Abstract
This is the introductory chapter of the book: Justice, Human Rights and Civil Religion in Africa: Challenging Discourse and Searching for Alternative Paths. The chapter is divided into three sections on justice, leadership and human rights. It locates the various failed attempts in Africa to develop, democratise and instil virtues of a just state and society, promote benevolent leadership and advance political and economic rights and freedoms in the resilience of the colonial state. The resilience of the colonial state requires a ‘new’ imagination from Africa itself as opposed to Africa relying on external ‘help’. The central argument of the chapter is that the colonial state continues to operate in Africa under various guises such as international law, humanitarian interventions, multilateralism, aid and the threat or actual use of force, economic or military. The chapter distinguishes good from just leadership. Good leadership points outs malpractices while just leadership points out and acts against identified malpractices. The alternative path for Africa out of the colonial state is to demand its right to rights as a sine qua non for a just society.
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Benyera, E., Francis, R., Jazbhay, A.H. (2020). Challenging Discourse and Searching for Alternative Paths: Justice, Human Rights and Leadership in Africa. In: Benyera, E. (eds) Reimagining Justice, Human Rights and Leadership in Africa. Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25143-7_1
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