Abstract

It is common to assume that it makes sense to begin from a supposedly monistic African ethics upon which an African political theory can be built. I demur. In this chapter I therefore work in the opposite direction. I begin from real conditions on the ground and propose institutional changes to empower powerless citizens and residents to confront the constant threat of domination by economic and political elites and associated forms of domination that arise out of poverty, inequality and oligarchy. This requires us to jettison a widely held idea regarding justice in politics: that it is about distributive justice justified by impartiality and public reason. We must abandon this view as it has eviscerated the concept of justice and our understanding of politics. After defending this claim, I submit that a more realist approach is necessary to speak to real politics. This is especially pressing in Africa where politics fails to enable citizens to overcome domination. As I shall argue, one possible way of re-orienting this politics would be to focus on needs, power relations and political judgement. A politics of this kind would begin with contextual diagnoses of needs, judgements and institutions. Given current conditions, this would require partisan institutions of representation that institutionalize class conflict, thereby safeguarding liberty. These partisan institutions, I argue, would enable ordinary citizens and residents to participate more actively in the identification and evaluation of their needs by enhancing both representation and participation. They would give political representatives greater autonomy in the process of identifying and evaluating existing needs and interests; and empower citizens and residents meaningfully to control, critique and veto the decisions of their representatives.