sociological, gender, literary, religious and philosophical.

State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa

State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: L. Buur
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230609716
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Being critical and empirically grounded, the book explores the complex, often counter-balancing consequences of the involvement of traditional authority in the wave of democratization and liberal-style state-building that has rolled over sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade.

Nkrumah & the Chiefs

Nkrumah & the Chiefs PDF Author: Richard Rathbone
Publisher: Ohio State University Press
ISBN: 9780821413067
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The end of independent chieftaincy must be one of the most fundamental changes in the long history of Ghana, and one of the central achievements that Kwame Nkrumah and his movement brought about. Nkrumah & the Chiefs examines a radical nationalist government's attempts to destroy chieftaincy in Ghana. Richard Rathbone's pioneering work shows how chiefly resistance forced the government to seek control over rural areas by incorporating and redefining chieftaincy. Based primarily on previously unconsulted archival and other material in Ghana, Nkrumah & the Chiefs is a detailed analysis of this neglected side of Ghana's history.

Decentralized Governance and Accountability

Decentralized Governance and Accountability PDF Author: Jonathan A. Rodden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110849790X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Reviews recent lessons about decentralized governance and implications for future development programs and policies.

France's Modernising Mission

France's Modernising Mission PDF Author: Ed Naylor
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 113755133X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This volume explores how France’s ‘modernising mission’ unfolded during the post-war period and its reverberations in the decades after empire. In the aftermath of the Second World War, France sought to reinvent its empire by transforming the traditional ‘civilising mission’ into a ‘modernising mission’. Henceforth, French claims to rule would be based on extending citizenship rights and the promise of economic development and welfare within a ‘Greater France’. In the face of rising anti-colonial mobilization and a new international order, redefining the terms that bound colonised peoples and territories to the metropole was a strategic necessity but also a dynamic which Paris struggled to control. The language of reform and equality was seized upon locally to make claims on metropolitan resources and wrest away the political initiative. Intertwined with coercion and violence, the struggle to define what ‘modernisation’ would mean for colonised societies was a key factor in the wider process of decolonisation. Contributions by leading specialists extend geographically from Africa to the Pacific and to metropolitan France itself, examining a range of topics including education policy, colonial knowledge production, rural development and slum clearance.