African nationalism is an umbrella term which refers to a group of political ideologies in West, Central, East and Southern Africa, which are based on the idea of national self-determination and the creation of nation states . The ideology emerged under European colonial rule during the 19th and 20th centuries and was loosely inspired by nationalist ideas from Europe. Originally, African nationalism was based on demands for self-determination and played an important role in forcing the process of decolonisation of Africa ( c. 1957–66). However, the term refers to a broad range of different ideological and political movements and should not be confused with Pan-Africanism which may seek the federation of many or all nation states in Africa.
63-630: The Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) was an African nationalist and socialist Zanzibari political party formed between the mostly Shirazi Shiraz Party and the mostly African Afro Party. In the 1963 Zanzibari general election , the ASP claimed 13 seats and the majority of votes cast, yet the election ended up favouring the Zanzibar Nationalist Party and Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party alliance who collectively claimed 18 seats. Unsatisfied with such unfair representation in parliament,
126-686: A mass movement in the years after World War II as a result of wartime changes in the nature of colonial rule as well as social change in Africa itself. Nationalist political parties were established in almost all African colonies during the 1950s, and their rise was an important reason for the decolonisation of Africa between c. 1957 and 1966. However, African nationalism was never a single movement, and political groups considered to be African nationalists varied by economic orientation and degrees of radicalism and violence. Nationalists leaders struggled to find their own social and national identity following
189-524: A full supranational union as conceived in the first Community. The only union generally recognised as having achieved the status of a supranational union is the European Union. Although the Soviet Union was created under an initial ideological appearance of forming a supranational union, it never de facto functioned as one, and constitutionally was a federation ; see Republics of
252-646: A local tribunal or national courts, where appropriate. Member states have yet to fulfil and develop the articles in the Paris and Rome treaties for full democracy in the European Parliament and other institutions such as the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions. Schuman described supranational unions as a new stage in human development. It contrasted with destructive nationalisms of
315-407: A national sense of national identity among the heterogeneous populations inside them. African nationalism exists in an uneasy relationship with tribalism and sub-national ethnic nationalism which differ in their conceptions of political allegiance. Many Africans distinguish between their ethnic and national identities. Some nationalists have argued that tribes were a colonial creation. During
378-553: A paradigmatic case of a supranational organization, as it has deep political, economic and social integration, which includes a common market , joint border control , a supreme court , and regular popular elections . Another method of decision-making in international organisations is intergovernmentalism , in which state governments play a more prominent role. After the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Albert Einstein spoke and wrote frequently in
441-673: A platform to address their own concerns as wives, mothers, industrial workers, peasants, and as women affiliated to the ANC. The 1940s Anti-tax protest in Tanzania involved the women of Peasant Pare, where women employed methods of direct confrontation, provocative language and physical violence. Explicit use of sexual insult was also central to the powerful Anlu protest of the Cameroon in 1958, where women refused to implement agricultural regulations that would have undermined their farming system. In
504-508: A supranational community. However, governments only began to hold direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, and then not according to the treaties. A single electoral statute was specified in the treaty for Europe's first community of coal and steel in 1951. Civil society (largely non-political) was to have its own elected chamber in the Consultative Committees specific to each Community as democratically agreed, but
567-484: A supranational union like the European Union has characteristics that are not entirely dissimilar to the characteristics of a federal state like the United States of America . However, the differences in scale become apparent if one compares the United States federal budget with the budget of the European Union (which amounts only to about one percent of combined GDP) or the size of the federal civil service of
630-589: A three-pillar system under the Amsterdam Treaty and Maastricht Treaty , mixing intergovernmental and supranational systems. Two pillars governing External policy and Justice and Home affairs are not subject to the same democratic controls as the Community system. In the Lisbon Treaty and the earlier nearly identical Constitutional Treaty, the democratic independence of the five key institutions
693-449: Is a single sovereign state. The European Economic Community was described by its founder Robert Schuman as midway between confederalism which recognises the complete independence of states in an association and federalism which seeks to fuse them in a super-state. The EU has supranational competences, but it possesses these competences only to the extent that they are conferred on it by its member states ( Kompetenz-Kompetenz ). Within
