Showing papers in "Development and Change in 2010"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify four key arguments of the scholarly literature on the state in Africa, which concern the historicity of the state, the embeddedness of bureaucratic organizations in society, the symbolic and material dimensions of statehood and the importance of legitimacy.
Abstract: This article, which forms the introduction to a collection of studies, focuses on processes of state construction and deconstruction in contemporary Africa.Its objective is to better understand how local, national and transnational actors forge and remake the state through processes of negotiation, contestation and bricolage. Following a critique of the predominant state failure literature and its normative and analytical shortcomings, the authors identify four key arguments of the scholarly literature on the state in Africa, which concern the historicity of the state in Africa, the embeddedness of bureaucratic organizations in society, the symbolic and material dimensions of statehood and the importance of legitimacy. A heuristic framework entitled ‘negotiatingstatehood’ is proposed, referring to the dynamic and partly undetermined processes of state formation and failure by a multitude of social actors whocompete over the institutionalization of power relations. The article then operationalizes this framework in three sections that partly conceptualize, partly illustrate who negotiates statehood in contemporary Africa (actors, resources and repertoires); where these negotiation processes occur (negotiation arenas and tables); and what these processes are all about (objects of negotiation). Empirical examples drawn from a variety of political contexts across the African continent illustrate these propositions.
336 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the debates surrounding Chinese engagement in Africa, especially around aid and development issues, and investigate the impacts of the changing modalities of Chinese aid with reference to case studies of two countries: Angola and Ghana.
Abstract: Discussions on the politics of Chinese engagement with African development have been marked by increasing concern over Chinese use of aid in exchange for preferential energy deals. Normative liberal discourse criticizes the Chinese for disbursing ‘rogue aid’ and undermining good governance in the African continent. These criticisms not only ignore the longer-term motivations and modalities of Chinese aid and the historical diversity of Chinese relations with Africa, but also uncritically assume ‘Western’ aid to be morally ‘superior’ and ‘more effective’ in terms of development outcomes. This paper consists of three parts. First, it will discuss the debates surrounding Chinese engagement in Africa, especially around aid and development issues. Second, the paper maps the historical development of China–Africa engagement and investigates the impacts of the changing modalities of Chinese aid with reference to case studies of two countries: Angola and Ghana. It then offers a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between these two cases. The principal argument is that Chinese and Western donors employ different ideologies and practices of governance to conceal their own interests and political discourses in the African continent.
221 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how different actors use the concept and the language of humanitarian space and principles in the everyday politics of aid delivery and propose an empirical perspective that approaches humanitarian space from the perspective of everyday practices of policy and implementation.
Abstract: 'Humanitarian space' denotes the physical or symbolic space which humanitarian agents need to deliver their services according to the principles they uphold. This concept, which separates humanitarian action from its politicized environment, is widely used in policy documents and academic texts, even though empirical evidence abounds that this space is in fact highly politicized. To some extent the uncritical use of the concept of humanitarian space is understandable because of its aspirational character. This article explores a different angle: how different actors use the concept and the language of humanitarian space and principles in the everyday politics of aid delivery. It proposes an empirical perspective that approaches humanitarian space from the perspective of everyday practices of policy and implementation. It maintains that the humanitarian space is an arena where a multitude of actors, including humanitarians and the disaster-affected recipients of aid, shape the everyday realities of humanitarian action. The paper develops this perspective for two humanitarian operations: a protracted refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, and the tsunami response in Sri Lanka.
180 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the differential workings of anti-politics in practice warrant a renewed appreciation and a more explicit political operationalization of the concept, by re-emphasizing antipolitics as an essential political strategy within conservation and development interventions and as an intrinsic element of the wider political economy of neoliberalism.
Abstract: Studies on conservation and development often point out that interventions rely on anti-political manoeuvring to acquire legitimacy and support. Recent ‘aidnography’, in particular, has done much to expand and add nuance to our understanding of the complex, micro- (anti-)politics at work in conservation and development interventions. In doing this, however, aidnography seems to have led the focus away from two crucial, broader issues related to conservation and development interventions: how they are regulated through the wider, neoliberal political economy, and how this fuels and obscures (global) inequality. Drawing on empirical research on a transfrontier conservation and development intervention in Southern Africa, this article argues that the differential workings of anti-politics in practice warrant a renewed appreciation and a more explicit political operationalization of the concept. This is done by re-emphasizing anti-politics as an essential political strategy within conservation and development interventions and as an intrinsic element of the wider political economy of neoliberalism.
