A Review of Bernard Matolino’s Afro-Communitarian Democracy

Abstract

Bernard Matolino’s [Afro-communitarian Democracy] aims to discuss how communitarianism continues to influence African political theorisation. The book discusses how African political experiences have informed the formulation of two political theories rooted in African communitarian ethos, and the need to transcend these theories of politics. The book begins by identifying the challenge facing African people as primarily that of material deprivation rooted in the poverty that exists in the political sphere, and the lack of attempt at theorising useful policies for the African condition. It concludes by attempting to develop a political theory suited to the continent by providing African democratic systems that are grounded in local conditions.