PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

  • Philip Adah Idachaba
Keywords: Africa, Consensus, Hybridity, Democracy, Development

Abstract

The discourse on democracy and development in Africa is caught in two opposing systems. On one hand, those who challenge the operationalisation of democracy in Africa are of the view that consensus, which is traditional to Africa, will be a superior starting point for realising the democratic goals and aspirations of the continent. On the other hand, we have the recommendation that the success of majoritarian multiparty democracy must be allowed to take root if the continent is to be successful. Both positions are problematic because, a return to the good old days is no longer possible and secondly, a total consumption of the more modern materials has not be fruitful either. The hypothesis of this paper is that what is required is a hybrid of the traditional and the modern. To accomplish this hybrid, the essay does a hybrid of the works of Ali Mazuri and Joseph Agbakoba. Mazuri had solid suggestions to make about hybridity in democratic practice and Agbakoba has a lot to say about hybridity with regard to development. The attempt here is to bring both hybrid perspectives together in order to conjecture at a hybrid proposal for democracy and development in Africa, using the critical and analytic philosophical methods.

Published
2022-02-11
Section
Articles