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#1732772967183756-499: Is also a registered political party. Supranational union List of forms of government A supranational union is a type of international organization and political union that is empowered to directly exercise some of the powers and functions otherwise reserved to states . A supranational organization involves a greater transfer of or limitation of state sovereignty than other kinds of international organizations. The European Union (EU) has been described as
819-424: Is further blurred. This moves the project from full democratic supranationalism in the direction of not just intergovernmentalism but the politicisation of the institutions, and control by two or three major party political organisations. The Commission defines key legal aspects of the supranational system because its members must be independent of commercial, labour, consumer, political or lobby interests (Article 9 of
882-961: The British colonial administration. In 1958, he spearheaded the All Party Committee – the purpose of which was for self-governance and to determine the political direction of the Gambia free from European colonialism and neo-colonialism. In 1959, he organised the Bread and Butter demonstration from outside his house in Barthurst now Banjul , and led his followers to Government House to lobby the British colonial administration. Following that demonstration, Cham Joof and his associates Crispin Grey Johnson and M. B. Jones were indicted as "inciting
945-591: The Committee of the Regions which the treaties give powers equivalent to parliaments in their own areas but which are at present still developing their potential. In the European Union, the Lisbon Treaty mixes two principles (classical parliamentary government with a politically elected government) and a supranational community with an independent European Commission . Governments are also trying to treat
1008-536: The Council of Europe created a system based on human rights and the rule of law . Robert Schuman , French foreign minister, initiated the debate on supranational democracy in his speeches at the United Nations, at the signing of the council's Statutes and at a series of other speeches across Europe and North America. The term "supranational" occurs in an international treaty for the first time (twice) in
1071-525: The European Coal and Steel Community . The six founder States (France, Italy, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) agreed on the goal: making "war not only unthinkable but materially impossible". They agreed about the means: putting the vital interests, namely coal and steel production, under a common High Authority, subject to common democratic and legal institutions. They agreed on
1134-710: The Iron Curtain countries. The term supranational does not occur in succeeding treaties, such as the Treaties of Rome , the Maastricht Treaty , the Treaty of Nice or the Constitutional Treaty or the very similar Treaty of Lisbon . A supranational union is a supranational polity which lies somewhere between a confederation that is an association of sovereign states and a federation that
1197-463: The Lisbon Treaty , the distribution of competences in various policy areas between member states and the European Union is redistributed in three categories. In 19th century US, it had exclusive competences only. Competences not explicitly listed belong to lower levels of governance. In a supranational union, the problem of how to reconcile the principle of equality among nation states, which applies to international (intergovernmental) organisations, and
1260-809: The ASP, headed by Abeid Karume , collaborated with the Umma Party to begin the Zanzibar Revolution on 12 January 1964. The revolution overthrew the Sultanate of Zanzibar and established the People's Republic of Zanzibar , ruled by Abeid Karume. Following the establishment of the republic, the ASP banned the previous ruling parties—the Zanzibar Nationalist Parity and the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party. On 5 February 1977,
1323-475: The African Nationalist moment. Whereas women's historians interested in effecting changes in the process and production of American or European history had to fight their way onto trains that had been moving through centuries on well-worn gauges, the "new" Africanist train had barely left the station in the early '60s. With a few exceptions, scholars have devoted little more than a passing mention of
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#17327729671831386-562: The European Commission as a political office. Governments would prefer to have a national member in the commission, although this is against the principle of supranational democracy. (The original concept was that the commission should act as a single impartial college of independent, experienced personalities having public confidence. One of the Communities was defined in the treaty with a Commission with fewer members than
1449-544: The European Commission into a political secretariat under his control in the Fouchet Plan but this move was thwarted by such democrats in the Benelux countries as Paul-Henri Spaak , Joseph Luns and Joseph Bech as well as a large wave of other pro-Europeans in all the Community countries. The supranational Community method came under attack, not only from de Gaulle but also from other nationalists and Communists. In
1512-666: The European Community and the present European Union said that supranationalism was the cornerstone of the governmental system. This is enshrined in the Europe Declaration made on 18 April 1951, the same day as the European Founding Fathers signed the Treaty of Paris . "By the signature of this Treaty, the participating Parties give proof of their determination to create the first supranational institution and that thus they are laying
