Africa beyond Liberal Democracy: In Search of Context-Relevant Models of Democracy for the Twenty-First Century (African Philosophy: Critical Perspectives and Global Dialogue)

Africa beyond Liberal Democracy: In Search of Context-Relevant Models of Democracy for the Twenty-First Century explores possible future trajectories of democratization on the continent. At the dawn of political independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, many countries in Africa set out with liberal democratic constitutions. However, these were quickly dismantled by civilian regimes that turned their countries into one-party autocracies, or by military coups that set aside the constitutions altogether. The 1990s saw an attempt at reverting to competitive multi-party politics through the so-called second-generation constitutions, but these are again being dismantled by civilian autocracies and military juntas. In this collection, edited by Reginald M. J. Oduor, African and Africanist scholars examine the view that what has failed in Africa is liberal democracy rather than democracy as such, because liberal democracy arose in an individualist socio-political Western context that is significantly different from the communalist milieu of African societies. The contributors, from a variety of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, andbased in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Sweden, and Finland, present a range of perspectives on possible directions for context-relevant models of democracy in the various countries of Africa in the twenty-first century. A 2023 Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic TitleAfrica beyond Liberal Democracy: In Search of Context-Relevant Models of Democracy for the Twenty-First Century explores possible future trajectories of democratization on the continent. At the dawn of political independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, many countries in Africa set out with liberal democratic constitutions. However, these were quickly dismantled by civilian regimes that turned their countries into one-party autocracies, or by military coups that set aside the constitutions altogether. The 1990s saw an attempt at reverting to competitive multi-party politics through the so-called second-generation constitutions, but these are again being dismantled by civilian autocracies and military juntas.In this collection, edited by Reginald M. J. Oduor, African and Africanist scholars examine the view that what has failed in Africa is liberal democracy rather than democracy as such, because liberal democracy arose in an individualist socio-political Western context that is significantly different from the communalist milieu of African societies. The contributors, from a variety of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, andbased in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Sweden, and Finland, present a range of perspectives on possible directions for context-relevant models of democracy in the various countries of Africa in the twenty-first century. Contents 8 Preface 10 List of Figures 12 Acknowledgements 14 Introduction 16 Part 1 RATIONALE FOR THE “AFRICA BEYOND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY” PROJECT 26 Chapter One African Political Ideology and Practice in the Era of Globalisation 28 Chapter Two Promoting Indigenous Values to Facilitate the Emergence of Suitable Forms of Democracy 42 Chapter Three Colonialism and the Challenge of Western-Style Democracy in Africa 56 Chapter Four The Snares of Liberal Democracy 70 Part 2 CRITIQUE OF THE “AFRICA BEYOND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY” PROJECT 94 Chapter Five Democracy as Falsehood 96 Chapter Six Gender-Sensitive Followershipin Africa 112 Part 3 PROPOSALS FOR CONTEXT-RELEVANT AFRICAN MODELS OF DEMOCRACY 130 Chapter Seven Co-operative Collegial Democracy 132 Chapter Eigh tThe Traditional Roots of Democratic Verbal Discipline 152 Chapter Nine An Appeal for a Communitarian Model of Democracy 168 Chapter Ten Elements of an Indigenous African Model of Democracy 180 Chapter Eleven Democracy and the Right of the Minority in Africa 194 Chapter Twelve Critical Reflections on the Quest for a Monolithic Democratic Alternative to Liberal Democracy for Africa 206 Chapter Thirteen Groundswell 228 Chapter Fourteen In Defence of Ethnically Based Federations in Post–ColonialAfrican States, with Special Reference to Kenya 250 Epilogue 290 Index 296 About the Contributors 302 "The contributors to this volume ask whether democracy is universal or culturally bound, how the adoption of Western liberal models of democracy has hindered democratisation in Africa, and how indigenous African political thought can be utilised to design models of democracy suitable for twenty-first-century African countries"-- Provided by publisher