Description:
Deciding in Unison: Themes in Consensual Democracy in Africa is an edited volume that both scholars and students of African philosophy and politics will find interesting. The chapters trace the current state of the debate as well as the idea that the advancement of consensus democracy as unanimity democracy is no longer valid, and a democracy of compromise is suggested as an alternative for advancing consensus democracy. The collection also contains chapters dealing with Wiredu's consensual proposal for the building of resistance movements as well as his views about the relativity of truth and the way we should handle it. However, there are also chapters that explore the non-party system Wiredu proposes as not applicable in practice. Furthermore, the issues related to transferring consensus-supporting values like communism into the contemporary Africa setting are also examined. Also discussed in the book is how current presentations of African epistemology cannot pass for epistemology, and how we could begin to think of fashioning an African epistemology from deliberation aimed at consensus.
Brief description: Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ani (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer and has taught philosophy for several years at the University of Ghana. He holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Ibadan, a B.Phil. in Philosophy from the Urban Pontifical University, Italy, and an MA and a PhD in Philosophy from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. He is the University of Ghana external assessor for affiliate institutions on Logic and Critical Thinking. He was the Chair of Long Essay, Library and Graduate Studies, at the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the University of Canberra, Australia, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Public Deliberation. He has published in many high-impact journals and presses, including Cambridge and Oxford University Presses, and is a contributor to the Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy. He is the winner of the 2018 University of Ghana Humanities Provost Publication Award in the Mid-Career Category.