1575-471: The European influence that controlled the political landscape during the colonial occupation. African nationalism in the colonial era was often framed purely in opposition to colonial rule and was therefore frequently unclear or contradictory about its other objectives. According to historian Robert I. Rotberg , African nationalism would not have emerged without colonialism. Its relation to Pan-Africanism
1638-538: The European rule of law and a new democratic procedure. The five institutions (besides the High Authority) were a Consultative Committee (a chamber representing civil society interests of enterprises, workers and consumers), a parliament, and a Council of government ministers. A Court of Justice would decide disputes coming from governments, public or private enterprises, consumer groups, any other group interests or even an individual. A complaint could be lodged in
1701-481: The Lisbon Treaty as a simple classical treaty, or even an amendment to one, which does not require citizens' support or democratic approval. The proposed Lisbon Treaty and the earlier Constitutional draft still retain in the European Union elements of a supranational union, as distinct from a federal state on the lines of the United States of America. But this is at the expense of the democratic potentialities of
1764-647: The Paris Treaty). The commission was to be composed of a small number of experienced personalities, whose impartiality was beyond question. As such, the early presidents of the Commission and the High Authority were strong defenders of European democracy against national, autocratic practice or the rule of the strong over the weak. The idea in the Constitutional and Lisbon Treaties is to run
1827-567: The South African Native National Congress, the organisation was formed to advocate for the rights of black South Africans . When the National Party government came to power in 1948 , the ANC's central purpose became to oppose the new government's policy of institutionalised apartheid . In the post-apartheid era, the ANC continues to identify itself foremost as a liberation movement , although it
1890-492: The Tanganyikan African National Union. Mohammed, who was semi-illiterate, was an impressive orator and later combined her nationalist work in the 1950s with her political ambitions. She was one of the most visible Tanganyikan nationalists during the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. She was the only nationalist leader, besides Julius Nyerere , who was recognized across the country at
1953-463: The Treaty of Paris, 18 April 1951. This new legal term defined the community method in creating the European Coal and Steel Community and the beginning of the democratic re-organisation of Europe. It defines the relationship between the High Authority or European Commission and the other four institutions. In the treaty, it relates to a new democratic and legal concept. The Founding Fathers of
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2016-663: The United States with the Civil Service of the European Union . Historically the concept was introduced and made a concrete reality by Robert Schuman when the French Government agreed to the principle in the Schuman Declaration and accepted the Schuman Plan confined to specific sectors of vital interest of peace and war. Thus commenced the European Community system beginning with
2079-655: The constitution of such an organization might be written. In an April 1948 address at Carnegie Hall, he reiterated: "There is only one path to peace and security: the path of supranational organization." Thanks to his celebrity, Einstein's ideas on the subject generated much discussion and controversy, but the proposal did not generate much support in the West and the Soviet Union viewed it with hostility. With its founding Statute of 1949 and its Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which came into force in 1953,
2142-421: The control of public opinion that was effectual without paralysing their activity nor useful initiatives". Joseph H. H. Weiler , in his work The Dual Character of Supranationalism , states that there are two main facets to European supranationalism, although these seem to be true of many supranational systems. These are: In many ways, the split sees the separation of powers confined to merely two branches. In
2205-569: The course of Africanist historiography. The goal of these women involved in the African nationalism movement was to recover Africa's past and to celebrate the independent emergence of independent Africa. It was necessary to raise awareness of this cause, calling to the new emerging generation of African women, raised in a better, more stable society. Although the challenges they faced seemed increasingly more significant, they, however, had it better than past generations, allowing them to raise awareness of
2268-408: The democratically agreed goals of the Community. The first Community of Coal and Steel was agreed only for fifty years. Opposition, mainly by enterprises which had to pay a small European tax of less than 1% and government ministers in the council, led to its democratic mandate not being renewed. Its jurisprudence and heritage remains part of the European Community system. De Gaulle attempted to turn
2331-647: The emerging black middle classes in West Africa . Early nationalists hoped to overcome ethnic fragmentation by creating nation-states . In its earliest period, it was inspired by African-American and Afro-Caribbean intellectuals from the Back-to-Africa movement who imported nationalist ideals current in Europe and the Americas at the time. The early African nationalists were elitist and believed in
2394-547: The larger male-dominated liberation organizations, as through the African National Congress (ANC). Nevertheless, in 1943, the ANC adopted a new constitution which included a new position for women to become full members of the national movement. Women also formed their own national organisations, such as the Federation of South African Women in 1954, which boasted a membership of 230,000 women. Though at