135 citations
TL;DR: The issue of child labour in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) economy is attracting significant attention worldwide as discussed by the authors, where a lack of formal sector employment opportunities and/or the need to provide financial support to their impoverished families has led tens of thousands of children to take up work in this industry.
Abstract: The issue of child labour in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) economy is attracting significant attention worldwide. This article critically examines this ‘problem’ in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, where a lack of formal sector employment opportunities and/or the need to provide financial support to their impoverished families has led tens of thousands of children to take up work in this industry. The article begins by engaging with the main debates on child labour in an attempt to explain why young boys and girls elect to pursue arduous work in ASM camps across the region. The remainder of the article uses the Ghana experience to further articulate the challenges associated with eradicating child labour at ASM camps, drawing upon recent fieldwork undertaken in Talensi-Nabdam District, Upper East Region. Overall, the issue of child labour in African ASM communities has been diagnosed far too superficially, and until donor agencies and host governments fully come to grips with the underlying causes of the poverty responsible for its existence, it will continue to burgeon.
128 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that PES approaches should be understood as a part of a broader process of local institutional transformation rather than as a market-based alternative for allegedly ineffective government and/or community governance.
Abstract: The concept of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is gaining increasing attention among scholars as well as conservation and development practitioners. The premises of this innovative conservation approach are appealing: private land users, usually poorly motivated to protect nature on their land, will do so if they receive payments from environmental service buyers which cover part of the land users’ opportunity costs of developing the land. However, this article warns against an over-enthusiastic adoption of a one-sided market-based PES approach. Based on a field study of the Regional Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches to Ecosystem Management Project (RISEMP), one of the main PES pilot projects in Nicaragua, it suggests that a mixture of economic and non-economic factors motivated farmers to adopt the envisaged silvopastoral practices and that the actual role of PES is mistakenly understood as a simple matter of financial incentives. The authors argue that PES approaches should be understood as a part of a broader process of local institutional transformation rather than as a market-based alternative for allegedly ineffective government and/or community governance.
122 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the various ways in which politicians in India operate as mediators between state institutions and citizens, arguing that this institutionalization of political mediation is the outcome of a dialectic between the limited capacity of the state to provide public services and the strategies that local politicians employ to win elections.
Abstract: This article follows a municipal councillor in Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India) on his daily routine in order to explore the various ways in which politicians in India operate as mediators between state institutions and citizens. Political mediation is deeply entrenched in the procedures, policies and habits that guide the daily functioning of Gujarat's state institutions. This article argues that this institutionalization of political mediation is the outcome of a dialectic between the limited capacity of the state to provide public services and the strategies that local politicians employ to win elections.
118 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse how political space, defined as the ability of actors other than the government to critically engage in debate on government policy and practice, is being constituted in post-genocide Rwanda.
Abstract: This article analyses how political space, defined here as the ability of actors other than the government to critically engage in debate on government policy and practice, is being constituted in post-genocide Rwanda. Using evidence from interviews with civil society activists and examples from the Rwandan Government's post-genocide policies, it explores the kind of political space which results from an interplay of potentially competing influences. These include the promotion of a liberal approach to democracy, favoured by many of Rwanda's donors, and a more tightly-managed and limited transition which is both preferred by and beneficial for the RPF Government. The article shows that although space could be seen in some areas as opening, this trend is hampered by government actions, including legislative and shadow methods, by donor reluctance to pressure the ruling RPF and by fear within civil society of tackling politically sensitive issues. In conclusion, the author suggests that this fear is reinforced by government policies which narrow perceptions of political space, exacerbated by perceived abandonment of civil society by donors, and that in combination these factors pose a long-term challenge to more openly contested politics in Rwanda.
117 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the politics of TAM representation, intermediation, and representation in the context of the transnational agrarian movements (TAMs) which have emerged in recent decades have been actively engaged in the politics and policies of international (rural) development.
