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The Role of Traditionalism in the Political Modernization of Ghana and Uganda*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

David E. Apter
David E. Apter
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Extract

Social analysts have long been preoccupied with those features of traditional culture and belief which affect the direction of change and the receptivity of a society to innovation. In spite of the very considerable literature concerned with acculturation, there have been few efforts to examine different types of traditional systems with respect to the problems they pose for political modernization. We attempt this form of analysis here. The plan is to examine two countries, Ghana and Uganda, which are engaged in the effort to build a national society. Each is experimenting with constitutional forms and each has had to deal with the problem of traditionalism.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , October 1960 , pp. 45 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1960

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References

1 See Lerner, D.et al., The Passing of Traditional Society, Glencoe, Ill., 1958Google Scholar; Fallers, L. A., Bantu Bureaucracy, Cambridge, Eng., 1956Google Scholar; and Apter, D. E., The Gold Coast in Transition, Princeton, N.J., 1955.Google Scholar

2 As we are using the terms, “instrumental” systems are those characterized by a large sector of intermediate ends separate from and independent of ultimate ends; “consummatory” systems are those characterized by a close relationship between intermediate and ultimate ends. The terms are derived from Parsons' categories of “cognitive-instrumental meanings” and “expressive-integrative meanings.” See Parsons, T.et al., Working Papers in the Theory of Action, Glencoe, Ill., 1953, p. 105.Google Scholar

In our sense, the difference between instrumental and consummatory values can be illustrated by the following example. Consider two traditional systems, one consummatory and the other instrumental in value type. Both are short-hoe cultures and an effort is made to introduce new agricultural techniques, particularly the use of tractors. In the consummatory system, changing from the short hand-hoe system will so corrupt the ritual of hoe-making, the division of men's and women's work, the religious practices associated with both, and the relationship between agricultural rituals and the authority of chiefs that it would be impossible to consider a tractor only in terms of increasing agricultural productivity. In the instrumental system, by contrast, the tractor would simply be viewed in terms of its ability to expand agricultural output and would not affect the ultimate ends of the system. In the first instance, such an innovation represents a threat to the system. In the second instance, it is far likelier to strengthen the system by increasing farm income.

3 For a discussion of hierarchical authority, see Southall, A., Alur Society, Cambridge, Eng., 1956Google Scholar, esp. ch. 6. See also Apter, D. E., The Political Kingdom in Uganda: A Study of Bureaucratic Nationalism, Princeton, N.J. (forthcoming).Google Scholar

4 The reader should note that the name Uganda refers to the entire country, the Uganda Protectorate, which includes many different tribes; Buganda is a tribe within Uganda; the Baganda are the people (plural) of Buganda; a Muganda is a single member of the Buganda tribe; and Kiganda is the adjective form.

5 Coulanges, Fustel de, The Ancient City, New York, Doubleday Anchor Books, n.d., p. 13.Google Scholar

6 Such systems can innovate, however. Indeed, the philosophy prevailing in Senegal today is similar to that described by Coulanges, but the religious system is pervaded by humanistic socialism. Hence to build upon traditional solidarities, the emphasis on family, corporatism in institutions, personalism, and the like go hand in hand with joint participation in communal economic efforts. By this means, work is ennobled and given new meaning in traditional terms. See, for example, the expression of this point of view by Mamadou Dia, M. in L'Economie africaine, Paris, 1957Google Scholar, and “Economie et culture devant les élites africaines,” Présence africaine, Nos. 14–15 (June-September 1957). pp. 58–72.

7 See Ashe, R. P., Chronicles of Uganda, London, 1894Google Scholar; and Tucker, A. R., Eighteen Years in Uganda and East Africa, London, 1908Google Scholar, passim.

8 Matson, J. N., Warrington's Notes on Ashanti Custom, Cape Coast, Prospect Printing Press, 1941 (2nd edn.).Google Scholar

9 See, in particular, Roscoe, John, The Baganda, London, 1911, p. 232.Google Scholar

10 Ashanti had a complex hierarchy of chiefs. At the pinnacle of the hierarchy was the omanhene, or divisional chief. Independent in his sphere of authority, he was nevertheless hedged about with restrictions. His was a religious role symbolizing lineage relationships to ancestors, and only members of a founder's or royal lineage were eligible to be elected to chieftaincy. The same held true for village chiefs and headmen. During war a division chief and others would take a position in the army and a more hierarchical system of authority would come to prevail. See Meyerowitz, E.The Sacred State of the Akan, London, 1951Google Scholar, especially ch. 10.

