Edited by Uchenna Okeja, the Routledge Handbook of African Political Philosophy aptly illuminates the contested philosophical arguments advanced by African philosophers on the trajectory of political questions on the continent. The volume succinctly articulates the fundamentals of African political philosophy regarding traditions, key debates, and misunderstandings inherent in Africa. Therefore, Okeja’s edited volume makes a significant contribution to the accumulation and development of philosophical arguments that have existed in African historical accounts and continue to shape African societies. The book aptly captures the totality of the debates and intricacies that constitute African political philosophy. The volume comprises an introductory component or chapter contributed by the editor and five thematic parts that are subdivided into twenty-nine other chapters.
In Chapter One, Uchenna Okeja sets out to introduce the handbook by briefly introducing and exploring the old anxieties shaped by the contested African history and the contemporary imaginations emanating from the constitution of African political philosophy as a diasporan affair. Put simply, Okeja elucidates the impact of the contemporary constitution of African political philosophy on knowledge created about the continent that lacks emancipatory traits. Indeed, the usurpation of African studies by experts external to Africa has generated controversies, distortions, and sometimes fabrications on what really constitutes African philosophy. As lamented by Okeja, the outcome has been the portrayal of African political philosophy as having weak foundations in addition to having its ideas by experts detached from realities on the African continent. Nevertheless, left in this analysis are distorted aspects of African legal philosophy that have been diluted by Eurocentric politico-legal philosophy.
The chapters in Part One of the book provide a comprehensive account of the foundational and methodological themes, concepts, and inquiries inherent in African political philosophy. Comprising five chapters, the section captures the totality of how literature serves as a source of concepts and themes for comprehending African political philosophy. In addition, Part One also satisfactorily sheds light on the concept of the state and African state, the philosophical idea of freedom and its concomitant implications, issues of citizenship in modern Africa as influenced by the Westphalian system, and how tradition and modernity could comparatively benefit Africa. The significance of pragmatic history in a postgenocide political life and society such as Rwanda is also splendidly dealt with in this part of the book.
A detailed analytical account of the inherent problems of political vices and virtue is dealt with in the seven chapters in Part Two of the book. The philosophical nuances regarding the comprehension and problematization of the concept of community, analyzing the extent to which political vices such as manipulation impact consensual polity and the subsequent achievement of political virtues, are discussed in Part Two. Moreover, this section provides an adequate analysis of disharmony as a political vice that is disingenuous to the conduct of public affairs in Africa, identity politics as well as differential-politics including their unprecedented prevalence in African politics and the conceptual underpinnings, obscurities and imaginations surrounding corruption. The last part of this section accurately illuminates the centrality of the African civil society as an important political actor in the pursuit of democracy and justice among others.
The seven chapters, not six as indicated in the introduction, in Part Three of the handbook focus on the contentions regarding normative issues and political praxis in Africa. A scintillating comparative discussion on the distinguished scholars’ probing of issues of democracy and deliberation coupled with a well-motivated defence of consensual democracy against distractions from Western-oriented versions is done in this section. Part Three also presents development as an alternative to the prescriptions of democracy in Africa, examines the critical questions pertaining to pluralism and social cohesion in Africa and explores the nexus between democracy and development in Africa. More so, the section underscores the persistent recurrence of electoral violence and its ramifications for political legitimation in Africa and upholds the ethics of communalism, which resonates with Ubuntu, as a precondition for human rights and development on the continent.
Emerging themes and concepts in African political philosophy are precisely interrogated in the five chapters of Part Four of the handbook. These include the persistent degenerative impact of region on politics which is a serious challenge in Africa and beyond. Another emerging issue concerns the consequences, from an ethical point of view, of the contemporaneous manufacture and use of the controversial autonomous weapons systems in the African context. Additionally, the conceptual, philosophical, and practical underpinnings of Africa’s intriguing digital public space and the unprecedented persistent marginalization of women and recommendations for efficacious emancipation of women in Africa are scrutinized in Part Four. Lastly, the nexus between democracy and violence as well as addressing the majority-minority dichotomy that legitimizes violence as an alternative towards peace are adequately analyzed in this section.
Conclusively, Part Five concisely delves into the dynamics of the association between African political philosophy and non-African political philosophy. This includes a stimulating discussion on reinventing, reconceptualizing and redirecting Pan-Africanism from a global perspective and a comparative exploration of Africa’s ubuntu, East Asia’s Confucianism and South America’s buen vivir political philosophies from the perspective of harmony. The recontextualization of the role of multinational companies in the pursuit of freedom and justice, the depiction of Africa in the political imagination of the Afro-diasporic thought and the demystification of the stronghold of whiteness using the critical conception of ubuntu are also well-enunciated in this section. This book makes a significant contribution to the development of knowledge on African political philosophy and it is highly recommended for undergraduate and postgraduate students and researchers of political philosophy.
