INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN STUDIES (AFS 234)
ASSIGNMENT III
Name: Ameku Joshua
Index Number:10705692
Consensus Democracy, The Best Alternative for Africa
A democracy is a political system, or a system of decision-making within an institution or
organization or a country, in which all members have an equal share of power. Democracy
can also be said to be a system of government in which the supreme power is vested in the
people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually
involving periodically held free elections. Modern democracies are characterized by two
capabilities that differentiate them fundamentally from earlier forms of government: the
capacity to intervene in their societies and the recognition of their sovereignty by an
international legalistic framework of similarly sovereign states. U.S. president Abraham
Lincoln (1809-1865) defined democracy as government of the people, by the people, for the
people. Majoritarian democracy refers to democracy based upon majority rule of a society's
citizens. Majoritarian democracy is the conventional form of democracy used as a political
system in many countries. Majoritarianism was adopted by many countries in Africa which
was the political systems of the west. It has undeniably progressed the continent in a way but
it also denied Africans of the best democratic systems we had even before colonization.
Majoritarian democracy blended with how our cultural systems operate will help prevent:
The Tyranny of the majority, Unending conflicts, Delay in economic developments and
political problem of human right which is not a better option for Africa but Consensus or
Consensual democracy.
To begin with, Majoritariasm is quite common but it is not universally accepted; majoritarian
democracy was famously criticized as having the inherent danger of becoming a "tyranny of
the majority" whereby the majority in society could oppress or exclude minority groups. In
contrast to majoritarian democracy and the perceived danger of a tyranny of the majority,
consensus democracy was developed in response that emphasizes rule by as many people as
possible to make government inclusive, with a majority of support from society merely being
a minimal threshold. It is also referred to as a “winner-takes-all system” of government.
Winner-Takes-All politics can be explained in terms of the partisan monopolization of
state resources, facilities and opportunities, as well as the exclusion of political opponents
from national governance(Gyampo 2015). Many countries in Africa have adopted this
political system which delays development. In the case of a change in government, any
government not done with their projects are being abandoned by the government in power,
with a consensus democracy where there is proportional representation in the executive will
put a stop to that. Though the decision process of a consensus democracy takes a long time to
make but it gives a better policy and combined efforts to implement projects jointly. Several
African governments have been known for corruption and nepotism, syphoning and
embezzling funds meant for the development of the state because the majoritarian
government gives ultimate power which is unfair to the minority. Consensus democracy will
ensure anti-corruption practises in all dealings of government in Africa. Most African
countries are still not in the developed countries criteria despite practising Majoritarian
democracy for years. Kwasi Wiredu argues that in modern Africa, a dominant attitude now
for most people is the fulfilment of self-interest. Self-interest values result from
individualistic ethic, one that is dominant in a post-colonial due to the influence of
colonialism. Consensus democracy is also based on the traditional African model whose
dominant value was putting the interest of the community first than individual( a party)
interests. It’s a challenge because people vote not guided by others regarding values so that
they can promote the common good.
Secondly, Consensus democracy is practised by countries such as Switzerland, Germany,
Denmark, Lebanon, Sweden, Iraq, and Belgium, where consensus is an important
characteristic of political culture, particularly intending to prevent the domination of cultural
group in the political process. Majoritarianism or Multi-party system generates conflicts and
disaffection. The above alienation of the right of being well represented can be argued to be
one of the most persistent causes of political instability in Africa. In many contemporary
African states, certain groups of people and ethnic groups have found themselves consistently
in the position of the minority both numerically and politically, and this means that they will
consistently found themselves outside the corridors of power. A country like Nigeria has a
majority of its population to be Yoruba and will likely have an impact on the elections which
may result in conflict. Fewer countries in Africa have successfully changed government
without conflicts all over the years. However, most countries in Africa have a fair share of
conflicts when pertains to change in government by the democratic electoral system. The
unending conflicts in Sudan is an evidence of the fact that consensus is key and can prevent
conflicts if political parties are satisfied. Kwasi Wiredu argued that the multi-party party type
of political arrangement will make it possible for all concerned to participate in power and
it has the benefit of reducing the adversarial political practices and post-electoral conflict
that is characteristic of a multi-party system in Africa. This non-party consensual model of
democratic representational government, Wiredu concludes, is an African alternative to the
Western multi-party democracy.