11 See Report of the Constitutional Committee, 1959 (Wild Report), Entebbe, Government Printer, 1959, pp. 33–35.

12 A population of approximately 5 million in an area of over 90,000 square miles is divided into several main tribal groups. The northern peoples are chiefly grouped in Muslim kingdoms. The central group is the seat of the once-powerful Ashanti Confederacy. The southern groups—Fante, Ga, Ewe, and others—have had the longest contact with Western commerce and education. There are old families inhabiting the former “factories” of early traders who intermarried with the local people and established their own family dynasties. See Boyon, J., Le Ghana, Paris, 1958, pp. 7–10.Google Scholar

13 In 1957 the NLM joined with other tribal parties like the Ga Shiftimo Kpee to become the United Party. The former leader of the party, Dr. K. A. Busia, is currently in Holland, Ghana's first real political exile.

14 At the same time, the parliamentary opposition in Ghana has been effective on occasions. There are times when the CPP backbench threatens to bolt party whips and vote with the opposition. Such a threat has been a useful means of modifying the position of the government on several issues, not the least of which was modification of the Emergency Powers Bill, while the constitutional changes of early 1957 were incorporated under pressure from the opposition. Bitterly contested decisions which often resulted in suspensions of parliamentary sessions have been those involving basic liberties. Three such measures were the Ghana Nationality and Citizenship Bill, the Emergency Powers Bill, and the Deportation Bill. For an excellent study of Ghana's parliament, see Austin, D. G., “The Ghana Parliament's First Year,” Parliamentary Affairs, XI, No. 3 (Summer 1958), pp. 350–60.Google Scholar

15 All-African Peoples' Conference, Resolution on Tribalism, Religious Separatism, and Traditional Institutions, Conference Resolutions, Vol. I, No. 4, issued by the Conference Secretariat, Accra, 1958.

16 It is interesting to note that while the term “African personality” is widely attributed to Nkrumah, it is in Nigeria that an effort is being made to give it content. Examples of such efforts are the journals Black Orpheus and Odú, which, as cultural and literary journals, seek to give a philosophic and cultural significance to the term.

17 Blessed with an exceedingly good climate and well-distributed rainfall, most of Uganda is fertile agricultural country. To supplement her two main crops, cotton and coffee, she needs more diverse export commodities, and copper and other raw materials are being successfully exploited on an increasing scale.

18 See Colonial Report, Entebbe, Government Printer, 1959. Buganda represents approximately 20 per cent of the population of Uganda.

19 The Indian Association and the Uganda Chamber of Commerce were instruments of that co-operation.

20 For a discussion of this period, see Ingham, K., The Making of Modern Uganda, London, 1958Google Scholar, passim.

21 Uganda Agreement of 1900, para. 15. See Laws of the Uganda Protectorate, Native Agreements and Buganda Native Laws, London, 1936, pp. 1380–81.

22 Important in preventing such dissension from assuming proportions of “class conflict” was the fact that peasants could, and did, buy freehold land. Moreover, no landless peasantry was created. Everyone could get a leasehold property at a nominal and fixed rental. This deterred migration to towns, and no urban-rural cleavage developed. Buganda remains a rural “suburbia.” See Southall, A. W. and Gutkind, P. C. W., Townsmen in the Making, East African Studies No. 9, Kampala, East African Institute of Social Research, 1956Google Scholar, passim.

23 See District Councils Ordinance, 1955, Entebbe, Government Printer, 1955.

24 See Buganda Agreement of 1955, Entebbe, Government Printer, 1955.

25 Kintu, M., Buganda's Position, Information Department, Kabaka's Government, Kampala, Uganda Printing and Publishing Co., 1960, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

26 See Allen, C. P. S., A Report on the First Direct Elections to the Legislative Council of the Uganda Protectorate, Entebbe, Government Printer, 1959Google Scholar, Appendix J.

27 See the Wild Report, op.cit., which anxiously notes the need for political parties in order to create effective central government.

28 It must be pointed out, however, that in Uganda, unlike colonial Ghana, everyone knows that self-government is forthcoming. Lack of such certainty helped to develop an effective nationalist movement in Ghana, where to remain outside the party was tantamount to being pro-colonialist. In Uganda, all groups know that the country will eventually get self-government, and there is far more effort on the part of each of them to retain and expand their influence and power. Foreknowledge of self-government, in that sense, has helped to diminish the urgency of nationalism.

29 Already in the new Lukiko, elected in 1959 (without direct election methods), five political parties are represented, a predominantly Catholic party supplying 80 per cent of all party representatives. The Buganda government has accepted the principle of direct elections but has steadfastly refused to implement it.