| Oga Ken,
Nigeria is a difficult case for political analysis. But Oga Ogugua has given us a good place to begin. First, we have to dispense with calling the Nigerian state a democracy since there isn't any performance trajectory to situate it as such. But then, since 1999 when we situate the coming of democracy, we cannot also say it has a technically authoritarian regime. And it does not stand in between. Of course, there are semblances of democratic institutions without an accompanying democratic ethos and values. We hold elections every four years with all the democratic funfair and fears, and after the elections, democracy closes down, and the people return to their informality. You only hear of "democracy" talk from the elites who have something to gain from the system. Ordinary Nigerians don't talk democracy; they do survival. I spent nine hours queuing for fuel yesterday and all you hear is just that...survival. "i just need five liters to power my generator tonight;" "i need ten litres to do a quick runs from Ojuelegba to Mokola so i can get money to pay my kids' school fees;" "please, allow me to jump in front of your car because i need to get to the hospital;" etc.
And my ordeal at the fuel station raises another issue about "Nigerian democracy": there is no underlying constitutionalism that i believe every true democracy must hang on. It is that authoritarian compulsion of the law and legal sanction that democracy rides on. It is totally lacking in Nigeria, beginning from the top. At the fuel station yesterday, my trauma wasn't only due to the physical strain of queuing for nine hours; it was also from the psychological torture of watching "fellow Nigerians" sneer at your values of not jumping the queue to quickly get the fuel and leave. Even the manager of the fuel station, a small place at that, couldn't manage the situation (which was far from being designated as tense or something). We had law enforcement agents around, but of course they were the first to jump the queue! People listened to my analysis of order and democracy and values, shook their head and drove their cars out of the line right to the front. I became a pathetic sight; an alakowe (book person).
It is here that i insist on constitutionalism as the first basis of any democatic regime. But then, constitutionalism itself doesn't guarantee good governance, but it provides a basis for it. Nigeria is impunity personified. Thus, what we need isn't democracy; it is an authoritarian compulsion that enforces democratic tenets and help us internalise the values.
Adeshina Afolayan Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
| From:"kenneth harrow" <harrow@msu.edu>
Date:Wed, 4 Nov, 2015 at 2:42 AM
Subject:Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - PAUL KAGAME BECOMES A LIFE PRESIDENT [Ludicrous]
excellent questions, all, shina.
i know mostly one side, the human rights side, for obvious reasons. i've followed a bit the economic and social; i've been asked to write letters of support for asylum seekers, pretty constantly.
i like your formulation, shina: a possible space between the authoritarian and the democratic.
the word democratic doesn't seem to me to apply terribly well to democratic states that are manipulated. i am not coming across here as a blind advocate for this, nor a realist pragmatist blah blah.
look, the democratic push to force africans to democratize came in the 1980s, as we all know. the results were,what? mixed? a mess in cameroon, but biya survived. pretty good in senegal. probably good for a while in mali? but an absolute total catastrophic disaster in rwanda, a factor that precipitated the genocide. a range, from egypt to tunisia.
and to call so-called democracies that are not at all, like rwanda or burundi (now, not before), etc., is also a farce. inbetweenness? between autocracy and democracy? absolutely, also cameroon; also zimbabwe, and lots of other countries i do not follow.
your linking this to china strikes me as probably wrong, because the conditions are just too different. i'd leave that aside, really. the economic conditions cannot be separated off from the political, right?
i am very shy of accepting strong rules of judgment on these states now. i'd much rather have an informed reading from those closer to the realities. so, nigeria. where does it fall in this conversation? we have all the expertise here to answer, on this list. only a small number can give an informed reading of burundi and rwanda; but what about nigeria? where does it stand in your equations?
ken
On 11/3/15 4:15 PM, 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series wrote:
I agree about binary opposition and their distortion of reality. But so does the option between ballot and blood Bode proposes. The reality really is that there must be a possible space between the authoritarian and the democratic. And China stands before my mind as the solid argument for stability we can get. Can we fault the Chinese if s/he finds all s/he wants within such a context? Can we fault the African? If we can achieve the coincidence of performance and procedure, then i am all for it.
I am intrigued by the reality which Samuel's statement aptly signifies: there are so many "democracies" that ain't performing, and so many autocracies that the people love! What's the middle ground between them? Kagame may have some economic achievement, but as Oga Ogugua pointed out, there are also some cultural and political deficits. But then, if Kagame manages to clear the deficit within a non-democratic regime, should we applaud him? More fundamental still: isn't performance and procedure also possible within an authoritarian regime? Again, i look towards China. And i haven't forgotten Tiananmen. But what does constitutionalism contribute to democracy if not the need for coercive stability?
