Why we should teach democracy in Africa

2020

The paper discusses the challenges of democratization in Africa. It considers the idea of democracy as a universal one, rather than an exclusive preserve of the West. However, it regards the attempt to foist the western liberal type of democracy on Africa as an ideological factor in contemporary African cultural dislocation by the West. It attributes the failure of this democracy in Africa, as manifested in the rampant political instability and bad governance, to the system’s neglect of the cultural roots of the African people. It calls for the revival and creative exploitation of valuable assets from the indigenous African democratic culture for the construction of authentic paradigm of democracy relevant to the conditions of Africa in the contemporary world. The paper concludes with the caveat that democracy in Africa may not succeed until such cultural adaptation is done.

The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 2021

Introduction The term, democracy which is derived from two Greek words, 'demos', meaning people and 'kratein' meaning to govern or to rule is steep in history; tracing its roots to the ancient Greek City-States in the Fifth Century BC. In literal terms, democracy encompasses the rule of the people by the people themselves and it is a government of the majority (Khan, 2005). In a similar vein, Abraham Lincoln defines democracy as, "…. a government of the people, by the people and for the people". Furthermore, as Becker (Khan, 2005) strongly posits, democracy entails a government of the people and one that is composed by the majority. In its widest meaning, therefore, the term democracy, refers to a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions within the public realm, by the indirect action of citizens and through the cooperation of their elected representatives (Dahl, 1971; Friedrich, 1968). In essence therefore, the term that is linked with the best practices of constitutional rule and good governance in modern times, refers to a system of government wherein; supreme power of a state is vested in the citizens that can either be exercised directly by themselves or indirectly through representatives that are elected or appointed by the citizens. Thus, the concepts of democracy and good governance have come to be the basic requirements for sustainable development worldwide (Grindle, 2004; Khan, 2005). The concept though, goes beyond a set of constitutional rules and procedures that determine how a government functions, since government, is only a subset of the democratic society that contains other elements such as complex institutions, political parties, organizations and associations. It is an undeniable fact that, democratic governance enhances transparency, accountability, rule of law, adherence to fundamental human

Usman Ibrahim , 2023

2011

Democracy is defined as a set of representative institutions that strive to uphold liberal values. It is increasingly perceived, for better or worse, that democracy offers a solution to major social and economic problems. Warring factions in Mozambique, anticorruption activists in Guinea, and educational reformers in Benin share a belief that democratic reforms will be the ultimate institutional remedy to their respective struggles with civil war, corruption, and poor education. This is in sharp contrast with the scholarly view in political science that economic development requires some form of autocratic government (Huntington (1968)) According to Olson (1982), even in countries where citizens have long enjoyed freedom of organization without the stain of upheaval or invasion, there will eventually emerge a growth-repressing restraint on social movements (Olson 1982: 77). There are reasons to believe in the instrumental value of democracy. The guarantee of political freedoms and m...

Afrian Studies Review, 2021

Democracy is one of the most contested words in the English language. In Africa, these complexities are compounded by the question of whether democracy is a colonial imposition. Cheeseman and Sishuwa provide a historiography of debates around democracy, track how these narratives have developed over time, and argue that there is widespread public support for a form of what they call "consensual democracy." This is not to say that democracy is universally loved, but despite the controversy it remains one of the most compelling ideals in political life, even in countries in which it is has yet to be realized.

International Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences studies (IJAHSSS), 2021

The paper examined the concept of democracy, its principles and basic implication. It contends that while it deals with individual freedom to choose leaders the bottom-line is the ability of the government to meet the basic necessities of life and guarantee fundamental human rights, peace, unity, security and prosperity of the nation. It further analyzed both democracy and education as cultural concepts pointing out that democracy is basically culture and education is a cultural institution best designed to transmit all forms of culture from one generation to another. In this context, the role of education in nurturing democratic governance is indispensable. The paper also discussed the national, continental and global philosophies of education which assigned education the responsibility of nurturing democracy and nation-building. Finally, it highlighted critical issues in education that must be addressed to move democracy in Nigeria forward. These include the persistent 13 million out-of-school children syndrome and "almajiri" system, raising the quality of teaching and learning in schools, filling the teacher gap and improving teacher quality, eradicating illiteracy, reducing poverty, and promoting civil and religious education, social inclusion, multiculturalism in curriculum, selfreliance and entrepreneurship among others.

democracy in Africa is nothing but a fallacy.

This paper examines the problematical impediment and the issues of democracy and democratization in Africa. Analysis of their future prospects especially in 21 st century. Liberal democracy and African democracy were discussed vividly. However the paper focuses on the conceptual and contextual notions of democracy and democratization in reference to Africa. There are inherent problems and contradictions in the nature of the domestic and the international political economy of African States, which may significantly vitiate or undermine democratic stability in Africa. Laying the foundation of the work with the introduction, statement of the problems, objectives of the study, scope and limitation, significance of the study and the theoretical framework. This paper also X ray the meaning of democracy, African democratization and universalism, both liberal and African democracy, problems and prospects of democracy and proper necessary solutions.