2457-646: The late 1940s in favour of a "supranational" organization to control all military forces except for local police forces, including nuclear weapons. He thought this might begin with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, and grow to encompass most other nations, presenting this as the only way to avoid nuclear war. He broached the idea in the November 1945 and November 1947 articles in The Atlantic Monthly that described how
2520-505: The late 1950s and 1960s, scholars of African nationalist struggles primarily focused on the Western-educated male elites who led the nationalist movements and assumed power after independence. The history of studies of women's involvement in African nationalist struggle, mobilization, and party politics can be traced along intellectual and political paths that initially followed, later paralleled, but have seldom deviated from or led
2583-432: The nationalist struggle. A minority of women were incorporated and affiliated into male-dominated national organisations. Founded by women in 1960, The National Council of Sierra Leone was to become, in 1968, the women's section of the ruling All People's Congress and dedicated primarily to the vigorous support of head of state, President Stevens. Women activists extended and conveyed militant behaviours. Nancy Dolly Steele
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2646-526: The nineteenth and twentieth centuries that began in a glorious patriotism and ended in wars. He traced the beginning concept of supranationality back to the nineteenth century, such as the Postal Union, and the term supranational is used around the time of the First World War. Democracy, which he defined as "in the service of the people and acting in agreement with it", was a fundamental part of
2709-601: The non-elite population. Market women in coastal Nigeria and Guinea also used their networks to convey anti-government information. ‘Ordinary’ women themselves had transformed "traditional" methods for networking and expressing disapproval against individuals, into mechanisms for challenging and unsettling the local colonial administration. However, although these women contributed to African nationalist politics, they had limited impact as their strategies were concerned with shaming, retaliation, restitution and compensation, and were not directly about radical transformation. This problem
2772-608: The number of its member states.) Thus, the members of the commission are becoming predominantly party-political, and composed of sometimes rejected, disgraced or unwanted national politicians. The first president of the High Authority was Jean Monnet , who never joined a political party, as was the case with most of the other members of the Commissions. They came from diverse liberal professions, having made recognised European contributions. Governments also wish to retain
2835-489: The party joined with the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) to form Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). This article about an African political party is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Zanzibar -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . African nationalism Nationalist ideas in Africa emerged during the mid-19th century among
2898-421: The post-de Gaulle period, rather than holding pan-European elections under a single statute as specified in all the treaties, governments held and continue to hold separate national elections for the European Parliament. These often favour the major parties and discriminate against smaller, regional parties. Rather than granting elections to organised civil society in the consultative committees, governments created
2961-419: The presence of African women as conscious political actors in African nationalism. Anne McClintock has stressed that "all nationalisms are gendered." Undoubtedly, women played a significant role in arousing national consciousness as well as elevating their own political and social position through African nationalism. It is with this in mind, that both feminism and the research of these women become critical to
3024-466: The principle of equality among citizens, which applies within nation states is resolved by taking a sectoral approach. This allows an innovatory, democratic broadening the number of actors to be included. These are present not only in the classical Parliament which has slightly different functions but also in the Consultative Committees such as the European Economic and Social Committee and
3087-846: The process was frozen (as were Europe's parliamentary elections) by Charles de Gaulle and other politicians who opposed the Community method. Today supranationalism only exists in the two European Communities inside the EU: the Economic Community (often called the European Community although it does not legally cover all State activities) and Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community, a non-proliferation community, in which certain potentialities have been frozen or blocked). Supranational Communities provide powerful but generally unexploited and innovatory means for democratic foreign policy, by mobilising civil society to
3150-636: The public to disobey the laws of the land" and charged as political prisoners. ' The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa . It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election resulted in Nelson Mandela being elected as President of South Africa . Founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as
