The Political Legitimacy of Traditional African System of Governance: Ethical Considerations for Majoritarian Democracy

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Keywords

Culture
Tradition
Consensus
Communalism
Individualism
Humanism

Abstract

This paper examines the system of politics and governance in pre-colonial African societies. It examines how they enabled that era to produce societies that were democratic and that took the interests of their community members into consideration, without neglecting any group. This becomes pertinent in view of the extent of non-democratic practices that currently characterise post-colonial African states. The paper considers what contemporary African societies can learn from the pre-colonial approach to good governance.