PIA 2574

1
PIA 2574

• African Politics and Development

2
State Crisis in Africa

• The Failure of the African State

3
The Ivory Coast Model Triumph and Tragedy

• Geography and Ethnicity
• North- Muslim, Mande
• South East, Akan, Christian West, Kru, links
  with Liberia and Guinea
• The Ivory Coast Miracle
• The death of the Founding President Felix
  Houphouet Boigny

4
Tragedy in West Africa

• New York Times The next state collapse in
  Africa Ivory Coast
• Ghanas North
• Assassination and tension in Dagbon

5
Ghana

• Martin Staniland, The Lions of Dagbon Political
  Change in Northern Ghana (London Cambridge
  University Press, 1975)

6
Ethnicity, Class and Religion

• Theories of Ethnicity Review
• Primordialism
• Ethnicity and Religion
• cultural sub-nationalism

7
Ethnicity, Class and Religion

• Contextual- intensification of ethnic identity-
  and the reverse
• Ethnicity as Nationalism
• Ethnicity and Class

8
Irrelevance of Ideology

• African regimes regardless of ideology are state
  centric
• Skimmed public resources
• Extensive corruption

9
Irrelevance of Ideology

• Patriarchal leadership
• Organizational elites
• Collapse of the social contract with the state
  centered middle class

10
Social Reaction The Exit Strategy

• Praetorian Government
• Recognize the empirical reality of dependency
  theory
• Structural Adjustments impact

11
Social Reaction The Exit Strategy

• Economy of Affection
• Impact of reform on education and health- decline
  and fall of rural area
• Absence of an effective private and non-profit
  sector Failure of Civil Society

12
Social Reaction The Exit Strategy

• Exit, Voice and Loyalty by Albert O. Hirschman
• (Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press,

13
Africas RealityBreakdown of Governance

• Corruption
• Military Coups
• Self Serving Bureaucrats
• Bureaucratic Elites

14
Military Intervention narrow, ethnic
interests or military regimes, 1970s-1990s

• Uganda Obote, Amin and Museveni
• Zaire Mobutu and Big Manism
• Somalia, Ethiopia Totalitarianism and Anarchy
• Liberia and Sierra Leone militarized ethnicity
  and Child Soldiers

15
Uganda Letter
16
Uganda Letter Page 2
17
The Viability of ColonialBorders

• System collapse in central Africa, 1990-2004
• Invading armies Uganda, Rwanda, Namibaa and
  Zimbabwe

18
Collapse of the African International System

• Lack of interest of international community
• Civil War-Violence, Inter-state Conflict and
  African Development

19
Abandonment of Africa by the international
community

• Problem of race and racial sensitivity
• Perception of primordial tribalism in Africa-
  Violence and starvation since independence
• Donor fatigue Debt and the End of the Cold War
• Foreigners as Invaders Tarzan is still an
  Expatriate?

20
The Failure of Institutional Development

• Problem of Inherited Institutions
• Mobilization- High, Institutionalization Low
• Failure of political institutions
• Military- failure to contain political demands

21
At Issue

• Primacy of democratic governance or contained
  political structures

22
The importance of political institutions

• Rules and processes (formal and informal) are
  essential

23
The Institutional State

• Institutionalized Norms and Rules
• Diverse and Representative Civil Society
• Stable Government Structures
• Muted Cultural Differences

24
The Institutional State

• Decentralized (Devolved) Government Structures
• Effective Permanent Government (The
  Administrative Apparatus)
• Middle Class Social Compact
• Incorporate Traditional Governance

25
Traditional Elites

• Inherited States failed to deal with Traditional
  Leadership
• Continuing Influence of Traditional Elites
  regardless of formal standing and regime type

26
Traditional Leadership in Tanzania

• Tanzania Abolishes Chiefs in 1960s
• Study of Political Party Activists (Norman
  Miller)
• Many activists are former traditional elites or
  relatives of chiefs and sub-chiefs

27
Traditional Leadership in Tanzania

• Informally the Party remained highly dependent
  upon traditional leaders on an informal basis
• Traditional political values still socialize
  people (both in urban and rural areas)
• Party informally accepts traditional roles as
  long as it give loyalty to the party

28
How Chiefs Influence Governance

• Continued influence and high status of those who
  hold tribal authority (Dyarchy)
• Presence in high political and administrative
  positions of those who are descendents or
  relatives of traditional leaders
• Status without official sanction but consists of
  party functionaries or bureaucrats

29
Forms of Traditional Influence on Local Level
Governance

• Full Meetings (Town Hall Style) Consensus by
  Direct Democracy
• Pure Traditional Representation- Traditional
  Councils (Appointed)
• Partial- Councils which are half elected and half
  traditional

30
Forms of Traditional Influence on Local Level
Governance

• Technical and Deconcentrated Boards. Department
  heads and Traditional Representatives
• Specialized through the Traditional judicial
  Function
• Triangular-2 traditional, 2 elected councilors
  and two appointed by central government (eg. Land
  Boards)

31
Forms of Traditional Influence on Local Level
Governance

• Bicameral- Traditional Elites represented in an
  Upper House
• Unicameral- Preserved Traditional Seats in
  Legislature
• Grassroots Traditional Mechanisms of Governance
  at sub-district, area or village level

32
Rules and Institutions

• Adaptability rather than rigidity
• Complexity rather than simple
• Coherence rather than disunity
• Devolution and autonomy rather than subordinate
  state structures

33
Rules and Institutions

• Balance between mobilization and political
  institutions
• Samuel P. Huntington

34
Discussion How can the African crisis be
addressed?

• How do we assess the role of the media? Should
  CNN be banned in Africa?
• What argument do our authors make about the
  nature of the African crisis? Critique them
• What picture of Northern influence over African
  states does the reading give us?

35
Discussion

• What New have you been reading lately?
• What should your colleagues read?