Abstract

In reaction to Wiredu's plea for non-party democracy, Eze's criticism of that, and Presbey's article on the role of Akan queenmothers in a political system characterized by consensus, Senghaas discusses African models of consensual democracy in the light of global discussions on the construction and application of alternative democratic systems. He points out that the problem in question is not to be solved by a simple either-or approach of choosing between a Westminster model of democracy and a consensus model of African origin, but a wide variety of worldwide existing forms of democratic government should be considered in the discussion. For a successful solution, Senghaas emphazises the need for interdisciplinarity and an input of empirical knowledge for the construction of political theory.