Chieftaincy is one of the most enduring traditional institutions in Ghana, which has displayed remarkable resilience from pre-colonial through colonial to postcolonial times. In the past, the role of a chief was to lead his people in war to defend, protect and extend their territories. The modern role is to combat poverty and other social ills: illiteracy, ignorance, environmental degradation, and the depletion of resources. Nowadays, chiefs are under pressure to achieve good governance in their traditional areas. They are challenged to integrate tradition and modernity, a process about which there is considerable debate. They carry out their duties in an increasingly globalised world where the accent is on democracy, human rights, health delivery, employment, human development and regional integration. Their ability to come to terms with these challenges will provide an indication of their relevance and the relevance of the institution to Ghana?s long-term development. This massive volume is arguably the most comprehensive and detailed scholarly study of the institution of chieftaincy to appear on the subject to date. The subjects and approaches are wide- ranging, and cover most aspects of the institution in every geographical area in Ghana. Some thirty contributors from the humanities and social sciences tell the story of chieftaincy past and present from a multitude of perspectives: anthropological, historical, economic, sociological, gender, literary, religious and philosophical.

Questions surrounding democracy, governance, and development especially in the view of Africa have provoked acrimonious debates in the past few years. It remains a perennial question why some decades after political independence in Africa the continent continues experiencing bad governance, lagging behind socioeconomically, and its democracy questionable. We admit that a plethora of theories and reasons, including iniquitous and malicious ones, have been conjured in an attempt to explain and answer the questions as to why Africa seems to be lagging behind other continents in issues pertaining to good governance, democracy and socio-economic development. Yet, none of the theories and reasons proffered so far seems to have provided enduring solutions to Africa’s diverse complex problems and predicaments. This book dissects and critically examines the matrix of Africa’s multifaceted problems on governance, democracy and development in an attempt to proffer enduring solutions to the continent’s long-standing political and socio-economic dilemmas and setbacks.

Drawing notably on the experience of France, this book examines whether good corporate governance generates national growth. It finds that it is a society's entire governance culture -- corporate and public governance together rather than either of them alone -- is what matters.

This book explores the nexus between natural resources ownership and the right to development in Africa. The right to sovereignty over natural resources and the right to development are recognised and protected in an extensive framework of international, regional and domestic instruments. They guarantee people's entitlement to fully and freely utilise their natural resources as a means of subsistence and for economic, social and cultural development. Yet, despite the abundance of natural resources in Africa a majority of the people on the continent remain largely impoverished. This book articulates the central argument that to achieve the right to development in Africa requires appropriate governance of the continent’s natural resources to which the people of Africa are guaranteed sovereign ownership. With case study illustrations from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, chapters explore the normative measures, specific guarantees and community entitlements to natural resources for the realisation of the right to development. The book will be an invaluable guide to scholars and postgraduate students of Natural Resources, Development and African studies as well as policymakers and practitioners in these areas.

This book considers the promises and challenges of globalization for Africa. Why have African states been perennially unable to diversify their economies and move beyond export of primary produce, even as Southeast Asia has made a tremendous leap into manufacturing? What institutional impediments are in play in African states? What reforms would mitigate the negative effects of globalization and distribute its benefits more equitably? Covering critical themes such as political leadership, security challenges, the creative sector, and community life, essays in this volume argue that the starting point for Africa’s meaningful engagement with the rest of the world must be to look inward, examine Africa’s institutions, and work towards reforms that promote inclusiveness and stability.

In the digital era, many African countries sit at the crossroads of a potential future that will be shaped by digital-era technologies with existing laws and institutions constructed under conditions of colonial and post-colonial authoritarian rule. In Disrupting Africa, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa examines this intersection and shows how it encompasses existing and new zones of contestation based on ethnicity, religion, region, age, and other sources of division. Arewa highlights specific collisions between the old and the new, including in the 2020 #EndSARS protests in Nigeria, which involved young people engaging with varied digital era technologies who provoked a violent response from rulers threatened by the prospect of political change. In this groundbreaking work, Arewa demonstrates how lawmaking and legal processes during and after colonialism continue to frame contexts in which digital technologies are created, implemented, regulated, and used in Africa today.