Grassroots Governance?: Chiefs in Africa and the Afro-Caribbean

by Donald I. Ray (Editor), Pierpaolo Maurizzi (Contribution by), P. S. Reddy (Editor), Rostislav Krimer (Contribution by), Charles Crothers (Contribution by), Robert Thorton (Contribution by), Lungisile Ntsebeza (Contribution by), Werner Zips (Contribution by), Mohammad Motamedi (Contribution by), P.S. Reddy (Contribution by), Pedro Aguiar (Contribution by), Carl Wright (Contribution by)

Overview

Traditional leadership is a factor that has long been overlooked in evaluations of rural local government in much of contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. Grassroots Governance?, an interdisciplinary and intercontinental collection, addresses this gap in African scholarship and brings new perspectives on the integration, or reconciliation, of traditional leadership with democratic systems of local government. Articles from the fields of political science, law, postcolonial studies, anthropology, cultural studies, and policy and administrative studies establish a baseline for best practice in Africa and the Afro-Caribbean while taking into account the importance of traditional leadership to the culture of local governance. Case studies are drawn from Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, and Commonwealth countries in West, East, and Southern Africa, as well as Jamaica.

With Contributions By:
B.B. Biyela
Charles Crothers
Lungisile Ntsebeza
Christiane Owusu-Sarbong
Donald I. Ray
P.S. Reddy
Keshav C. Sharma
Robert Thorton
Carl Wright
Werner Zips

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781552380802
Publisher:	University of Calgary Press
Publication date:	03/28/2003
Series:	Africa: Missing Voices , #1
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	322
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Donald I. Ray is a professor in the department of political science at the University of Calgary. He is also the International Co-ordinator of the Traditional Authority Applied Research Network (TAARN).

P.S. Reddy is a professor in the School of Governance, University of Durban-Westville, Durban, South Africa. He is currently the project director of the Working Group on Local Governance and Development of the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA), headquartered in Brussels.

Table of Contents

	Summary	vi
	Preface	vii
1	Rural Local Governance and Traditional Leadership in Africa and the Afro-Caribbean: Policy and Research Implications from Africa to the Americas and Australasia	1
2	Setting the Ghanaian Context of Rural Local Government: Traditional Authority Values	31
3	Social Characteristics of Traditional Leaders and Public Views on their Political Role	69
4	Ghana: Traditional Leadership and Rural Local Governance	83
5	Chiefs: Power in a Political Wilderness	123
6	Local Governance in Lesotho: The Central Role of Chiefs	145
7	Traditional Authorities, Local Government and Land Rights	173
8	"We Rule the Mountains and They Rule the Plains": The West African Basis of Traditional Authority in jamaica	227
9	Traditional Leadership and Rural Local Government in Botswana	249
10	Rural Local Government and Development: A Case Study of Kwazulu-Natal: Quo Vadis?	263
11	What Role for Traditional Leadership in the "Pluralistic State" in Africa?	287

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“… a very timely and valuable contribution on chieftancy.” -- Roger Southall, Rhodes University, South Africa