Power and democracy in african tradition: the case of Songhay, 1464-1591

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Book chapter

Title:	Power and democracy in african tradition: the case of Songhay, 1464-1591
Author:	Kaba, Lansiné
Book title:	Democracy and pluralism in Africa
Year:	1986
Pages:	95-102
Language:	English
Geographic term:	West Africa
Subjects:	democracy Songhai polity
Abstract:	Have the criteria implied in the notion of politics and democracy been met in precolonial Africa? This paper, which is based on the Timbuktu chronicles, answers this question through a study of the concrete example of Songhay in the middle Niger River valley in the sixteenth century. It is argued that the elite in Songhay had an idea of what democracy was and how it could function. Under the Askiyas (1493-1591), the privileged Muslim elite enjoyed almost completely the benefits of a wise and democratic use of power. This practice, although it was limited, involved an association between the intelligentsia and the military for the common good. This implies that the ideal of democracy is neither foreign to African history nor superfluous in an Africa confronted today with major natural calamities and sociopolitical crises. Notes, ref.