Nordiska Afrikainstitutet

The new African initiative and the African Union : a preliminary assessment and documentation

Upphovsperson:	Melber, Henning
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	political development, African Union, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

During the year 2000 an initiative among the African states to transform the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) gained momentum. It resulted in the ratification of the Constitutive Act and its adoption at the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2001 in Lusaka. Parallel to this process of reorganisation towards closer inter-state collaboration on the African continent in the spirit of Pan Africanism emerged the systematic effort to redefine developmental priorities and to claim a new common position of African states in the globalised world. The "African Renaissance" initiative of South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki resulted in a "Millenium Africa Recovery Programme", which was finally revised and presented as the "New Africa Initiative" (NAI). Adopted at the same OAU Summit in Lusaka in July 2001, the NAI serves as a blueprint for Africa's development strategy at the beginning of the 21st century. It was presented to the G8 summit in Genoa, where the leaders of the world's powerful countries decided on a follow up by appointing individual special advisers to explore support to the NAI and future collaboration on the basis of this document. This paper offers a preliminary assessment of the New Africa Initiative within the context of the transformation of the OAU into the AU. It identifies and summarises essential new aspects advocated, critically examines the degree of realism and points at the possible limitations. The analysis also considers first reactions to the initiatives and reflects on the perspectives.

Structural stability in an African context

Upphovsperson:	Kappel, Robert
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Crisis, Development aid, Economic and social development, economic aspects, NEPAD, Partnership, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

Structural Stability is a particular focus for reconceptualising developmental strategy and development aid and has provoked unfore-seen responses in the course of a recent, mainly German debate. This debate began late in 2000 when a number of prominent German scholars in African Studies initiated a policy dialogue through a widely circulated and publicly discussed "Afrika Memorandum" centred on the notion of structural stability. Its arguments are relevant not only to a German audience but offer stimulating and thought-provoking inputs into the debate in the wider European context on bilateral and multilateral relations with Africa. This Discussion Paper presents the revised contributions to a Consulta- tive Workshop on Structural Stability in an African Context that took place at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala on 31 March and 1 April 2003.

The roots of the military-political crises in Côte d'Ivoire

Upphovsperson:	Akindès, Francis
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Citizenship, Civil war, Coup d'état, Ethnicity, Front Populaire Ivorien, Houphouetism, political development, Rassemblement de Républicains, Côte d'Ivoire, Political science, Statsvetenskap

With the coup d’etat of 24 December 1999 and the politico-military conflict that started on 19 September 2002, Côte d’Ivoire broke with its tradition of political stability, which had served as a model in the West African sub-region. It is now facing an unprecedented crisis that is not only jeopardising the continuity of the state, but has also introduced a culture of violence into the society.This study has three objectives. The primary one is to understand the nature of this socio-political crisis, and what is at stake in it. Secondly, the study examines the issue of ivoirité. Finally, it explores the escalation of violence in this socio-political crisis and the catalogue of justifications for that violence.It is argued that the recurrence of military coups d’etat in Côte d’Ivoire signifies the delegitimisation of the modes of regulation built on the tontine system, and calls for a renewal of the political grammar and socio-political regulatory modalities around integrating principles that have yet to be devised. CONTENT Introduction CHAPTER 1. The Three Parameters of the Houphouët Boigny Compromise Deliberate and centralised openness policy to the outside world Philosophy of the “peanut roasters” Paternalistic management of social diversity CHAPTER 2. Houphouetism Shows Signs of Wear and Tear under Democratisation Confronting the issues: the political class and the criteria for political representation and legitimacy “Ivoirité” under Bédié, or the selective function of an ideology General Gueï’s variable-geometry Houphouetism The RDR, or Houphouetism the wrong way round The FPI, or the theoretical expression radical schism Immigration and its politicisation CHAPTER 3. The Problematic of “Ivoirité” and the Meaning of History in Côte d’Ivoire The social and political construction of “Ivoirité” Ideological justification Political justification Economic justification The constitution and ethno-nationalism Military coups d’état as therapy for “Ivoirité”? CHAPTER 4. The Course of History, or the Need for the Invention of Another Social Contract Alassane Dramane Ouattarra (ADO): symbol of the reality underlying the question of being a national An alternative to “slice” citizenship Bibliography

Transition in Southern Africa : comparative aspects

Upphovspersoner:	Melber, Henning | Saunders, Christopher
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	apartheid, democracy, Liberation, Political science, Statsvetenskap

The 1990s completed a process of transition in Namibia and South Africa that brought formal decolonisation in Africa to an end. These two contributions review some aspects of the transformation and complement each other. They take stock of the transformation in a historical, comparative perspective and investigate the experiences and prospects of democratisation under sovereign, legitimate political rule. They were compiled subsequent to a public lecture arranged by the Nordic Africa Institute and given by Christopher Saunders on "The Transitions to Democracy in Namibia and South Africa" on 5 April 2001. Henning Melber was a discussant at the presentation.

The power of continuity : Ethiopia through the eyes of its children

Upphovsperson:	Poluha, Eva
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	children, Childhood, child rearing, cultural identity, Ethnicity, Family environment, gender roles, School environment, Social norms, Ethiopia, Social anthropology/ethnography, Socialantrolopologi/etnografi

Children play a vital role as a source of information on politics but have been neglected as political actors in research contexts. In this study, children are used as a window to an Ethiopian society where hierarchical relations persist, despite the numerous political and administrative transformations of the past century. With data gathered through participant observation the book examines how young, Addis Abeba school children learn to adapt to and reproduce relations of super- and/or subordination based on gender, age, strength and social position. The children’s experiences are viewed in the historical context of state-citizen relations where hierarchy and obsession with control have been and continue to be dominant. The discussion focuses on the power of continuity in the reproduction of cultural patterns and political behaviour, and on how change towards more egalitarian relations could come about.  