Abstract: The transnational agrarian movements (TAMs) which have emerged in recent decades have been actively engaged in the politics and policies of international (rural) development. Intergovernmental and non-governmental development agencies have welcomed and supported TAMs in the context of promoting international ‘partnerships for development’. The analysis in this article revolves around the politics of TAM representation, intermediation
97 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the complexity and gendered contradictions implied in the way that social capital is generally viewed to support economic development, and suggested that the way micro-finance institutions use social capital to support sustainable financial institutions and income generation does not always reflect the way women's networks support access to resources and ultimately, economic development.
Abstract: Both social capital and microfinance are central to mainstream development interventions, and both are predicated on the need to recognize the importance of social factors in development. Microfinance institutions mobilize social capital in the form of a group guarantee, and aim to support the development of sustainable financial institutions and income generation. Women are targeted in part because of the effectiveness of their social capital as collateral. However, although social capital is assumed to support development and income generation, the precise dynamics involved in this are rarely explored. This article examines the construction of social capital and its relationship to income generation, based on a long-term ethnographic study of village life in rural Bolivia and the microfinance institution operating there. The author examines the complexity and gendered contradictions implied in the way that social capital is generally viewed to support economic development. It is suggested that the way microfinance institutions use social capital to support sustainable financial institutions and income generation does not always reflect the way that women's networks support access to resources and ultimately, economic development.
96 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an explanation for the emergence of non-state governance in situations of apparent state collapse, based on an ethnographic study of the armed rebellion in Butembo (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo), is proposed.
Abstract: This article proposes an explanation for the emergence of non‐state governance in situations of apparent state collapse, based on an ethnographic study of the armed rebellion in Butembo (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo). The model of explanation is inspired by Charles Tilly's description of state making as organized crime, in which armed rebels and private economic agents enter an agreement for private protection. The study seeks to explain how an original meeting between Butembo's armed rebels of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie — Mouvement de Liberation (RCD–ML) and an existing network of cross‐border traders actually led to a ‘pluralizing’ moment, in which the reinterpretation of existing relations and regulatory practices contributed to a gradual transformation of the institutional framework and local governance. Recently, this local political order has entered into increasing competition with the internationally induced project of political ‘transition’, based on a conflict between dynamics of state building and translocal political (trans)formation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used an examination of the Turkish banking sector experience with the Post-Washington Consensus (PWC) in the aftermath of the 2001 financial crisis to show its considerable strengths and weaknesses.
Abstract: The new era of the Post-Washington Consensus (PWC), promoted under the auspices of International Financial Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, centres on the need to develop sound financial regulation and strong regulatory institutions, especially in the realm of banking and finance in post-financial crisis developing countries. This article uses an examination of the Turkish banking sector experience with the PWC in the aftermath of the 2001 financial crisis to show its considerable strengths and weaknesses. The authors argue that the emergent regulatory state in the bank-based financial system has a narrow focus on strengthening prudential regulation, whilst ignoring the increased ‘financialization’ of the Turkish economy. They identify the positive features of the new era of the PWC in terms of prudential regulation, which has become much more robust in its ability to withstand external shocks. At the same time, however, the article highlights some of the limitations of the new era which resemble the limitations of the PWC. These include the distributional impact of the regulatory reforms within the banking sector, and notably the emergence of foreign banks as the major beneficiaries of this process; weaknesses in promoting productive bank intermediation that finance the real economy and economic growth, leading to poverty reduction via growth of employment whilst stimulating financialization within the economy; and finally, the exclusive focus on prudential regulation, whilst ignoring regulatory costs, consumer protection and competition regulation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the negotiation of statehood in Somaliland, a non-recognized de facto state which emerged from Somalia's conflict and state collapse, focusing on the negotiation process centres on the continuing transformation of a hybrid political order, involving formal and informal spheres, both in existing institutions and in the bodies or agents enforcing these rules.
