Objectives

• identify the main problems of state and nation-building in sub-Saharan Africa
• explain the development and prevalence of neo-patrimonialism, clientelism & authoritarianism on the continent
• critically assess the extent to which recent transitions to democracy have transformed state-society relations   
• account for instances of state collapse and warlordism on the continent
• describe some of the ways in which global forces impact on domestic state-society relations
• apply the general concepts and theories of African politics to specific empirical examples

10 ECTS Credits

Aims

At independence African leaders shared one crucial problem; the need to establish political authority over their territories and to forge bonds of solidarity between state and society, rulers and ruled. These territories frequently embodied ethnically, linguistically and culturally separate peoples, and in this sense most African countries were states before they were nations. The module examines the difficulties of establishing political legitimacy and constructing nation-states under such conditions, as well as the various results of the state?s quest for hegemony, most notably neo-patrimonialism, clientelism, and authoritarianism.   

The module also explores society's response to the politics of exclusion and in particular the recent wave of democratisation on the continent. We explore state collapse, the rise of warlordism when structures of authority and political order fall apart. Finally, the module examines the way in which international/global forces influence domestic politics and state-society relations, focusing on the imposition of structural adjustment programmes, the end of the cold war and the use of mercenaries.

Reading Lists