Africa beyond Liberal Democracy: The Quest for Indigenous Models of Democracy for the Twenty-First Century addresses the fate of liberal democracy in Africa. 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 point out 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. They call for alternative trajectories of democratization that are responsive to the socio-political realities on the continent. The contributors, who come from 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.
Reginald M.J. Oduor is senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Nairobi.
1. African Political Ideology and Practice in the Era of Globalisation: Can a Return to African Humanistic Socialism Combat Afro-libertarianism? Sirkku K. Hellsten 2. Promoting Indigenous Values to Facilitate the Emergence of Suitable Forms of Democracy Thomas Menamparampil 3. Colonialism and the Challenge of Western-style Democracy in Africa Dennis Masaka 4. The Snares of Liberal Democracy: Lessons from Electioneering in the Democratic Republic of Congo David Ngendo-Tshimba 5. Democracy as Falsehood: Seek but Do not Expect to Find Donna Pido 6. Gender-Sensitive Followership in Africa: The Case of Uganda Robinah S. Nakabo 7. Co-operative Collegial Democracy: An African Context-relevant Governance Model Emefiena Ezeani 8. The Traditional Roots of Democratic Verbal Discipline: Insights from the Akan Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani 9. An Appeal for a Communitarian Model of Democracy Munamato Chemhuru 10. Elements of an Indigenous African Model of Democracy Joseph Situma, Kisemei Mutisya and Christine Buluma 11. Democracy and the Right of the Minority in Africa Moses Oludare Aderibigbe 12. Critical Reflections on the Quest for a Monolithic Democratic Alternative to Liberal Democracy for Africa Tayo Raymond Ezekiel Eegunlusi 13. Groundswell: An Unavoidable Democracy, with Special Reference to the Acholi of Uganda Odoch Pido 14. In Defence of Ethnically-based Federations in Post-Colonial African States, with Special Reference to Kenya Reginald M.J. Oduor
