Perspectives on local government’s place in federal systems and central–local relations

To expand on the themes identified by Tomas Hachard’s paper 'Capacity, voice and opportunity: advancing municipal engagement in Canadian federal relations', the Journal commissioned six personal ‘perspectives’ from a diverse group of other Commonwealth countries – Australia, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Kingdom. This replicated the model adopted in Issue 26 for Zack Taylor’s paper on 'Regionalism from above: intergovernmental relations in Canadian metropolitan governance'. Similarly, the purpose was to establish a broader picture of issues and trends across the Commonwealth, rather than ‘review’ Hachard’s work

The Dualism of Contemporary Traditional Governance and the State

In many parts of the world, people live in “dual polities”: they are governed by the state and organize collective decision making within their ethnic community according to traditional rules. We examine the substantial body of works on the traditional–state dualism, focusing on the internal organization of traditional polities, their interaction with the state, and the political consequences of the dualism. We find the descriptions of the internal organization of traditional polities scattered and lacking comparative perspective. The literature on the interaction provides a good starting point for theorizing the strategic role of traditional leaders as intermediaries, but large potentials for inference remain underexploited. Studies on the consequences of “dual polities” for democracy, conflict, and development are promising in their explanatory endeavor, but they do not yet allow for robust conclusions. We therefore propose an institutionalist research agenda addressing the need for theory and for systematic data collection and explanatory approaches

A Re-Examination of the Conception of Ethnicity in Africa as an Ideology of Inter-Elite Competition

The African elite has the advantage in the competition for top government positions and other scarce socio-political and economic resources. The patron-client system which the elite controls, in most cases using the state apparati, provides the major basis for arguing that ethnicity is an ideology of inter-elite competition. While agreeing that the elite is fragmented enough to be masters of the ethnic strategy in a situation where the rest of the society is largely illiterate, this paper argues that the conception of ethnicity as an "ideology" of inter-elite competition is too limited and inadequate. First, ethnicity is not just an ideology; it is a reality of every multiethnic society, and this reality manifests both in cultural and non-cultural ways. Second, ethnicity, as an effective strategy and major manipulative tool in the competition for societal resources, is not an exclusive preserve of the elite. It is also available to the non-elite who are empirically adept at what I call an elite-challenging ethnicity

II. Historical and Sociological Background of Migrant Ethnicity in Kano

The city of Kano was one of the most advanced cities in pre-colonial northern Nigeria, being probably the largest urban centre in Sudanic West Africa in the 19th century (Paden, 1970:250). Accounts of its origins suggest that it was founded between A.D. 1000 and 1200 during which period, according to the Bayajidda legend, centralized political authority evolved (cf. Hodgkin, 1975). By the 15th century, Kano had developed into a major Islamic, trading and industrial centre. Islam was introduce..

III. Development and patterns of IGBO associational ethnicity in Kano

The number of Igbo in Kano was estimated at 2.5 million by the end of 1993, making it the preponderant migrant ethnic group in the state. Although this has not always been so, as we saw in the last chapter, they have remained the dominant migrant group since overtaking the Yoruba who previously had that status in the mid-1940s. The peak period of initial Igbo expansion was the mid-1960s, although during the same period the Igbo suffered a temporary setback as a result of the national crisis w..

Umtata. Résumé

Cette étude envisage le phénomène des jeunes de la rue dans les villes sud-africaines au travers du cas de Umtata, capitale de l’ex-homeland ‘indépendant’ du Transkei et centre d’une urbanisation intense dans une région à prédominance rurale. L’étude examine les facteurs socio-culturels et situationnels qui prédisposent au phénomène et exacerbent le problème des jeunes de la rue en Afrique du Sud en général et à Umtata en particulier. La nature exacte de ce problème complexe et ses relations ..

Federal solutions to state failure in Africa

As a legal-constitutional system of government of fairly rigid rules and practices, federalism in Africa might not have a positive image, but the overall relevance and utility of federalism for state-building on the continent has been grossly underestimated, for reasons related to narrow legal-constitutional standards. This paper shows that federal solutions offer the relevant framework and principles for rebuilding the state as a decolonial construct of collective ownership, shared rule and self-rule. The central argument is that the unravelling of the received state, whose failure is manifest in the contestations, conflicts and wars, and overall inability to function as a state, provides the opportunity for renegotiating and re-bargaining the state.CONTENTS: Foreword. -- Introduction. -- State failure. -- Federal solutions. -- Federal solutions to state failure. -- Conclusions. -- Acknowledgements. -- Bibliography.</p

Colonialism and African Political Thought

No abstrac

Colonialism and African Political Thought

No abstrac