Political Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Political Ethics - Essay ExampleElders, ordinarily male and heads of households, have religious spot, as well as powers to decide on aspects of comm unity life. In the case of chiefs and regional or national leaders, there is a mixing of political, religious and moral authority which makes them very powerful indeed, and able to influence the life of those underneath them for good or for evil.Culture, laws and history argon traditionally preserved through oral means, which entails a lot of reciting of material, and listening, as well as religious rite performances of various kinds which serve to remind those present of essential underlying principles which are used to pass notion on particular cases. Another major difference between Western and African ways is that social groups in Africa are usually very much smaller scale, so people actually be intimate those who are leaders, and have some sort of relationship through kinship with them. Hereditary social structures urinate bon ds which last over generations, and ensure a certain stability in society. Ancestor worship is an source of the strong ties that exists within and between clans and tribes in the present time. The whole system is hierarchical, with each layer courting the approval of the one above, from the king or chief at the top right down to the family unit where the child is subordinate to the father.The main values of African societies are good company, dignity, display, decency and wisdom, (Magesa, 1997, p. 258) and these are embodied in the leaders in a system that the author calls relative gerontocracy (Magesa, 1997, p. 265) Conflict resolution is done in a consultative way, with several people sitting in judgement, and an audience listening to complaints and defences. By reservation the preserving of human life the main point of moral behavior, Magesa argues that African