3213-525: The re-evaluation of the history of African nationalism. In 1943, a prominent organization called the African National Congress Women's League used its branches throughout the continent to build an international campaign. As leaders and activists, women participated in African nationalism through national organisations. The decade of the 1950s was a landmark because of the significant number of women who were politically involved in
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#17327729671833276-481: The same way, women used music, dance and informal methods to convey their solidarity for African nationalism. The production of Tanganyikan nationalism in Tanzania can be seen as “woman’s work,” where women evoked, created and performed nationalism through their dances and songs. Equally, women were considered the best sloganeers, as traditional story-tellers and singers using ideas, images and phrases that appealed to
3339-437: The scope of these competences, the union exercises its powers in a sovereign manner, having its own legislative , executive, and judicial authorities. The supranational Community also has a chamber for organised civil society including economic and social associations and regional bodies. The union has legal supremacy over its member states only to the extent that its member state governments have conferred competences on
3402-677: The secrecy of their deliberations in the Council of Ministers or the European Council, which discusses matters of the most vital interest to European citizens. While some institutions such as the European Parliament have their debates open to the public, others such as the Council of Ministers and numerous committees are not. Schuman wrote in his book, Pour l'Europe ( For Europe ), that in a democratic supranational Community "the Councils, committees and other organs should be placed under
3465-465: The supremacy of Western culture but sought a greater role for themselves in political decision-making. They rejected African traditional religions and tribalism as "primitive" and embraced western ideas of Christianity , modernity , and the nation state . However, one of the challenges faced by nationalists in unifying their nation after European rule were the divisions of tribes and the formation of ethnicism. African nationalism first emerged as
3528-468: The time of Tanzanian independence. Her legacy as a leader, speaker, organiser and activist is testimony to the pivotal role played by many uneducated women in spreading a national consciousness, a political awareness and securing independence from British rule in Tanzania. Whilst some female-oriented initiatives may have been conceived and presented to women by male party-leaders, others were clearly created by women themselves. These women used nationalism as
3591-452: The time women viewed themselves primarily as mothers and wives, the act of their joining in political organisations illustrated a kind of feminist consciousness. Women were fundamental nationalist leaders in their own right. Under the inspiration of Bibi Titi Mohammed , a former singer in Dar es Salaam who became a Tanganyikan nationalist, Tanzanian women were organised into a Women's Section of
3654-503: The true foundation of an organised Europe. This Europe remains open to all nations. We profoundly hope that other nations will join us in our common endeavour." This declaration of principles that included their judgement for the necessary future developments was signed by Konrad Adenauer (West Germany), Paul van Zeeland and Joseph Meurice (Belgium), Robert Schuman (France), Count Sforza (Italy), Joseph Bech (Luxembourg), and Dirk Stikker and Jan van den Brink (The Netherlands). It
3717-470: The union. It is up to the individual governments to assure that they have full democratic backing in each of the member states. The citizens of the member states, though retaining their nationality and national citizenship , additionally become citizens of the union, as is the case with the European Union. The European Union, the only clear example of a supranational union, has a parliament with legislative oversight, elected by its citizens. To this extent,
3780-480: Was a reflection of the extent to which most African women had already been marginalized politically, economically and educationally under colonial regimes in Africa. In the Gambia , one of the prominent Gambian nationalists and Pan-Africanists during the colonial era was Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof . From the 1950s up to Gambia's independence , Cham Joof (as he is commonly referred to), held a series of campaigns against
3843-428: Was also ambiguous, with many nationalist leaders professing Pan-African loyalties but still refusing to commit to supranational unions . African nationalists of the period have also been criticised for their continued use of ideas and policies associated with colonial states. In particular, nationalists usually attempted to preserve national frontiers created arbitrarily under colonial rule after independence and create
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#17327729671833906-406: Was made to recall future generations to their historic duty of uniting Europe based on liberty and democracy under the rule of law. Thus, they viewed the creation of a wider and deeper Europe as intimately bound to the healthy development of the supranational or Community system. This Europe was open to all nations who were free to decide, a reference/or an invitation and encouragement of liberty to
3969-586: Was the organizing secretary and co-founder of the Congress, and has been noted for her militant political and nationalist activities. In the same way, throughout Africa, the influence of trade union movements, in particular, became the spawning ground for women organisers as such. South African women, for instance, emerged as primary catalysts for protests against the Apartheid regime. These women first participated in resistance movements through women's branches of
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