Adeshina Afolayan, PhD Department of Philosophy University of Ibadan +23480-3928-8429
the premise on which the statement below is based rests on a binary opposition which is questionable. like, can't we also have a real democracy that also works reasonably well, and isn't just a plutocracy, which is what democracy is linked to in the binary? isn't the autocracy inherently unstable? isn't the platonic benevolent dictator really, ultimately, built on the dictator having to reward his friends--usually the police or military--in order to subvert democratic rule? are the progressive features, like providing electricity, arguably distorted by the dictator to validate his rule? and if the press is stifled, how can you measure effectively his or her claims? how can you measure public opinion? the argument simplifies the realities, distorts them, to the point where we are already given the answer by the way the question is framed. ken On 11/3/15 1:19 PM, 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series wrote:
| "Today, if you ask many Africans to choose between an authoritarian government that is able to maintain law and order, provide electricity, infrastructure, reduce poverty etc, and a democratic government that just caters for a small percentage of elites who share public funds among themselves while ignoring the provision of public goods etc., they will go for the efficient authoritarian government. And the West will prefer that." Samuel Zalanga
I like this statement a lot, and it reminds me of one of the thought experiments i challenge my political philosophy students with: Where does political legitimacy derive from--authoritarian performance or democratic procedures? It is always a delight for me to stand back and process the heated debates in the class between those who are sold on the sentiment of democracy being the best form of government; those who think what the people need is just infrastructural benefits, and what matters which type of government makes it happen?; and lastly those who steuggle to untangle the conceptual dilemma between performance and procedure.
Democracy has become too sentimental that it clouds analysis. And its cash value, to follow the pragmatists, is becoming suspect in Africa. When we say "democracy is the best form of government," i tell my students, it raises a lot of philosophical problems. Ditto: authoritarian government is anathema. Presently, i have been battling with the conceptual relationship between democracy and constitutionalism. Is that relationship a necessary or contingent one? If contingent, at what point does democracy really become a nuisance or a lame concept without an accompanying framework of legal compulsion? And at a moral level, how do you ensure that democracy becomes a moral force if it does not guarantee performance?
It isn't surprising that you will find some Nigerians looking back wistfully and extoling some virtues of past military governments. Some remember that order was imposed, a la War Against Indiscipline (WAI); others remember that some infrastructural benefits accrued to the citizens. A colleague told me recently that he had some Chinese students on a visit to the department, and he was curious about the stability-democracy conundrum. Surprisingly, it wasn't such a dilemma for them because, according to the students, they have so much internalised the stability arguments that they even interjected the presence or absence of freedom into whether there is more stability or less. And stability comes with infrastructural dividends!
Thus, when we talk about democracy and authoritarianism, we should also take note of several contextual and philosophical implications involved. Plato didn't reject democracy for nought.
Adeshina Afolayan
From:"Samuel Zalanga" <szalanga@bethel.edu> Date:Tue, 3 Nov, 2015 at 1:06 PM Subject:Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - PAUL KAGAME BECOMES A LIFE PRESIDENT [Ludicrous] The author of the document raised some legitimate issues of concern. But given the world we live in today where American pragmatism and neoliberal globalization have taken over, I will liken the author's concern to the case of complaints against corruption. Corruption can and should be critiqued on moral grounds, no matter what. But some scholars argue that having said that, the major problem with money gotten through corruption in many countries is that it is not invested productively in the society's economy. It is often either siphoned out of the country or wasted in ostentatious consumption. If the money were to be invested productively, while it will still create inequality and distortion, at least some people will get job. And for many, this is their main concern. We may think it is naive but when you do not have anything to do as with the youth in Africa, this is not something one can ignore just because they live in the West.
I do not see anything surprising actually with the situation in Rwanda. I attended two conferences where two persons who were not Africans, made presentation about Rwanda arguing that in spite of the genocide, there is some significant progress taking place in the country and it is now a sign of hope rather than despiar. Many Africans challenged the guys and the guys were not really trying to promote Kagame but just looking at some empirical evidence. The idea is that the country is trying to become a kind of Singapore or a hub for information technology in the region.
There is one documentary film I watched that I cannot remember now, whether it was Michael Moore's capitalism a love story or "Inside Job" but in the documentary an official of the Wall Street said without apology that an efficient market economy that is functioning is more important than democracy for people. I was not surprise when he said that because I am familiar with the different schools of thought about the market that Alan Aldridge summarizes in his book "The Market." Here is the summary of the ideas of the group called market populists which I believe is relevant for understanding the silence of the West and the situation in Rwanda:
Market Populism:
a) Market populists see "the market" and "the people" as one and the same.
b) They believe that the market is MORE democratic than any of the formal institutions of democracy: elections, legislatures and government.
c) The market is free of ethnocentric boundaries.
D) The market abstractly sees everyone as the same and having the same desires.
e) The market claims to liberate us all.
f) Market populism presents corporations as being on the side of the people because they respond to the demands and needs of the people.
Market populists claim that if a corporation in a free market becomes a monopoly, it is not an abuse of power but the will of the people who voted for it with their check books.
"The end point of market populism is to hold that the free market is an achieved democratic utopia" Aldridge, p.47).
In effect, Market populism which is the public relations part of market fundamentalism and neoliberal globalization, believes that everything about democracy is just public relations, because in true sense, they believe that the market is more democratic. The market allows you to vote with your check book directly. You can vote in an election but once the officers are elected they go to the national capital and share the "national cake." Paid, lobbyist have more access to them than ordinary citizens who voted for them in large numbers. But if you have your check book, you have direct control over your "vote", choice or life. You can get what you want without the risk of a politician who divides and rule and forgets about you.
