Democracy and Accountability in Post-Colonial Africa

This book depicts the state of Africa s political institutions at the dawn of the 21st century, which float lifelessly atop local realities, and urgent development needs. The author describes that these institutions are not accountable to local ordinary Africans, mostly relegated to the ranks of second-class citizens in Africa s countryside. She contends that in Africa s recent past, endogenously grown institutions had sophisticated systems to ensure accountability of supreme leaders, who had to cater to the concerns of their nation. This book offers a major contribution to our understanding of political institutions and relationships between governors and those governed that existed before the colonial interlude in Africa s history. Could lessons be learnt from pre-colonial institutional arrangements, in defining the institutions of the new Africa that will take the continent to a more promising future? Through the practical case of the Lebu Republic, oligarchic pre-colonial nation in Senegal, the author offers a blueprint for re-designing local political institutions in a way that is more culturally compatible with the values, and needs, of local citizens across Africa.

Autorentext

Arame Tall is a Senegalese scholar and PhD researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC. She received her BA from Smith college, Massachusetts (USA) in the field of Political Anthropology. Most research insights in this book were developed during her time in Massachusetts. This is her first book.

Klappentext

This book depicts the state of Africa's political institutions at the dawn of the 21st century, which float lifelessly atop local realities, and urgent development needs. The author describes that these institutions are not accountable to local ordinary Africans, mostly relegated to the ranks of second-class citizens in Africa's countryside. She contends that in Africa's recent past, endogenously grown institutions had sophisticated systems to ensure accountability of supreme leaders, who had to cater to the concerns of their nation. This book offers a major contribution to our understanding of political institutions and relationships between governors and those governed that existed before the colonial interlude in Africa's history. Could lessons be learnt from pre-colonial institutional arrangements, in defining the institutions of the new Africa that will take the continent to a more promising future? Through the practical case of the Lebu Republic, oligarchic pre-colonial nation in Senegal, the author offers a blueprint for re-designing local political institutions in a way that is more culturally compatible with the values, and needs, of local citizens across Africa.