The Western Democratic Model Facing African Political Cultures

Abstract

Is there a contradiction between the socio-cultural requirements of the western democratic system and African social structures? To answer this question, this study aims to demonstrate that there are no fundamental contradictions between Africans and Westerners in terms of the democratic values to be promoted. Each people must be able to build its own model. In the first part, the study demonstrates the unsuccessful transposition of the Western democratic model to Africa. The cause is to be found in African practice, which reveals an institutional and legal duality that favors the cohabitation of legitimacies that come from the ballot box and those that do not, whose status differs and whose relationship with each other is confused and likely to provoke conflicts. This means that African democracy functions according to the Western colonial model, even if African social structures still function at the local level. The second part emphasizes the building of a true democracy through culture, whose value is recognized in the norms, institutions, rites and customs of a people. This promotion of positive African values and traditions suggests borrowing from the West only what is compatible with the deep nature of African civilization. This wise and realistic mix needs the unconditional support of the international community. We live in a time of struggle for values. All peoples, even those who were dominated, are trying to propose their values that they consider better.