Norman Leys
Published: 2015-06-25
Total Pages: 28
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Excerpt from A Plan for Government By, Mandate in Africa Africans who were German subjects before the War are now to be governed under Mandates, "Mandate" being the name given to the directions given by the League of Nations to some State, called a "Mandatory," to which the League entrusts actual governing. This new plan of government by Mandate differs in kind, and, if the hopes of some are realised, will differ in results, from the ordinary way of governing Africans. In ordinary African dependencies the sole depository of authority is the Governor appointed by some Sovereign State in Europe. He is, in effect, absolute, as Governors and Governments of native origin, whether in Europe, Asia, or Africa, never are. The man on the spot, in an African dependency, has all the powers of a traditional Oriental despot. He may, by a simple act of sovereignty, assume the ownership of the whole of the land of the dependency or transfer a whole tribe bodily from one area to another. There is no European State with African possessions that has not done these very things. These arbitrary powers may, or may not, be used unwisely or unjustly. African Governments with arbitrary powers differ in policy and method almost as widely as European Governments with no arbitrary powers. But while in a free country the authority of the Executive is limited by other authorities of native origin, the authority of government in an African dependency is unlimited except by its own voluntary acts which may at will be undone. Whether they are called colonies or protectorates, whether their titles are derived from conquest, cession, or treaty, the Governments of dependencies in tropical Africa are, in fact, autocracies. To government of that type government by Mandate offers the completest contrast. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
