Power, Peasants and Political Development: Reconsidering State Construction in Africa

1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Munro
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
State Control ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
State Construction

Recent writing on political development in Africa has shown a marked tendency to de-privilege the state. We might discern three broad, related, reasons for this trend. The first is the deepening political crisis involving what Crawford Young has described as “shrinkage in the competence, credibility and probity of the state.” The second is the growing dissatisfaction among scholars with the narrow analytical focus of state-centered scholarship on state structures and elites. The third is the re-emergence of civil society as an analytical concept (sparked by political crises in Eastern Europe) and a renewed emphasis on market institutions as appropriate arbiters of social provision.Many scholars, despairing of the political and economic decline of African countries and seeking more compelling explanations, have moved the state out of the explanatory spotlight. They have stressed the fragmentation of politics, processes of economic disengagement from the realm of state control, and expanding areas of social life that fall outside of the ambit of state authority. For some, the relationship between the state and civil society has offered a more appealing focus for analysis.2 Society-centered research has even suggested that the state is not (or is no longer) the main organising principle of politics in Africa.

Alcohol in the Countries in Transition: The Polish Experience and the Wider Context

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Moskalewicz
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The State ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
State Control ◽  
Rapid Reduction ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Polish Experience ◽  
Countries In Transition ◽  
Temperance Movements

The Eastern European transitions of the 1990s from centrally planned economy toward market economy and from monoparty political system to multiparty democracy strongly affected the alcohol field. Rapid reduction of the State's powers and weak or nonexistent civil society led to domination of the market in both economy and social life. The alcohol supply from licit and illicit sources increased dramatically, its consumption soared, and problems related to alcohol contributed remarkably to the health crisis present in a majority of countries in transition. In countries where civil society reemerged relatively soon and the State regained its regulatory power over the market, the mortality crisis was less severe and much shorter. Partial reintroduction of State control over the alcohol market and revival of the temperance movements reduced illicit supply and led to either stabilization or decline of alcohol consumption, which, however, still exceeds the pretransition levels. Appropriation of the alcohol sector by multinational companies diminished again the influence of the State and civil society and may lead to a new high in consumption and related problems.

scholarly journals The Legal Framework for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Cameroon by Non-Governmental Organisations

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Alvine Longla Boma
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The State ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Right

Civil Society organisations play key roles in African countries. This is not an exception in the Cameroonian dispensation. Indeed, the existence and operation of civil societies in this jurisdiction is legitimated by a 1990 law allowing the free formation of associations. Even though the state has the primary obligation to promote and protect human rights, there also exists a plethora of associations with the same interest. This paper is motivated by the state’s wanton failure in ensuring the enjoyment and fulfilment of the right. For one thing, the state has maintained a stronghold on the Civil Society through legislation which gives public authorities a leverage over human rights defenders. Moreover, an analysis of existing legal and institutional frameworks available to allow human rights non-governmental organisations thrive, leaves much to be desired. Findings reveal that though there are adequate laws and institutions which ensure the creation and functioning of Civil Society organisations in Cameroon, there are also contradictory laws which give the public authority an edge over these organisations and allow them to sanction the activities of some human rights defenders under the guise of maintaining public order. We argue that there should be adequate protection offered to human rights defenders as well as the relaxation of laws permitting public authorities to illegally sanction the activities of relevant non-governmental organisations.

Civil society

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean L. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Critical Force ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Role Of The State

In modern social and political philosophy civil society has come to refer to a sphere of human activity and a set of institutions outside state or government. It embraces families, churches, voluntary associations and social movements. The contrast between civil society and state was first drawn by eighteenth-century liberals for the purpose of attacking absolutism. Originally the term civil society (in Aristotelian Greek, politike koinonia) referred to a political community of equal citizens who participate in ruling and being ruled. In the twentieth century the separation of philosophy from social sciences, and the greatly expanded role of the state in economic and social life, have seemed to deprive the concept of both its intellectual home and its critical force. Yet, approaching the end of the century, the discourse of civil society is now enormously influential. What explains the concept’s revival? Does it have any application in societies that are not constitutional democracies? From a normative point of view, what distinguishes civil society from both the state and the formal economy?

