Philippine E-Journals

NEGOTIATING PRE-COLONIAL HISTORY AND FUTURE DEMOCRACY: EXAMINING LAUER’S INTERVENTION ON WIREDU’S CONSENSUAL DEMOCRACY

Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani | Edwin Etieyibo

 

Abstract:

Kwasi Wiredu proposed a democracy by consensus, inspired by the consensual practices of the traditional Akan of Africa. But his presentation of the traditional consensual practices has been criticized for inaccurateness. Helen Lauer embarks on what she sees as cleaning the debate of the misreading of Wiredu’s presentation of traditional consensual practices by his critics. This is commendable. However, we claim that she does not succeed in the task that she set out to do. We argue that her failure partly has to do with her subscribing to a one-sided assessment of such a history, which influenced the manner she evaluated the debate and some of the fallacies that crept into analysis.