Development from below : a Namibian case study

Upphovspersoner:	Kössler, Reinhart | Melber, Henning | Strand, Per
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2003
Ämnesord:	Southern Africa, Namibia, colonialism, history, Independence, Globalization, Ethnicity, Traditional culture, Nation-building, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This Discussion Paper offers a revised lecture by Reinhart Kössler, which was originally presented to a Research Forum organised by The Nordic Africa Institute jointly with the Seminar for Development Studies of Uppsala University. It deals with aspects of rebuilding societies from below firstly in a general development studies discourse on a more theoretical level, considering aspects of the current debate on globalisation. This is followed by a concrete case study from southern Namibia. It illustrates local responses by the Witbooi-Nama in Gibeon to (re-)define identity within the context of a (nation-)state in a post-apartheid society. The paper is commented upon by two discussants (Per Strand and Henning Melber). The contributions reflect on the issue of social reconstruction in the context of (southern) Africa with reference to a particular marginalised group. They deal, among other things, with the question of social power and the "invention of tradition" in local efforts to gain from, or seek integration into, the nation building process.

Eritrea : a dream deferred

Upphovsperson:	Kibreab, Gaim
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | London : James Currey; Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	Eritrea, Post-independence, national liberation movements, Nation-building, Economic conditions, political development, Civil war, Human rights violations, Social change, Political science, Statsvetenskap

Eritrean independence under the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (now the People's Front for Democracy and Justice) became an international cause celebre during the 1980s. Eritrea was the first African nation to gain independence in the post-colonial period and appeared to be opening a new and progressive path in African politics. But the promise of the revolution was soon betrayed by the outbreak of war with Ethiopia, the PFDJ's increasingly repressive domestic policies, its mismanagement of the country's economy, and its hostile relations with its neighbours.The PFDJ government dismantled existing formal and informal institutions, crippled the private sector, banned private newspapers, civil and political society organisations, expelled international NGOs and aid agencies when over two-thirds of the population were dependent on food aid, detained without trial journalists, thousands of dissidents, and former leaders of the liberation struggle, and turned national service from an instrument of nation building and national integration into an instrument of open-ended forced labour.In this well-researched first account of post-independence Eritrea, Gaim Kibreab gives a detailed and critical analysis of how things went woefully wrong and how the former 'liberators' turned into oppressors with no respect for the rule of law, human rights and religious freedom. CONTENT 1  Introduction 2  The Broken Promises, Demand for Change & Violation of Human Rights 3  Associational Life in Independent Eritrea 4  Towards an Explanation 5  The Demise of the Private Sector 6  PFDJ's Dominance of the Economy & the Consequences 7  Freedom of Association, Political Stability & Institutions 8  Shattered Promises: In Lieu of a Conclusion

Women informal traders in Harare and the struggle for survival in an environment of economic reforms

Upphovspersoner:	Mupedziswa, Rodreck | Gumbo, Perpetua
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2001
Ämnesord:	Structural adjustment, Informal sector, trade, Women, Household consumption, Survival strategies, Zimbabwe, Harare, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This report summarises the results of the fourth and final round of interviews carried out among informal sector women traders in Harare, Zimbabwe as part of a longitudinal study of their conditions of work and livelihood in the context of economic crisis and structural adjustment. The evidence which was available from the interview points to a deepening social crisis in Zimbabwe as attested to by the increasing crisis of subsistence and livelihood among the overwhelming majorette of the informal sector workers. Far from being the terrain where sections of the populace might be able to find economic liberation, the informal sector is, in fact characterised by serious internal differentiation, very low incomes, and an over-saturation that results in the inability of the women survey to do anything other than struggle at the margins for basic survival.

Gender and agricultural supply responses to structural adjustment programmes : a case study of smallholder tea producers in Kericho, Kenya

Upphovsperson:	Ongile, Grace Atieno
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1999
Ämnesord:	Kenya, East Africa, Agricultural production, Tea, Structural adjustment, Smallholders, Gender, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This study investigates the gender implications of agricultural sector reform in Kenya. The author focuses on smallholder tea production with the aim of pinpointing the factors that influence the adoption of tea among male and female farmers assessing female farmers' perceptions of the changes in living standards over the research period, and suggesting appropriate policy reforms to ensure that women's interests are taken into account in the design of agricultural reforms.

Ethnic militias and the threat to democracy in post-transition Nigeria

Upphovsperson:	Agbu, Osita
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2004
Ämnesord:	Armed forces, ethnic conflicts, democratization interethnic relations, militarism, violence, Nigeria, Peace and conflict research, Freds- och konfliktforskning

The democratic opening presented by Nigeria’s successful transition to civil rule (June 1998 to May 1999) unleashed a host of hitherto repressed or dormant political forces. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between genuine demands by these forces on the state and outright criminality and mayhem. Post-transition Nigeria is experiencing the proliferation of ethnic militia movements purportedly representing, and seeking to protect, their ethnic interests in a country, which appears incapable of providing the basic welfare needs of its citizens. It is against the background of collective disenchantment with the Nigerian state, and the resurgence of ethnic identity politics that this research interrogates the growing challenge posed by ethnic militias to the Nigerian democracy project. The central thesis is that the over-centralization of power in Nigeria’s federal practice and the failure of post-transitional politics in genuinely addressing the “National Question, has resulted in the emergence of ethnic militias as a specific response to state incapacity. The short- and long-term threats posed by this development to Nigeria’s fragile democracy are real, and justify the call for a National Conference that will comprehensively address the demands of the ethnic nationalities.

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