Abstract: This article investigates the negotiation of statehood in Somaliland, a non-recognized de facto state which emerged from Somalia's conflict and state collapse. The negotiation process centres on the continuing transformation of a hybrid political order, involving 'formal' as well as 'informal' spheres, both in existing institutions (as 'rules of the game') and in the bodies or agents enforcing these rules. The negotiation processes considered take place at the national and local level respectively, as well as between the two. These negotiations are heterogeneous, non-linear and ongoing. The article demonstrates how the polity's tolerance for heterogeneous negotiations and different forms of statehood allowed local political actors to establish peace in their own local settings first. Although it did not produce uniform statehood, it provided the basis for communities to explore the scope for common statehood. On the national level, hybrid elements initially allowed for a healthy adaptation of statehood to local needs, and for legitimate, productive instruments of negotiation. This responsiveness was not maintained, and current hybrid elements threaten to undermine the polity's stability.
TL;DR: In this article, two sets of questions are posed to explore the factors likely to influence female labour force participation in Turkey, with particular reference to the level and composition of employment in the service sector.
Abstract: Since the 1970s, a series of demand and supply related changes have led to significant labour market transformations which have brought about a sustained increase in female employment throughout the world. While similar transformations have also been underway in Turkey, the country appears to be one of the rare exceptions to worldwide trends. During the last two decades both female labour force participation and female employment rates have declined at national level. In this article, two sets of questions are posed to explore the factors likely to influence female labour force participation. One set of questions pertains to the society-specific dynamics of structural change in employment patterns in Turkey, with particular reference to the level and composition of employment in the service sector. A second set of questions is posed to examine labour market relations and the social policy environment in Turkey, and their impact on the demand for and supply of female labour. Current changes in the prevailing policy environment are considered to highlight a certain contradiction in the attitudes of decision makers who seem to be faced with a trade-off between continuing adherence to conservative patriarchal values and the objectives of increasing labour force participation and combating poverty.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the practices through which relationships and resources are translated into programs and projects, and conclude that the institutionalization of the NGO field as a well-grounded specialization depends in part on the degree to which researchers can sideline the stories generated in interorganizational contexts such as workshops and policy meetings.
Abstract: From the late 1980s, research on NGOs had a normative focus and was vulnerable to changing donor preoccupations. This article contributes a new conceptual approach, analysing the practices through which relationships and resources are translated into programmes and projects. The theoretical justification for this move combines the new ethnography of development practice with a re-agency approach to transactions across time and space. The study is based on data including thirty hours of video ethnography involving interviews and field visits with Kenyan NGOs in a variety of sectors. The analysis focuses on the problem of accountability that emerged through the interactions of donors and state corruption. We argue that NGOs operating in capital cities often provide organizational solutions to this problem. Depending on donor preferences, varying amounts of resources become ‘lodged’ or absorbed in ‘capital NGOs’ as they provide accounts of programmes that satisfy donors. However, no matter the donor preferences, capital NGOs provide accountability independently of increased action with communities or increased resources transferred to them. We conclude that the institutionalization of the NGO field as a well-grounded specialization depends in part on the degree to which researchers can sideline the stories generated in inter-organizational contexts such as workshops and policy meetings, and substitute understandings based on accounting practices, resource flows and social ties.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present two new indices to measure gender inequalities that overcome some of the limitations inherent in the UNDP gender-related indices and other indices presented in the literature, which are conducive to exploring the extent to which gender gaps favor women and/or men, and to showing the contribution of different subcomponents to the overall levels of gender inequality.
Abstract: The measurement of socio-economic gender inequality has not received much attention from the development literature despite its great relevance and important policy implications. In this article we present two new indices to measure gender inequalities that overcome some of the limitations inherent in the UNDP gender-related indices and other indices presented in the literature. The proposed new indices are conducive to exploring the extent to which gender gaps favour women and/or men, and to showing the contribution of the different subcomponents to the overall levels of gender inequality. Using UNDP data, our calculations suggest that the levels of gender inequality are mostly explained by differences in the earned-income subcomponent and that the average difference between women's and men's achievement levels has been reduced by 12 per cent during the period 1995–2005.
TL;DR: In this article, the political significance of HIV-positive peoples collective action in Tanzania is analyzed and reasons for the limited impact of Tanzanian AIDS activism on the wider political scene concluding that the formation of a movement is still in its infancy and faces many constraints.
