States Of West Africa Research Articles

Communautés islamiques et collectivité nationale dans trois États d'Afrique occidentale

The " balkanization " of Africa south of the Sahara was parallel to a reorganization of local moslem society which reconstituted itself into national groupings corresponding to the new states. These new groupings enjoy international support. They hâve given themselves a new framework which is better integrated into the modem structures than were the traditional moslem frameworks. They have formed pressure groups, opposition groups and influential political forces. Governements negotiate with them and try to use them to shore up their sometimes shaky authority. In doing so the groupings obtain certain areas of autonomy and they thus sometimes develop into a " state within the state ". This process is far from being uniform, exclusive or unchanging. The phenomena of the politicization or repoliticization of Islam interfère with economie, regional, ethnie or other processes and vary according to place, the groups involved, the economic situation and the strategy of their national partners. Cohesion and mobilisation of the moslem communities concerned are also far from being certain under all circumstances. We intended to analyse three States in West Africa : Nigeria, Niger and Upper Volta. By taking together these différent situations and the way they evolve we may obtain some pointers towards a deeper, broader and more systematic analysis of the politicization process of Islam, of national construction and of a plurality of political allegiances.

New Institutions for Development in Guinea-Bissau

(1980). New Institutions for Development in Guinea-Bissau. The Black Scholar: Vol. 11, Africa: The New Societies, pp. 14-23.

Politics without Parties: Reflections on the Union Government Proposals in Ghana

Ghana, first sub-Saharan African country to achieve independence after World War II, has experienced several diverse forms of government, including a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, a socialist single-party republic, and two military regimes following coups d'etat in 1966 and 1972. Like most of developing states of West Africa, Ghana has been plagued by post-independence political instability. In fact, search for a permanent and viable solution to what appears almost as a persistent governmental crisis-a crisis of political legitimacy, of credibility, confidence and trust in existing political institutions-seems to be dominant public preoccupation in most West African nations today. In a recent, perceptive review of three major works on contemporary Ghanaian politics, Paul Ladouceur concludes that the 'political kingdom' has come to mean, not to govern, or to govern wisely, but rather to win by election or by a coup. Ghana has entered a period of political stagnation parallel to economic stagnation of last decade or two. Hopefully it will nonetheless find its way to a representative and a stable form of government, perhaps different from what it might be expected (1977: 348) [emphasis added]. Toward end of 1976 ruling Supreme Military Council (SMC) headed by General I. K. Acheampong initiated an historic proposal for a Union Government, a plan designed to provide a real solution to Ghana's quest for a stable and representative government. The idea of a Union Government addresses need for a constitutional third way, for a representative democracy based neither on Westminster-style twoparty system nor on military rule, but on tradition, values, and indigenous political beliefs, ideals and practices of Ghanaians. It is almost a truism that a constitution ought to accord with political culture in which it operates (see WolfPhillips, 1972). This proposal, insofar as it represents a novel constitutional experiment in that direction, demands close scrutiny by students of comparative politics, especially political and legal anthropologists. This paper proceeds along five paths. In first section, some theoretical and substantive implications of current public constitutional debate in Ghana-the debate on Union Government-are reviewed and critically analyzed. Basic to

Separatist Agitations in Nigeria Since 1914

Duringthe 1960s, Nigeria's stability was so severely threatened by such factors as reckless politics, militarycoups d'etat, refugee problems, and secessionist movements that foreign observers predicted the failure of a hitherto glorified model of a newly independent, democratic, multinational state in West Africa. In February 1966 pessimism about Nigeria's political future was so great that some observers inside and outside Nigeria believed that such a British-created federation as Nigeria's could not survive after the failure of the similarly launched Central African Federation, the West Indian Federation, and Malaysia (after Singapore's separation)1.

Dark Days in Ghana and The New States of West Africa

Dark Days in Ghana and The New States of West Africa

The Entente States of West Africa

The visit in 1965 to Washington of Maurice Yameogo, President of Upper Volta, stresses the measure of attention being accorded by the United States to the new nations which have emerged from the former French colonial territories in West Africa. In turn, Yameogo's visit to the United States reflects French-speaking Africa's new interest in countries other than France for possible technical and financial assistance, an interest based upon a growing awareness that significant changes are about to occur, and indeed, have occurred, in France's policies towards her former colonial charges. As a land-locked nation with few natural resources, Upper Volta is bound to feel the withdrawal of French assistance more fully and quickly than most of the other thirteen members of the Organisation Commune Africaine et Malagache (ocam)1. Equally important, Upper Volta, together with Dahomey, the Ivory Coast, and Niger, is a member of the Conseil y his discussions in Washington undoubtedly reflected the views of the other Entente members, and their collective concern over the rapidly changing conditions in French-speaking Africa. Indicative of this concern and of an increasing realization that France alone cannot supply all of their needs are the expensive advertisements which in recent months have begun to appear in the New York Times and other American publications, soliciting enquiries from business and financial interests in the United States.

