Hausa Traditional Political Culture, Islam, and Democracy: Historical Perspectives on Three Political Traditions

Abstract

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the struggle for democracy in Nigeria contends with a resurgence of politically charged ethnic and religious consciousness, and the enduring pull of traditional political institutions and values. More and more mass movements are protesting against real and imagined grievances under the platform of religious, ethnic, or tribal associations. Politicians are appealing more and more to ethnic and religious sentiments in their electoral campaigns and in bargaining for power, position, and individual material interests. Western-educated elites are terminating their careers in the modern professions in order to become traditional rulers; an even larger number of elites are spending enormous amounts of money to acquire traditional chieftaincy titles in their communities. Apart from many protracted court cases over appointment to traditional chieftaincies, some communities have violently reacted against the imposition of unwanted chiefs, or to demand for the creation of new chiefdoms. These developments indicate the continued salience of traditional political institutions and values in what Richard Joseph terms “prebendal politics” in Nigeria. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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