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 'negotiating statehood' is proposed, referring to the dynamic and partly undetermined processes of state formation and failure by a multitude of social actors who compete 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.
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 'negotiating statehood' is proposed, referring to the dynamic and partly undetermined processes of state formation and failure by a multitude of social actors who compete 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.
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 Démocratie -Mouvement de Libération (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.
Roberto has announced that he will enter Luanda today. He's asked the populace to remain calm. Yesterday his planes dropped leaflets, pictures of Holden with the caption GOD RULES IN HEAVEN HOLDEN RULES ON EARTH...2 2 [Religion] is in everything. The movement cadres are steeped in religiosity, whether Catholic or Protestant. And not only those of the movement. Take any party. [...] A party is a church. So that is why you think those at the top should criticise themselves on their own, like the priest and the sacristan, who only in the sacristy are accused of stealing their lovers, because if they said it in public the believers would become sceptics.' The history of Angolan nationalism, like that of nationalism in many African countries, is closely tied to the history of Christian churches and missions. Angolan leaders such as Agostinho Neto, Holden Roberto and Jonas Savimbi all had, in one way or another, ties with the church.4 Even more evident is the role played by the church as social and political institution during the colonial period. In this paper I examine the impact of the church on early nationalist feelings and later political movements in Angola. My object is not so much to trace the social trajectory of historical nationalist figures as to examine the various ways in which the church both encouraged and impeded the development of an anti-colonialist, at times nationalist culture. Prior to looking at the Angolan situation though, a few theoretical considerations on the relations between missions and nationalism will set this particular case in a wider perspective.
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