Social structure

Rebels and robbers : violence in post-colonial Angola

Upphovsperson:	Malaquias, Assis
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	violence, Social structure, Obstacles to development, Political aspects, Political power, Civil war, peace, Nation Building, national security, Post-conflict reconstruction, Angola, Political science, Statsvetenskap

Rebels and Robbers is about the political economy of violence in post-colonial Angola. This book provides the first comprehensive attempt at analyzing how the military and non-military dynamics of more than four decades of conflict created the structural violence that stubbornly defines Angolan society even in the absence of war. The book clearly demonstrates that the end of the civil war has not ushered in positive peace. The focus on structural violence enables the author to explore the continuities since colonial times, especially in the ways race, class, ethnicity, and power have been used by governing elites as mechanisms to oppress the powerless. Thus, although corruption as structural violence manifesting itself so ubiquitously in Angola today may have been taken to new levels after independence, its origin is unmistakably colonial. Similarly, the zero-sum character of political interactions that defined colonial Angola is yet to be fully exorcized. But there are also important discontinuities. The unabashed propensity to capture public resources for personal aggrandizement is purely post-colonial. So is the tendency toward personal, unaccountable rule. Given its rich endowments, the end of the civil war provides Angola with an opportunity to finally realize its developmental potential. This will depend on whether the wealth resulting from the exploration of natural resources is directed toward creating the conditions for the citizens' realization of their aspirations for the good life thus ensuring sustainable peace.

The new local level politics in East Africa : studies on Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya

Upphovspersoner:	Kanyinga, Karuti | Gibbon, Peter | Kiondo, Andrew S. Z. | Tidemand, Per
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	1994
Ämnesord:	Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, East Africa, Local government, Political participation, Social structure, Ethnicity, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

This research report consists of three studies: Per Tidemand's Ugandan study concentrates on the politics of the new representative local state institutions which emerged in 1986. Andrew Kiondo's Tanzania study focuses on the myriad of local-level non-state institutions which have emerged there in recent years. Karuti Kanyinga examines the phenomenen of local-level competitive party politic in Kenya. His essay also analyses the interactions between local-level and national party politics.