Furthermore, To achieve rapid economic development in Africa we must consider a coalition
which is a form of consensus system and in making democracy more democratic and fairer. A
Coalition Government offers a chance for supporters of other parties to be represented in
Government. When voters believe smaller parties might form a part of the Government and
might have a chance of political power, they may be more likely to vote for a party they feel
represents them rather than just choosing between the two main parties. The other advantage
to a coalition Government is that as a wider range of opinions are involved; policies are more
likely to be debated with various points of view considered before a policy is implemented.
Coalition Governments can have smoother continuity in administration as they tend to
represent a wider set of views and reduce the risk of adversarial politics developing. In
Africa, our cultural decision-making system in the pre-colonization era was based on
consensus. Though, Majoritarianism have somewhat or claimed to prevent political instability
and promote economic development. This cannot be said for many countries in Africa but
rather a platform for where individual qualified for a position can mobilize a majority to win
elections. Economic Development in Africa is at a slow pace because parties who are in
power face pool of problems which they cannot address simultaneously. Parties have their
strength and their weaknesses which calls for a coalition of the majority and the minority to
combine their efforts and make better decisions and implement them simultaneously thus
with party A addressing and controlling the problems of inflation and the general standard of
living of citizens, party B controls the basic infrastructure. With both majority and minority
sharing the responsibilities of the country will make no room for propaganda. A coalition
government will manage the resources of the state better, using the resources of the country
economically, efficiently and effectiveness which is the goal of every public administration
and solely for the benefits of its citizens.
Moreover, Human rights may be defined as those rights, which all human beings enjoy
simply by their humanity, the deprivation of which would constitute a grave affront to man’s
natural sense of justice. Many African governments have been at the forefront of this abuse of
the right to political representation. According to Wiredu, majoritarian democracy, which is
routinely recommended and even practised by most African states have been responsible for
many of the violations and abuses of human rights. To anticipate this situation, Wiredu
recommended a better alternative democratic system, called consensual democracy. Using the
modus operandi of conceptual decolonization, Wiredu explores the hypothesis that a nonparty and consensual democracy might be better in preventing, many of the causes of
violations of human rights, and other social-political problems in Africa. A non-party system
based on consensus as a central principle of political organization in Africa could avoid the
evident problems of both the one-party system and the multi-party system, which he said
were imposed by the West. Wiredu also explained that the traditional Akan practices of
political decision-making reflected the idea of consensual democracy, which was conducive
to the securing of an important human right. He referred to the Akan culture as a ‘culture of
consensus’. The attribute is also shared by some other African traditional systems of
government such as the Zulu.
In summary, Democracy in Africa is a reduced democracy regarding our cultural systems and
reduced to the question of free and general competition, vertical accountability and the fact
that the most powerful political and social actors playing a political game according to
democratically institutionalized rulers. It became clear that the majority of democracy could
not be labelled as a liberal democracy. The definition of democracy by Abraham Lincoln
does not apply where majoritarianism is concerned. Consensus democracy will give an equal
chance for the minority to participate in the welfare of all though the minority is represented
in parliament, the party in power or the majority always have that voting power over the
minority where excess power is given to the executive branch. Consensus democracy will
also end conflicts related to elections in Africa and ensure rapid and sustainable development
in Africa. Also given the disadvantages of consensus democracy, its benefits outweighs its
disadvantages and in my opinion the best alternative for Africa.
Bibliography
Eze, E. C.(1997). Democracy or consensus? Response to Wiredu. In Postcolonial African
philosophy: A Critical Reader. Edited by E. C. Eze. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fayemi, A. K. (2010). A Critique of Consensual Democracy and Human Rights in Kwasi
Wiredu's Philosophy. Lumina.
Wiredu, K.(1996). Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective.
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Gyampo, R.(2015). Winner-Takes-All Politics in Ghana: The Case for Effective Council of
State. 17-24.
Manglapus, R. S. (1987). Will of the People: Original Democracy in Non-Western Societies
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