Abstract: Starting from a body of literature on movements around biological citizen-ship this article analyses the political significance of HIV-positive peoples collective action in Tanzania. We explore reasons for the limited impact of Tanzanian AIDS activism on the wider political scene concluding that the formation of a movement is still in its infancy and faces many constraints though some breakthroughs have been made. Participation in PLHA groups in Tanzania encourages politicizing struggles over representation democratic forms and gender that can lead to a process of political socialization in which members learn to recognize and confront abuses of power. It is in such low-level less visible social transformations that the greatest potential of participation in collective action around HIV/AIDS in Tanzania lies.
TL;DR: The idea of GM crop technology as an intrinsically pro-poor developmental success story has been sustained in academic, public and policy arenas but this narrative depends upon an analysis that disembeds the technology from the technical, social and institutional contexts in which it is applied.
Abstract: Expectations play a powerful role in driving technological change. Expectations are often encapsulated in narratives of technological promise that emphasize potential benefits and downplay potential negative impacts. Genetically modified (GM, transgenic) crops have been framed by expectations that they would be an intrinsically ‘pro-poor’ innovation that would contribute powerfully to international agricultural development. However, expectations typically have to be scaled back in the light of experience. Published reviews of the socio-economic impacts of GM crops among poor, small-scale farmers in the developing world indicate that these effects have been very mixed and contingent on the agronomic, socio-economic and institutional settings where the technology has been applied. These conclusions should modulate expectations about the pro-poor potential of GM crop technology and focus attention on the conditions under which it might deliver substantial and sustainable benefits for poor farmers. However, the idea of GM crop technology as an intrinsically pro-poor developmental success story has been sustained in academic, public and policy arenas. This narrative depends upon an analysis that disembeds the technology from the technical, social and institutional contexts in which it is applied. Agricultural development policy should be based on a more rigorous and dispassionate analysis, rather than optimistic expectations alone.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore when and why poor citizens resort to "rude" accountability, whether they have a comparative advantage in the use of informal mechanisms, and whether these work, in terms of gaining better service.
Abstract: This article is about ‘rude’ forms of accountability — the informal pressures used by citizens to claim public services and to sanction service failures. Rude accountability is characterized by a lack of official rules or formal basis and a reliance on the power of social norms and rules to influence and sanction official performance. The article draws on evidence from Bangladesh, a state which has not reformed its social sector governance, to explore when and why poor citizens resort to ‘rude’ accountability, whether they have a comparative advantage in the use of informal mechanisms, and whether these work, in terms of gaining better service. It asks what informal accountability mechanisms imply for governance reform in social services, and discusses lessons for other ‘unreformed’ states like Bangladesh.
TL;DR: The authors examines the relationship between the ruling Frelimo party and the state it controls in post-socialist Mozambique and argues that while democratic reforms may have altered state structures since the end of single-party socialism in 1992, power remains concentrated in FRELIMO, which has actually increased its hold and become more deeply entrenched during the liberal period.
Abstract: This contribution examines the relationship between the ruling Frelimo party and the state it controls in post-socialist Mozambique. It argues that while democratic reforms may have altered state structures since the end of single-party socialism in 1992, power remains concentrated in Frelimo, which has actually increased its hold and become more deeply entrenched during the liberal period. The party is not only the dominant political force in the nation, but its structures provide a layered form of social stratification within the nation and also one of the major routes of social mobility available to many Mozambicans. Democratization has largely allowed the party to become one of the primary ‘arenas of negotiation’ in Mozambique by channelling various demands and interests through its internal structures.
TL;DR: This article argued that the mainstreaming of inflation targeting reproduces the IMF's function within a neoliberal political economy and argued that depending on the role of the IMF in the policy process, the models that inform policy are employed differently.
Abstract: This article focuses on a key element of the IMF's agenda for change: the repackaging of its economics of crisis around inflation targeting. It examines how this new policy regime redefines the political economy of the IMF's policy advice, and contextualizes it by focusing on Eastern Europe, the region worst affected by the global financial crisis which began in 2007. The article compares the conditionalities designed under the new and old policy regimes and argues that the mainstreaming of inflation targeting reproduces the IMF's function within a neoliberal political economy. It shows how, depending on the role of the IMF in the policy process, the models that inform policy are employed differently. During 'normal' times, models engender a contractionary bias that favours speculative capital. When acting as 'lender of last resort', the IMF retains the traditional emphasis on fiscal contractions, paying only lip service to its new economics of crisis while further ignoring crucial questions of macroeconomic policy coordination or the destabilizing potential of short-term capital inflows. © 2010 International Institute of Social Studies.
