Leadership and Governance in Africa
(An International Conference)
Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy (OAIGPP)
Lagos, Nigeria
July 12-13, 2013
As we move to the new century and Africa faces up to its challenges, it is important that the leadership factor is given due attention.
—Salim Ahmed Salim, former Executive Secretary,
Organization of African Unity (now African Union)
It is almost trite to say that Africa has a leadership problem. In many ways, the unenviable history of the African postcolony can be written around the subject of the absence, for the most account, of positive leadership. Whether s/he is called "leader", "elite", "Big (Wo)Man," "patron," "boss," or encountered through the theoretical prisms of "neopatrimonialism," "clientelism," "personal rule," or "charisma," the man (for it's mostly a he) at the top of the social, economic, political or organisational ladder in Africa is invested with- and claims for himself- a lot of power, due in part to the absence of proper institutionalisation.
And given the inefficiency, ineffectiveness, incompetence, excesses and eccentricities displayed by many of the leaders that have emerged on the continent, their behaviour — as Kirk-Greene (1991) puts it in his important work on political leadership in Africa — exercises an unusual level of fascination for scholarly analyses and theorizing. Thus, leadership in Africa has caught the attention of some of the most respected Africanists and African scholars including A.H.M. Kirk-Greene, Ali Mazrui, Claude Ake, Victor T. le Vine, David Apter, Patrick Chabal, Christopher Clapham, René Lemarchand, Samuel Decalo, John. N. Paden, and Robert Jackson and Carl Rosberg - to mention only a few.
However, despite the prevalence of bad leadership in the continent, as Robert I. Rotberg (2004) argues, there are 'few but striking examples of effective African leadership in recent decades.' These good leaders 'stand out because of their strength of character, their adherence to the principles of participatory democracy, and their ability to overcome deep-rooted challenges.'
It is therefore apparent that despite the overwhelming focus in both academic and lay literature on bad leadership in Africa, the continent has produced outstanding leaders in all spheres of human endeavour and at every level of state and society. From the exceptionally self-sacrificing leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Albert Luthuli, thinkers and visionaries like Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, to revolutionary leaders such as Amilcar Cabral, social reformers like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Aminu Kano, and activists and public intellectuals such as Wole Soyinka, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Ruth First, and Steve Biko, Africa also has a legitimate claim to exceptional leadership.
Therefore, this is an exciting time to be a student of leadership in Africa, given the myriad of challenges to, and opportunities for leadership which have been (re)produced by the ascendance of neo-liberal economics, the limitless horizons of globalization, the undeniable push for greater democratization and transparency, and the unprecedented diffusion of new media technologies (including the social media and mobile phones) in contemporary African state and society.
Against this backdrop, this international conference is dedicated to the exploration of the various dimensions of leadership and its connections to governance, both at the macro and micro levels, including, but not limited to, philosophical, sociological, political, economic, anthropological, psychological, managerial, discursive, literary, spiritual, local, national, regional, continental, dimensions of leadership and governance. We are interested in both questions of the moral and intellectual qualities of leadership, as well as regional and transnational sociological factors which constrain the parameters, praxes and rituals of leadership in the continent.
The specific themes which interested scholars are encouraged to address include, but are not limited to:
Social theory, social thought and leadership; Gender, governance and leadership; The literature of leadership; Political leadership, authority, legitimacy and governance; The economy, entrepreneurship and leadership; History, historical change and leadership; Narratives and biographies; Leaders, followers, neo-patrimonialism and clientelism; Ethnicity, regionalism, nationalism and leadership; The media, governance and leadership; The military, military rule, and martial hierarchies; Youth, social maturation, the social process and the political; Leadership in macro and local contexts; Managers, management, and organizational leadership; Religious leadership, religiosity, religious culture, spiritualities and moral power; Leadership, Activism, reform, and revolutions; Power, (Ruling) Elites and elitism; Labour, social struggles and social welfare; Modernity, globalizations and leadership; Democracy, democratization and leadership; The masses, peasantry, and petti-bourgeoisie; The intelligentsia /intellectuals and the question of leadership; Social movements, civil society, NGOs and civic leadership; Patrons, clients and leader-follower relations; Leadership and social change.
Presenters at the conference will be encouraged to submit their revised papers for a proposed volume to be published in 2014.
Paper abstracts (maximum 300 words) should be emailed to the conference organisers by April 15, 2013 at: leadershiplagos2013@gmail.com
Authors of accepted abstracts will be contacted by April 30, 2013.
Conference Organiser:
Professor Adigun Agbaje
Professor, University of
Ibadan, Nigeria & Director
General, OAIGPP, Lagos,
Nigeria.
Conference Coordinators:
Dr. Ebenezer Obadare Dr. Wale Adebanwi
Associate Professor Associate Professor
University of Kansas, University of California
Lawrence, KS, USA Davis, CA, USA.
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