Negotiating Statehood
Since the last quarter of the 20th century, states throughout the world have come under increased pressure. In Africa in particular, high levels of debt, international constraints, poor governance and civil conflicts have led many states into recurring functional and legitimacy crises. This has been translated into discourses about the so-called "failure" of the state on the continent. While these discourses still abound in policy and academic circles, there is a need for alternative arguments and concepts that seek to understand what individual African states are and how they work, rather than emphasizing what they are not vis-à-vis Western models. This is why swisspeace developed a research project funded by the NCCR North-South on 'negotiating statehood' with the intention to produce a "political ethnography" describing how various African states actually work and how statehood emerges from negotiation processes between local, national and international actors.
Drawing on case studies from Sudan, Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, Peru and Bolivia, the project focused in a first phase (2005-2010) on two core issues with a total of five PhD studies:
Citizenship and Belonging
PhD dissertations linked with the project:
Gnangadjomon Koné (Université de Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire): Sociogenèse et dynamique du mouvement "jeune patriote" en Côte d'Ivoire. Thèse nouveau régime présentée pour l'obtention du Grade de Docteur en Sociologie, Abidjan 2011.
Nora Nagels (Graduate Institute, Geneva): Antipoverty policies and gender in Peru and Bolivia: issues of citizenship.
Henry Yéré (University of Basel): Citizenship, Nationality & History in Côte d'Ivoire 1929 - 1999.
Decentralization and centre-periphery relations
PhD dissertations linked with the project:
Martina Santschi (University of Berne): Negotiating Statehood in South Sudan
Sibilo Keno (University of Basel): Decentralization and the Practice of Regional State in Ethiopia: The Case of Oromia Regional State, 1991-2007
In a second phase (2009-2013), the topic is being further elaborated with a focus on post-conflict settings in Africa:
Negotiating Statehood in Post-Conflict Africa: Dynamics of State (Re)construction in Societies after Civil War
Project leaders: Didier Péclard and Francis Akindès
Duration: July 2009 - June 2013. Funding source: NCCR North-South
Drawing on case studies from Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire and Angola, the project brings the 'negotiating statehood' conceptual framework one step further by focusing on how states (re-)deploy themselves after conflict. By taking secondary cities as unit of analysis, it bridges a gap in the literature on the topic, thereby contributing to current debates about statehood in Africa and beyond at both an academic and policy levels.
PhD dissertations linked with the project:
Demissie Ferdissa (Universities of Addis Ababa and Basel): Ethnic Federalism, Decentralization and Negotiating Statehood in Urban Ethiopia
Cynthia Bailly (Université de Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire) Local Health Governance in post-crisis context in the Northern, Central and Western areas of Côte d'Ivoire. Case studies of three cities : Bouake, Korhogo and Man
Post doctoral projects:
Asnake Kefale (University of Addis Ababa): The City of Dire Dawa: Negotiating Governance and Identity in Ethiopia's Ethnic Federation
Kouamé Yao Séverin (Université de Bouaké): Acteurs étatiques et non-étatiques dans la gouvernance des politiques « post-conflit » dans les zones CNO en Côte d'Ivoire : une analyse à partir des projets de réinsertion socioéconomique et de réhabilitation communautaire