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The Study of West African Local Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Opeyemi Ola
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Extract

Writing in 1962, Professor Roland Young of Northwestern University observed, with reference to both rural and urban Africa, ‘In carrying on research in African politics an area which compels attention is the local community, defined however one wishes: tribal cluster, village, or adrninistrative district. One might wish that political scientists had become interested at an earlier date in the study of small political systems indigenous to Africa.’1 There should be little doubt that local government is important in Africa because its operations are more or less coterminous with the rural areas in which the majority of Africans live. Indigenous Africa does not lie in the westernised cities but in the rural areas, where central governments appear remote, impersonal, and incomprehensibly awesome. Because of its closeness to the community, local government is one of the most realistic agencies for the transformation of rural Africa. Local governments are thus strategically placed to playa crucial role in the politics of development.

Type
Bibliographical Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , August 1968 , pp. 233 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

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References

Page 233 note 1 Young, Roland, ‘Political Research in the New African Nations’, in The American Behavioral Scientist (Princeton), V, 8, 04 1962, pp. 3–4.Google Scholar

Page 234 note 1 See, for example, ‘Sir Donald Cameron and African Students, An Exposition of Modern Indirect Rule’ (anon.), in West Africa (London), 2 06 1934;Google Scholar and ‘African’, ‘Confound Our Customs’, in The West African Review (London), 01 1935.Google Scholar

Page 234 note 2 See, for example, the editorial, ‘Indirect Rule in Nigeria’, in West Africa, 20 December 1924.

Page 234 note 3 See, for example, Falk, M. Edward, ‘Native Administration: the next phase’, in The West African Review, 12 1935.Google Scholar

Page 241 note 1 See, for example, ch. 14 of Cameron and Cooper, The West African Councillor; and Cowan, L. Gray, ‘Local Parties and Democracy in Nigeria’, in Carter, G. and Brown, W. (eds.), Transition in Africa: studies in political adaptation (Boston, 1958).Google Scholar