The Role of the Civil Servant in West Africa

HE five English-speaking and nine French-speaking states which constitute West Africa possess most, if not all, of the characteristics, and problems, of developing countries elsewhere in the world.' In particular, all the states of West Africa, with the exception of Liberia which has been politically independent since its creation in 1847, share a past in which the focus of political power was the administrative bureaucracy of the colonial rulers. In fact, authoritarianism most aptly describes the form of colonial government which existed in West Africa until quite recently.2 The colonial administrative officers at the central secretariat, along with those who held the important field posts of District Officer or commandant de cercle, formed a bureaucratic elite which exercised not only executive, but important legislative and judicial powers over the territories under their control. It was largely because this bureaucratic elite was the principal instrument of British and French colonial rule that one of the earliest demands of the nationalist leaders in West Africa was for the rapid Africanization of the top levels of the civil service. Moreover, because many nationalist leaders were frustrated, at one time or another, by the effectiveness and power of the colonial administrative bureaucracy, they have reacted since independence by restricting the role of the bureaucrats in the affairs of the state. Interestingly enough,

The New States of West Africa. By Ken Post. Penguin African Library AP14, 1964. 206 pages. $1.25.

The New States of West Africa. By Ken Post. Penguin African Library AP14, 1964. 206 pages. $1.25.

SHORTER NOTICES

Journal Article SHORTER NOTICES Get access The New States of West Africa. Ken Post Penguin. 4s. 6d. African Affairs, Volume 64, Issue 254, January 1965, Page 66, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a095336 Published: 01 January 1965

The Entente States of West Africa

The Entente States of West Africa

The New States of West Africa by Ken Post London, Penguin Books, 1964. Pp. 206. 4s. 6d.

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The Teaching of African History

AFRICAN history is a relatively recent addition to university curriculums. Now that it is taught as a subject in its own right, rather than as an aspect of European expansion, innumerable problems of organization and of syllabus selection have necessarily beset those who have ventured to give survey courses on the traditional European or American models. With the aid of few syntheses we have had to take account of a large body of new literature, both pioneering and revisionist in approach. Our knowledge of the African past has been augmented steadily since World War II; even so, the lacunae remain sufficiently numerous to bedevil attempts at strict conformity to the principles of continuity. Although inevitable in a new field of research, such gaps present problems of exposition. How, for example, are the early civilizations of Northeast Africa and the Nile Valley related to those of the East African littoral? What were the relations, in turn, between the Arab and Shirazi cities of East Africa, the Sudanic states of West Africa, and the great heart of Africa, from the Niger River to the Congo, Zambezi, and Limpopo Rivers? A number of scholars, generously assisted by foundations and governments, are today marrying different disciplines and approaches and providing tentative answers to these and other outstanding questions. Their writings, together with works long obiscured or out of print, constitute the material around which a suitable syllabus must be fashioned. There is as yet no standard approach to the teaching of African history. Based on my own somewhat limited experience, and on that of oithers actively engaged in similar research and teaching in the United States, Great Britaln, and in the new universities of Africa, this proposed course outline is confined to tropical Africa and is designed for a standard academic year. Its organizational framework divides the year at about I885, although either half could easily consume a full year itself. The impact and importance of the colonial experience justify devoting the larger portion of time to it. The bibliography for such a course should primarily mention only those titles

The Influence of English Law on West Africa

West Africa is a vast area consisting of many territories; of those five have come under the influence of the English law; four of these are within the Commonwealth, one is outside it. The four Commonwealth West African countries are: Gambia, Sierra Leone (which is to become independent early next year), the Republic of Ghana, and the Federation of Nigeria (which attained its independence on 1st October, 1960); the one non-Commonwealth country is the Republic of Liberia, the oldest independent state in West Africa.

Patterns of Authority in West Africa

Opening ParagraphThe development of large centralized states in West Africa has long been recognized. The complexity of organization of the few well-known kingdoms, but not their differences in size and structure, is constantly emphasized in the literature. The number and variety of West African groups which have not developed states have, on the other hand, frequently been underestimated. In a comparative review by Professors Fortes and Evans-Pritchard two types of political system, centralized and segmentary, have been described for Africa as a whole, with examples of each in West Africa. A survey of West African societies suggests, however, that finer distinctions are possible and that not all these societies can be placed in one or other of these two categories. In particular, this classification omits consideration of ‘stateless’ societies in which associations, rather than a segmentary lineage system, regulate political relations; and it fails to distinguish different types of authority and political structure in states.