TL;DR: The authors discusses how the federal restructuring of Ethiopia with the aim of matching ethnic and political boundaries led to renegotiation of identity, statehood and centre-periphery relations among several Somali and Oromo clans that share considerable ethno-linguistic affinities.
Abstract: When the Ethiopian state was reorganized as an ethnic federation in the 1990s, both ethnicity and governance experienced the impact of the change. Most importantly, ethnicity became the key instrument regarding entitlement, representation and state organization. For the larger ethnic groups, fitting into the new ethno-federal structure has been relatively straightforward. In contrast, ethnic federalism has necessitated a renegotiation of identity and of statehood among several smaller communities that straddle larger ethnic groups. It has also led to the reconfiguration of centre–periphery relations. This contribution discusses how the federal restructuring of Ethiopia with the aim of matching ethnic and political boundaries led to renegotiation of identity, statehood and centre–periphery relations among several Somali and Oromo clans that share considerable ethno-linguistic affinities.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conclude that although the nature of patronage has changed significantly, it remains highly relevant to the ways peasant interests are treated, and that elite conflicts are much more likely to create spaces in which peasant interests can eventually be aggregated into autonomous associations with independent political significance in the national polity.
Abstract: Is the analysis of patron‐client networks still important to the understanding of developing country politics or has it now been overtaken by a focus on ‘social capital’? Drawing on seventeen country studies of the political environment for livestock policy in poor countries, this article concludes that although the nature of patronage has changed significantly, it remains highly relevant to the ways peasant interests are treated. Peasant populations were found either to have no clear connection to their political leaders or to be controlled by political clientage. Furthermore, communities ‘free’ of patron‐ clienttiestothecentregenerallyarenotbetterrepresentedbypoliticalassociations but instead receive fewer benefits from the state. Nonetheless, patterns ofclientagearedifferentfromwhattheywerefortyyearsago.First,patronage chains today often have a global reach, through trade, bilateral donor governmentsandinternationalNGOs.Second,theresourcesthatfuelpoliticalclientage today are less monopolistic and less adequate to the task of purchasing peasant political loyalty. Thus the bonds of patronage are less tight than they were historically. Third, it follows from the preceding point and the greater diversity of patrons operating today that elite conflicts are much more likely to create spaces in which peasant interests can eventually be aggregated into autonomous associations with independent political significance in the national polity. NGOs are playing an important role in opening up this political space although at the moment, they most often act like a new type of patron.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a commodity chain framework, adapted to the concerns of multiple public authority, to better understand the linkages both between tribal procurement and Naxalite taxation.
Abstract: Although the Naxalite (Maoist) influence in India stretches from the north of Bihar to the south of Andhra Pradesh, their impact on the political economy of the Indian countryside –
and more specifically the tribal livelihood economy – remains understudied. As a first step to better understand this issue, I want to look at how resource access is mediated in areas where both the state and the Naxalites possess some degree of public authority. More specifically, I will look at the trade in tendu leaves, used to make beedi cigarettes, as this –low profile lootable – resource provides the single most important source of income both for the tribals in North Telangana during the summer season), and for the Maoists. I present a commodity chain framework, adapted to the concerns of multiple public authority, to better understand the linkages both between tribal procurement and Naxalite taxation and between government and Naxalite authority. I argue that in a situation of long-term conflict relatively stable joint extraction regimes can be organized, by which the state, the Naxalites and private actors can benefit from multiple authority over certain small-scale lootable resources.
TL;DR: The role of Mungiki, an organization characterized by the intersection of class, generation, religion and ethnicity in the 2007 elections in Kenya, is discussed in this paper, where the authors call for an inclusive and non-normative approach to the study of state-civil society engagement that recognizes culturally based discourses and organizations when analysing the transitions to and the broadening of democracy in post-colonial societies.
