Status to contract society: Africa's integrity crisis

Abstract

This paper argues for the need for a better grounded theoretical understanding of the integrity crisis facing much of sub-Saharan Africa. Many of Africa's problems are not unique or peculiar to the region. The paper locates Africa's integrity crisis in the social historical situation characterized by what we term the tribesperson in transition, a phenomenon where people find themselves caught up in tensions, conflicts and anxieties as they attempt to transit from the traditional to the modern. These conflicts, tensions and anxieties create the integrity crisis we are witnessing. Problems are exacerbated by the fact that even the very states themselves are bifurcated along the lines of modern versus tribal/ethnic. Failure to develop national consensus on moral matters, a reluctance of modern states to meet their obligations to their people, and failure to incorporate moral virtues from tribal society into modern contract societies are some of the problems exacerbating the moral problem the region faces. We offer related ideas as avenues to solutions.