(DOWNLOAD) "The Theory and Practice of African Politics" by Christian P. Potholm ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: The Theory and Practice of African Politics
- Author : Christian P. Potholm
- Release Date : January 17, 1988
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 3127 KB
Description
Those interested in the African political heritage face considerable difficulties in ascertaining the philosophical bases of that heritage. On the one hand, the indigenous African political systems that existed prior to the arrival of the Arabs and Europeans exhibited enormous structural variety and continent-wide diversity. On the other hand, when confronted with the problem of discovering the content of the political philosophy underlying these forms, the scholar interested in African political thought must rely on a variety of evidence: oral traditions that survived within the societies in question, archeological and linguistic patterns, the descriptions of the first foreign visitors to these cultures, and especially the African political forms themselves.1
If, however, in the absence of extensive written records—either because the societies in question were preliterate or because the records were subsequently lost—one assumes that African peoples adopted political systems that reflected the political thought of the group, then the African philosophical heritage takes on a richness and a multiplicity that has heretofore gone unappreciated.
The varied history of Africa before the intrusion of outside forces offers a vivid portrait of diversity and political choice. This is particularly the case when one considers the extensive migrations across the length and breadth of Africa. As the Bantu-speaking peoples moved across central Africa and into the southern portion of the continent, and major groups of both Negroid and Hametic peoples migrated into the eastern portion of Africa, new societies were constantly being formed. Some groups split off from the main bodies of the migrations; others remained in place; still others moved in new directions. Given the vast open spaces of the African continent, the relatively fertile and hospitable land, and the sparsely populated nature of much of the southern portion of the entire continent, these iron-age people could often pick and choose the location for their settlements. As they formed and reformed their societies, they chose their political forms as well.
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