Africa and Politics

Africa and Politics

Neo patrimonial model and its application in Africa

Africa’s political state has been in shambles with different regimes ruling the various countries through different forms e.g., dictatorship, democracy or even the so-called family rule as witnessed in some countries.neo-patrimonialism is referred to as a system of ruling whereby certain social hierarchy uses some patrons or political moguls to use the resources of the state in order to shelter the loyalty of the citizens or their close allies for political gain. This is a case study found in all the African countries will the top rich and few counterparts in the political arena have gathered the country’s resources and only gifts or disseminates them to the public in order to gain politic favors and attached benefits.

In neo-patrimonial driven states, the resources play a big role in the politics game, and the so-called patrons controlling the resources are political godfathers that control who is going to ascend to power while trying all the means possible to descent the ones that do not do according to their wills. After independence, the African continent was left in chaos with the strict colonial political system thrown away so that the African figure can rule himself. With this came the few who were politically sound with their names uttered as the ones that drove the colonialists away.

After a while, these few people ascended to power as the elect leaders, while others acted as the opposition. In a span of few years, these patrons gathered as much wealth accumulating to almost half of the general wealth owned by countries they govern. With time, the patrons have been using this wealth and resources gathered in order to gain political fame and seats. With this power comes the ability to dictate the other civilians with bribes given or political gifts as they are called in order to serve their interests. Some of these patrons are not even politicians but determine who will rise in particular political seats in order to serve their interests at large..

A good example of such a state in Kenya. The few families have been able to control Kenyan politics since independence.it is true that this came with its own iniquities, but the broad picture paints how this model has led to a period of political stability with the centralization of politics as well as democracy being witnessed. These patrons always carry the biggest section of the wealth in the country and not just wealth but the required influence with both internal and external influence in both politics and the economy of the nation.

In such cases, the civil society in these countries always supports them in the ruling of providing the direction of politics. They are the hope of the civil society, and they are worshipped as the idol of stability in the nation. The people always see them as the beacon of hope in the country with the resources owned, creating jobs and useful facilities e.g., hospitals that serve the public. The state itself works for them, and most of the state officials are appointees of these patrons.in one way, the national status of the nation is geared and controlled by these few.

On the international side, the backyard of these people serves as an investment opportunity for the international companies as well as governments.who does not want to invest in a politically stable nation where the return on investment is a guarantee. The international community supports these people in order to benefit from the resources owned by the country as they continue to foster good relationships.it is true that the patrons impose heavy afflictions to the citizens through resource manipulation but at the end of the day, the nation remains centralized and united despite the many tribes that the nation has. Also, the different patrons offer a democratic state of the government, with each one trying to input their appointed political allies in order to benefit when the political climate favors them, which is always all the time.

Democracy in Africa

                      The African continent has seen democracy, which is the rule of the people, by the people for the people getting absorbed in various parts. Whether the nation has its own ideas to the communal leadership, the general picture is served when the people elect their leaders who will serve them in a given political period. Unfortunately, some of the African leaders seem to be more or less democratic than others. The question remains, why are some of these nations following the rules of democracy while others seem to be overwhelmed? Different factors have led to these nations adopt the democracy regime of governorship.

With a taste of dictatorship, the Africans have experienced the negatives that come with dictators and always yearn a leader who they elect and remove from power if he/she fails to deliver what promised. Some of the communities in Africa were ruled by kings or emperors who had the final say on the way forward of the community. The local man could not make any decisions on the political process but the only select leaders by the kings or chiefs. The other countries in Europe and America were enjoying the benefits of electing their leaders through the democracy process. This is what they were lacking and wanted to experience.

It is difficult to conduct fair elections in Africa with much corruption, tribalism and nepotism facing these countries.inorder to solve this problems, the international communities advised the formation of hybrid regimes where politicians from different parties come together inorder to form a coalition government trough sharing the various political seats in the nation. This has proved to work in these countries where political defeat is seen as a weakness and no one has to face such shame. These regimes have faced tough times with pressures from the international communities to serve their interests despite the different political opinions. The political opinions themselves have led to downfall of these regimes with each leader wanting to conduct their own interests to the public without consulting the others.

The African continent was ruled by harsh dictators since independence until the 1990’s when the structural adjustments programs were made or imposed to the African continent. The international communities saw the need of introducing the African continent to the new ruling techniques with democracy being the one advocated for at most. This led to many Africans fighting for their rights to get involved in selecting their leaders. Riots and public demos were seen all over the continent with dictator regimes overthrown and the first multi-party states formed and supported by the international community.

Some of the norms held by the African communities have been compatible with democracy regimes while others have been a total dismay to democracy. The normal rule of electing local leaders has been absorbed well in the democracy state. Unfortunately, the fact that some communities had leaders coming from a certain family has been a difficult pill to swallow with such families considering themselves divine and selected to rule over the other families or tribes.an examples of such is the Swaziland, where the king is the divine and only ruler of the nation and his authority is absolute.

An example of a country which experienced a hybrid government was Kenya. The government tried to solve the crisis of tribal wars that erupted due to politics in the country.it is true that democracy helps in stabilizing the nation and serving the interest of the majority but most regimes see the elected leaders loot most of the public resources leaving the public poor and lacking the major basics of survival e.g. food, medicine and shelter.

Political, economic and cultural legacies in African states

The Africans and the African continent have made a milestone in the ruling regimes with most of these regimes destroyed during the colonial periods while others are still in existence to date. The political story of the African communities revolves around the leadership being managed by either the kings, emperors or chiefs mandated to carry out the political duties. Only a few communities were decentralized being governed by council of elders who conducted the political authority on behalf of the people. With this form of rule the political stability was really adorable with few cases of wars.

The African culture of sociable responsibility and respect to the authoritative beings led to periods of peace and prosperity. The common cultures of worship, marriage among others united the African communities before the colonial periods. The communities in the inland parts of the African continent would travel as far as the coast to trade for clothes and food stuff. Some of these trade routes are used to date and helped foster good relations to all the African communities.

After colonialism, the African were left to fend for themselves and this led to going back to the traditional political systems. They had to select the authorities who would represent them in the political arena. Most of these elections were done on tribal basis with the biggest tribes carrying the numbers and able to produce political leaders to rule the other tribes. Many of the selected leaders wanted to safeguard their positions and decided to remain in rule over the decades through declaring the other parties illegal and murdered those who dared to cross their say in politics.  A good examples of such countries are South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.

To solve this problems, the remaining communities formed political parties and dared to overthrow the ruling parties leading to democracy and democratic states.in the begging of the second millennium, the African states were multiparty and conducted legal and certified elections. Unfortunately, most of the people who remained in power after colonialism looted most of the resources in the countries and have formed the political patrons which control the state politics. They are the source of neo-patrimonial rule and they influence the distribution of resources in the nation. A good example of such a country is Uganda, ruled by Museveni for nearly thirty years. He has almost total control of resources in the country and does what suites him and his kin

It is true to say that Africa has democracy but the process of driving the democracy is controlled by few people who see their interests covered. This has been influenced by the local people who get bribed during elections or the international community which has its own agenda in the politics of Africa.