Are all African politics tribal? (violence, culture, living, people)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Since decolonization, have all African politics been reduced to tribal conflicts, with the most powerful tribe controlling the leadership in each nation and those out of power often resorting to violence to get on top?

[whogoesthere]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

Since decolonization, have all African politics been reduced to tribal conflicts, with the most powerful tribe controlling the leadership in each nation and those out of power often resorting to violence to get on top?

Decolonization does not mean that outside powers are not integrally involved in African politics...so no, tribal conflicts are a large part of African politics but clearly not the entirety of African politics...many of these outside powers utilize tribal politics to create division...one of the conditions of decolonization was that all the European created borders must remain...thereby ensuring that the tribal divisions would remain as an effective means of manufacturing dissent...this is not to say that all tribal problems are the result of manipulative outsiders...just responding to your question and pointing out other factors...time will tell what role the Chinese will play in the future

[Motion]

From a thread I started last year:

In response to those who say that much of the problems with Africa are the results of the borders that Europeans carved up that put too many ethnic groups together that weren't on the same page in various ways. I don't think that alone is why Africa has had problems with ethnic tensions and development. Before Europeans came there were various African kingdoms/empires that had different groups living in them. So ruling over a multi-ethnic society wasn't uncommon in pre-colonial Africa. What I think was different was that in pre-colonial times Africans had better ways of ruling over multi-ethnic populations. These ways of ruling over multi-ethnic populations in pre-colonial times could be modernized and applied to current day African nations.

Here's some examples of Africans ruling over multi-ethnic populations before the coming of Europeans.

The Luba empire's expansion was due to its development of a form of government that was durable enough to withstand the disruptions of succession disputes and flexible enough to incorporate foreign leaders and governments. Based on twin principles of sacred kingship (balopwe) and rule by council, the Luba model of statecraft was adopted by the Lunda and spread throughout the region that is today northern Angola, northwestern Zambia, and southern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kingdom of Luba - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At its peak, the Mali Empire extended across West Africa to the Atlantic Ocean and incorporated an estimated 40 to 50 million people. The administration of such an enormous territory was formidable and relied on the establishment of a government sensitive to the diversity of the land, population and cultures and accepting of the indigenous rulers and their customs. What distinguished the empires of West Africa, particularly Mali and later Songhay, was their ability to centralize political and military power while allowing the local rulers to maintain their identities along side Islam...

Mali Empire and Djenne Figures

[Concaine]

Originally Posted by Motion

From a thread I started last year:

In response to those who say that much of the problems with Africa are the results of the borders that Europeans carved up that put too many ethnic groups together that weren't on the same page in various ways. I don't think that alone is why Africa has had problems with ethnic tensions and development. Before Europeans came there were various African kingdoms/empires that had different groups living in them. So ruling over a multi-ethnic society wasn't uncommon in pre-colonial Africa. What I think was different was that in pre-colonial times Africans had better ways of ruling over multi-ethnic populations. These ways of ruling over multi-ethnic populations in pre-colonial times could be modernized and applied to current day African nations.

Here's some examples of Africans ruling over multi-ethnic populations before the coming of Europeans.

You aren't really making a point. You are simply saying that diverse ethnic populations within Africa before Euro Colonialism was not a significant issue. We understand that. That is the reason why it as an issue is raised.

In Europe there are many ethnicities that are worked with in the same way. This is nothing original. Promising greater power for one group over another where a balance has been maintained for centuries has always created violence and power vacuums. We can see this in the Middle East as a modern example, where for all intents and purposes, the 'West' plays the power broker, the proxy for gold, diamonds and land in this instance is oil and the consequences along with violence between ethnic groups, is a marginalisation of Muslims and Islam as a religion.

We've seen this play out many times before. Personally, I think you might think about tweaking your response to the thread you are answering, instead of copying and pasting from a previous thread information that whilst being interesting, is not a very relevant contribution to this particular one.

[Motion]

^

What are some solutions to governing over multi-ethinc African countries with European drawn borders?

Obviously it's not the approaches taken by most post colonial leaders after independence. Too many of Africa's post colonial leaders chose authoritarian one-party governments and state controlled economies that added to tribal tensions. Not allowing for more than one political party in general is undemocratic and having the government control so much of the economy created situations where every tribal group wanted their people in government to redistribute the goodies to their tribe.

In comparison some of Africa's pre-colonial leaders provide better examples of ruling over multi-ethinc populations which is why I highlighted the Mali and Luba empires. Those leaders seem to be way more flexible with their governing approaches in comparison to most post-colonial leaders. Reducing tribalism in African countries is possible but it will require new African leaders adopting a similar flexible political mindset shown with some of Africa's pre-colonial leaders and more market oriented economies that puts the economy more in the hands of the people of various tribes.

[Motion]

Some James Shikwati.

Mmegi Online :: Lessons from Kenya electoral crisis