{"id":7489,"date":"2013-07-09T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-09T02:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=7489"},"modified":"2013-07-10T09:21:47","modified_gmt":"2013-07-09T23:21:47","slug":"law-and-society-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Law and society in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n

Obama’s first stop in Africa was Senegal. While there, he met with several key members of the judiciary from across Africa (pictured above), at which the discussions centered on law in Africa. Obama told the assembled jurists<\/a>;<\/p>\n

\u2026 what makes for a strong democracy includes a strong judiciary — one that\u2019s independent from politics; one that operates transparently so that citizens can have confidence that the process is free from undue influences; accountability — because even judges are not above the law.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s broad agreement on the need for the \u2018rule of law\u2019 to be upheld in African states and of the need to adhere firmly to the \u2018separation of powers\u2019. However, what’s often ignored is the nature of law in many African states, which is often markedly different to that found in western legal systems. A characteristic of law in many African states is its plurality\u2014it’s simply inaccurate in some cases to speak of a singular dominate system of law that’s followed and uniformly accepted by all citizens within a state.<\/p>\n

This is related to the history of many African states, whereby colonial systems of law were imposed on populations who already had their own indigenous systems.\u00a0 In most contexts, the colonially imposed systems of law often became synonymous with the \u2018official\u2019 legal system and were thus to be enforced by the state. However the pre-existing systems and beliefs about the nature of law didn’t simply disappear, but rather continued to exist in an \u2018unofficial\u2019 capacity. In light of the fragile and weak nature of many African states, the official systems aren’t necessarily imposed on the entire population or are deemed illegitimate by groups within the broader population. Thus in some contexts the \u2018unofficial\u2019 law existing within a state has more influence on the lives of certain people.<\/p>\n

At times indigenous laws and beliefs have been incorporated into the \u2018official\u2019 legal systems of states, but their codification often radically changes the very nature of the indigenous laws. A\u2018conflict of laws\u2019 can arise, in which it’s unclear or contentious as to which law applies to a given situation. In several African states, the population avoids the \u2018official\u2019 legal system, especially where the law and its makers are seen as repressive or illegitimate.<\/p>\n

At the local level in South Kivu in the Eastern DR Congo, for example, it’s evident that some ethnic communities have their own understandings and systems of laws which they follow. This coexists with the \u2018official\u2019 system of law, which the state\u2019s authorities don’t have the capacity to uphold. \u00a0Questions over land ownership often relate to the beliefs and unofficial \u2018laws\u2019 of specific ethnic groups in the area. \u00a0At the local level, land disputes are a significant cause of conflict in communities and have the capacity to escalate into national and regional conflicts.<\/p>\n

Another interesting issue is the nature of marriage in many African states. It’s common in many contexts for couples to marry under several different systems; for example, a religious marriage, a traditional marriage and a state marriage. It’s not necessarily always clear as to which system is viewed as the most legitimate form of marriage, which in turn leads to issues over which system of law then applies to divorce, child custody and inheritance.<\/p>\n

This discussion is far from being purely academic as it significantly affects the governance of African states and transactions within them. In many areas of law, certainty is needed, with a clear delineation of who’s entitled to what and why. But in other situations, an inherent flexibility and plurality is required for reasons of justice and equality. The study of laws in the African context is intriguing and the issue of how to balance and manage legal pluralism within states is an issue which significantly impacts on security and economic development.<\/p>\n

Sabrina Joy Smith is a PhD candidate with the Centre for the Study of the Great Lakes region of Africa at the Institute for Development Studies and Management, Belgium. She is currently based in New South Wales. Image courtesy of The White House<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Obama’s first stop in Africa was Senegal. While there, he met with several key members of the judiciary from across Africa (pictured above), at which the discussions centered on law in Africa. Obama told the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[177,518],"class_list":["post-7489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-africa","tag-legal-system"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLaw and society in Africa | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Law and society in Africa | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Obama’s first stop in Africa was Senegal. While there, he met with several key members of the judiciary from across Africa (pictured above), at which the discussions centered on law in Africa. Obama told the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-09T02:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-09T23:21:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/p062713ps-0457_0.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sabrina Joy Smith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sabrina Joy Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/p062713ps-0457_0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/p062713ps-0457_0.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/\",\"name\":\"Law and society in Africa | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-09T02:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-09T23:21:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8910b718716b5595e6dd56203dadeea6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Law and society in Africa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8910b718716b5595e6dd56203dadeea6\",\"name\":\"Sabrina Joy Smith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/302b427e4d6b1b22cbb752c90366ed44?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/302b427e4d6b1b22cbb752c90366ed44?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sabrina Joy Smith\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/sabrina-joy-smith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Law and society in Africa | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Law and society in Africa | The Strategist","og_description":"Obama’s first stop in Africa was Senegal. While there, he met with several key members of the judiciary from across Africa (pictured above), at which the discussions centered on law in Africa. Obama told the ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2013-07-09T02:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-09T23:21:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/p062713ps-0457_0.jpg"}],"author":"Sabrina Joy Smith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sabrina Joy Smith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/p062713ps-0457_0.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/p062713ps-0457_0.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/","name":"Law and society in Africa | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2013-07-09T02:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-09T23:21:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8910b718716b5595e6dd56203dadeea6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/law-and-society-in-africa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Law and society in Africa"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/8910b718716b5595e6dd56203dadeea6","name":"Sabrina Joy Smith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/302b427e4d6b1b22cbb752c90366ed44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/302b427e4d6b1b22cbb752c90366ed44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sabrina Joy Smith"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/sabrina-joy-smith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7489"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7495,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7489\/revisions\/7495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}