In the second blog of a two-piece series on World Policy Journal’s “The African Angle”, George B.N. Ayittey argues that despotism and dictatorship historically did not exist in African politics. He contends that African states need to return to tradition and hold the continent’s rulers accountable to their populations.

 Africa’s stateless societies both baffled the colonialists and gave them their biggest headache. Building on their own experience, the colonialists had it in their head that every society must have a “leader,” but many ethnic groups, including the Somali, the Igbo, the Gikuyu, and the Tiv, had none.

 

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