Abstract: This article uses the concept of ‘political society’ as unfolded by the ‘subaltern studies’ in India to shed new light on present-day political actors and democratic transitions in Africa It discusses the political practices and discursive terrains of organizations within ‘really existing’ civil society that are based on identities and regarded as outside legitimate civil society It looks at politics from below, taking the example of the 2007 elections in Kenya, and the role of Mungiki, an organization characterized by the intersection of class, generation, religion and ethnicity Mungiki builds on Kenya's history and rich archive of indigenous popular culture It originated in the early 1990s’ turmoil of ‘ethnic clashes’ and population displacement and now operates in rural and poor urban areas, providing income opportunities, service delivery and extortion/protection During elections, sections of Mungiki have been recruited by political leaders and functioned as violent militia; concurrently, it seeks representation in formal and parliamentary politics The organization is distinct from ‘respectable’ segments of Kenya's civil society who participate in NGO activities and mainstream churches The article ends by calling for an inclusive and non-normative approach to the study of state–civil society engagement that recognizes culturally based discourses and organizations when analysing the transitions to and the broadening of democracy in post-colonial societies
TL;DR: The authors discusses how the federal restructuring of Ethiopia with the aim of matching ethnic and political boundaries led to renegotiation of identity, statehood and centre-periphery relations among several Somali and Oromo clans that share considerable ethno-linguistic affinities.
Abstract: When the Ethiopian state was reorganized as an ethnic federation in the 1990s, both ethnicity and governance experienced the impact of the change. Most importantly, ethnicity became the key instrument regarding entitlement, representation and state organization. For the larger ethnic groups, fitting into the new ethno-federal structure has been relatively straightforward. In contrast, ethnic federalism has necessitated a renegotiation of identity and of statehood among several smaller communities that straddle larger ethnic groups. It has also led to the reconfiguration of centre–periphery relations. This contribution discusses how the federal restructuring of Ethiopia with the aim of matching ethnic and political boundaries led to renegotiation of identity, statehood and centre–periphery relations among several Somali and Oromo clans that share considerable ethno-linguistic affinities.
TL;DR: In this article, the impacts of counter-terrorism in Kenya and civil society responses to these in a shifting political landscape are examined. But, while these have raised concerns around human rights and the ability of people to come together and organize on shared interests, the response of civil society has been muted.
Abstract: Against the backdrop of terrorist attacks in 1998 and 2002, Kenya has come under pressure from aid donors and diplomatic circles to co-operate in achieving the political and military objectives of the War on Terror. The Kenyan government has received legal, technical and financial support to implement new counter-terrorism structures. However, while these have raised concerns around human rights and the ability of people to come together and organize on shared interests, the response of civil society in Kenya has been muted. It is mainly human rights campaigners, lawyers, Muslim organizations and leaders, and some politicians that have opposed proposed anti-terrorism legislation. Even fewer groups have spoken out against the government's participation in a regional rendition programme in the Horn of Africa supported by the United States. This weak response reflects the significant ethnic and regional fragmentation that prevails in the country. This article critically examines the impacts of counter-terrorism in Kenya and civil society responses to these in a shifting political landscape.
TL;DR: Using multiple regression analysis on country-level data, this paper found that socio-economic variables explain statistically only one-tenth of the difference in HIV prevalence between southern Africa and other low and middle-income countries.
Abstract: The epicentre of the global HIV epidemic is southern Africa. Previous explanations point to migration patterns and highly skewed income distribution, both thought to promote risky sexual behaviour. This study emphasizes the importance of common infectious and parasitic diseases that increase the likelihood of HIV transmission by increasing contagiousness and vulnerability to infection. Using multiple regression analysis on country-level data, the authors find that socio-economic variables explain statistically only one-tenth of the difference in HIV prevalence between southern Africa and other low- and middle-income countries. Measures of five cofactor infections together with the socio-economic variables, however, explain statistically about two-thirds of the southern Africa difference in HIV prevalence. They conclude that the relative affluence of countries in southern Africa and historical migration patterns have tended to mask the vulnerability of the majority of their populations who are poor and who have very high prevalence of infectious and parasitic diseases. Those diseases replicate a cycle of poverty that produces biological vulnerability through coinfections. An important implication of this research is that integrating treatment of endemic diseases with other HIV-prevention policies may be necessary to slow the spread of HIV.