WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A set of principles defining the norms of civil society in Africa that were developed after the Cold War could hold the key to the future of democracy and social order on the troubled continent, according to analysts at a recent think tank policy forum.
Howard Wolpe, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said the so-called Kampala principles are important because they demonstrate Africa's progress toward democratization, integrated security policy and sustainable development.
"What is so significant about the Kampala document is what it envisions, and that its development comes not from outside the continent but has indigenous roots and directions," Wolpe said Wednesday during a forum at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, known as SAIS.
The forum examined the book "A Strategic Vision for Africa: The Kampala Movement," co-written by William Zartman, director of the Conflict Management Program at SAIS and Francis Deng, SAIS research professor and director of the SAIS Center for Displacement Studies. The book was recently published by the Brookings Institution Press.
The book explores the development and possible impact of the Kampala movement, which arose out of meetings organized in 1989 by Olusegun Obasanjo, then the Nigerian head of state and now Nigeria's democratically elected president. Those meetings eventually lead to the development of the Kampala principles for workable political and economic development across Africa, and a push by supporters for a new leadership organization to replace the Organization for African Unity.
The Kampala principles laid out democratic and economic norms to be used as a means to ensure individual security, democratic stability and respect for individual rights, as well as development and cooperation between African nations.
Although those who wrote the principles in the early 1990s envisioned them as the ideals that would drive Africa in the coming years, the Kampala principles have as yet not become the continent's guiding principles.
According to Zartman and Deng, the principles have not been adopted by any multinational African development organization, and to some extent have even been marginalized through the work of a coalition of leaders from Sudan and Libya who view them as a threat to their control at home.
But supporters of the principles believe they represent the socio-political norms that will eventually come to dominate African development. At the forum, Zartman said that the principles of social stability, development and cooperation should be studied because they represent what forward-thinking Africans believe their continent is capable of.
He said that even if the principles have yet to be adopted by a pan-national African group or integrated into the political norms of many countries, they nevertheless can guide those seeking to improve their nations.
"I recommend the Kampala document itself (be read) because it is an extraordinary piece of writing and it comes out of Africa, written by Africans," said Zartman. "They also do provide standards by which leaders can be held accountable, even if we don't have enforcement capabilities in this part of the anarchistic world."
Chester Crocker, Schlesinger professor of strategic studies at Georgetown University, said the Kampala movement is about building an indigenous African state system. He added that it is important to recognize that this is a long term fight between forces fighting to keep the status quo and those seeking improvement and change.
"The fact is that this state system is a work in process, and a key issue in any state system is who writes the rules," said Crocker. "Africa continues to be a region -- and it is by no means the only one -- where this is a fight between the forces of evil and the forces of constructive political initiatives."
He added that in many places is Africa there is an active debate between those who want to improve their nations and political processes, and those that want to use the countries as a means to gain wealth at the expense of the population.
Pauline H. Baker, president of the Fund for Peace, said that one of the most important facets of the Kampala principles is that they underscore the international community's move away from accepting sovereignty as a shield for the kinds of abuses of power prevalent in Africa.
There is "growing acceptance of the norm of sovereignty as responsibility," Baker, whose non-profit group promotes methods for conflict resolution around the world, said at the forum.
"You can accept or reject the particular norms and principles (of the Kampala movement) but all of these evolved from this central premise that leadership can no longer be unaccountable in Africa," she said. "Africa came up with this notion of accountability that is now on the table."
According to Wolpe, viable groups have sprung up in countries including Kenya, South Africa and Senegal to promote civil society and government following the principles of the Kampala document.
He also noted that despite the political unrest in Zimbabwe and the fighting there over control of white-owned farmland, Zimbabwe is an embryonic democratic society. Even under the tyrannical rule of President Robert Mugabe, there is opposition and dissent that would have been unheard of 10 or 15 years ago.
Despite her belief that support for institutions of norms and civil society has taken hold in many parts of Africa, Baker said the failure of the Kampala movement to incite the kind of strong public support garnered by the anti-apartheid and anti-colonial movements demonstrates that public support for such ideals is still limited in Africa.
She said this may be because the Kampala movement has developed in a period of African history when its ideas are unlikely to take hold.
"It is probably ahead of its time, like the League of Nations was ahead of its time," she said. "I think it is a precursor for something that will come in the future, like the League of Nations was a precursor to the United Nations."