So from this perspective, and other historical evidence, it is expecting too much for anyone to assume that the West is so deeply concerned about democracy per se. In the "Commanding Heights" documentary, it was the military regime / government of Chile (military dictatorship) that was relied upon to implement neoliberal economic reforms. President Nixon resumed diplomatic relations with China and he sent Henry Kissinger to go in the middle of the night from India to China to arrange the visit when China was officially communist and calling the U.S. the great devil then. Singapore for as long as it has lived has been considered or classified an authoritarian state, but the country is run efficiently and so does the West care? President Clinton and many dignitaries attended the funeral of their founding president. As dependency scholars argue, the West has not permanent friends but permanent interests.
What is happening is what in the development literature is considered the competition or debate between "The Washington Consensus" and the "Beijing Consensus." Many in the ways have resigned to the fact that many developing countries will go with the Beijing Consensus and they not like that. The Washington consensus insists on combining liberal democracy and neoliberal economic policies as the best way forward.
Empirical evidence suggests that this is naive and it does not seem to work as suggested on paper. Amy Chua of Yale Law school wrote a book "The World on Fire" where she provided empirical evidence with case studies from Asia and Africa, that documents how implementing democracy and neoliberal policies do not always work together. Actually, they create a lot of tension because often the group that is politically dominant (numerically) in terms of democratic voting maybe the one far behind and losing in terms of the implementation of neoliberal economic reforms.
Thus the losing group will use their power to take away the opportunities of successful minority entrepreneurs, which will create political instability. Malaysia is a good example. Indonesia, Philippines, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are all examples. There are successful minorities in all these countries. China refused to go with the approach of the West, and they developed the Beijing Consensus which focuses on promoting economic prosperity while maintaining an authoritarian control of the state. The West criticize that but see how they have rushed to invest in China. Why? Because the China is far more and better governed (notwithstanding Tibet and other cases) than many so-called democratic countries. There has been significant success in getting millions out of poverty even though inequality is widening. In some parts of Africa, they have democracy but both poverty and inequality are either remaining the same or increasing, in spite of economic growth.
Moreover, Herbert Marcuse will argue that this happens in the West through a process a calls repressive de-sublimation. In theory people are free in the West, but the culture industry bombards them with consumerism and sexual excitement to the point, the people become consumed with these and forget about the real workings of the political system and how it marginalizes them. The goal of the culture industry is to control the hearts and minds of people and distract it from focusing on the real issue of life in a democracy.
Today, if you ask many Africans to choose between an authoritarian government that is able to maintain law and order, provide electricity, infrastructure, reduce poverty etc, and a democratic government that just caters for a small percentage of elites who share public funds among themselves while ignoring the provision of public goods etc., they will go for the efficient authoritarian government. And the West will prefer that.
The real issue is if Kagame compared to other African leaders is really transforming Rwanda to a point where the people see some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of material prosperity. Do investors feel the country is stable and producing results or making progress along capitalist lines. Western nations and ordinary Africans will prefer Kagame even if he is authoritarian but he is really improving the country forward. If this is the case, to ignore that and be thinking just about democracy is simplistic and naive as it suggests not appreciating the history of what capitalism wants. Capitalism is not primarily committed to democracy. In many cases, democracy even here in the US. some would say is just like a public relations or "crowd control" mechanism to keep the masses calm, and give them an impression that they have a say but the substance of politics remained the same.
There are good reasons to want democracy, but for many Africans, if democracy does not provide concrete dividends, are they going to eat just the idea? Those of us writing from the West sometimes, need to imagine writing from the perspective of villagers in some interior of Africa. Such people do not know what the constitution of their country is all about. They vote but what do they get out of it. IN some cases, their votes are not even counted. They do not benefit much if anything from the government. So if you get a country like Singapore that is authoritarian but very efficient or credible on the indices of a well-run economy, who will be taking seriously the push for democracy that even when laudable in concrete reality, it makes no differences to the millions of the masses in Africa.
Singapore in the past has been characterized as draconian in terms of some of its public order laws but who cares? The real issue is: is it a good place to invest? Is there order, guarantee of property rights etc. Is there good infrastructure etc. Is there good investment in human capital (health and education). If they have that, who will leave that for many African economies where the elites just use democracy is if it is some kind of spiritual or miraculous experience that once you have it, it will change things even when you are doing everything wrong in terms of governing your country well.
There was a time I looked at the human development indicators of Rwanda and found out then that they were better than that of Nigeria. Rwanda went through terrible experience, but it may well be that if Kagame is running the country well and opportunities open for the ordinary masses and investors to trust the place, and there is good infrastructure, good investment in human capital, guaranteed of private property, the West will prefer that than a country where you have Boko Haram, Biafran mobilization, poor infrastructure, declining health care system and educational facilities.
If African countries want democracy to be highly admired, they must ensure that democracy truly produces results and dividends for the masses. For many, the government is a nuisance.
Samuel
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| | -- Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu --
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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-- kenneth w. harrow faculty excellence advocate professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu | |
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