scholarly journals ‘Hometown’ Voluntary Associations, Local Development, and the Emergence of Civil Society in Western Nigeria

1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel D. Barkan ◽  
Michael L. McNulty ◽  
M. A. O. Ayeni
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Voluntary Associations ◽  
The State ◽  
Weak States ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Scholarly Attention

At a time when most African countries are characterised as ‘strong societies and weak states’, the tendency to afford the state ‘ontological primacy’ in explaining the nature of African political economy is being challenged. One manifestation of this has been a shift in scholarly attention to those intermediary and autonomous organisations which function and sometimes flourish in the space that exists between the state and the household – namely, the various groups which comprise ‘civil society’.

On Categories and Configurations: Further Remarks on Rebuilding the American state

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ira Katznelson ◽  
Bruce Pietrykowski
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
American Political Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The New Deal ◽  
Past Half ◽  
American State

“Rebuilding the American State” was written in the manner of a bozzetto: it is a sketch drawn to reshape interlocking analytical and historiographical conversations and to suggest pathways joining the era of Roosevelt to the qualities and conundrums of postwar Democratic party liberalism. We underscored the key role of what might be called the long 1940s, stretching from the economic and political crisis faced by the New Deal in 1937–38 to the election in 1952 of the first Republican president since Hoover. We claimed that institutional and policy decisions taken across a number of domains in this period coherently recast the state and, in so doing, the contours and possibilities of American politics. We argued as well that old and new institutionalist approaches to state capacity have shared an unfortunate propensity to inventory organizational resources without regard to the normative and practical policy visions that define the content of what it is the state actually is meant to accomplish. In this light, simple dichotomous distinctions between weak and strong states appear as too blunt to sharply etch our understanding of the past half-century of American political development.

Foreign Aid to Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 385-395
Author(s):  
Sultan Juma Kakuba
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
The State ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Important Resource ◽  
Good Intention

The main objective of this chapter is to provide evidence that foreign Aid to African countries is a barricade to their sustainable development. Both modernisation and Dependency theorists' suggestions have failed to spawn socio-economic and political development in African countries. Complexity theory may provide a better understanding of the linkage between foreign aid and the socio-economic and political underdevelopment. The current foreign aid given to African sovereign states by donor or developed countries seems to perpetuate underdevelopment. In fact, Foreign Aid to most of African countries has not adequately addressed its problems; rather it has succeeded in keeping most of African countries dependent on foreign aid and in the state of underdevelopment. Using both quantitative and qualitative document analysis of records on foreign Aid to Africa reveals that foreign Aid in and out of itself is not a bad thing, it is among those many important resource inputs, which operate in many African countries which if paved with good intention could bring about sustainable socio-economic and political development in Africa.

Envisioning Real Utopias, Erik Olin Wright, London: Verso, 2010

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Ruccio
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The State ◽  
Class Analysis ◽  
World Today ◽  
State Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
Relative Neglect ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In this review, I argue that Erik Olin Wright’s Envisioning Real Utopias is necessary reading for anyone interested in thinking through the possibilities of creating noncapitalist ways of organising economic and social life in the world today. However, I also raise questions about Wright’s deterministic interpretation of Marx’s critique of political economy, his relative neglect of class-analysis, and his non-Gramscian conception of the relationship between the state, economy, and civil society.

Civil disobedience movements in Hong Kong: a civil society perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 312-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiu Chung Wong ◽  
Jason K.H. Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
The State ◽  
State Control ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Society Perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of civil disobedience (CD) movements in Hong Kong in the context of the notion of civil society (CS). Design/methodology/approach The paper begins by rigorously defining the notion of CD, as well as the concept of CS and tracing its development in Hong Kong over the past several decades. By using a model of CS typology, which combines the variables of state control and a society’s quest for autonomy (SQA), the paper aims to outline the historical development of CD movements in Hong Kong. It also discusses the recent evolution of CS and its relationship with CD movements, particularly focusing on their development since Leung Chun-ying became the Chief Executive in 2012. Finally, by using five cases of CD witnessed in the past several decades, the relationship between the development of CS and the emergence of CD in Hong Kong has been outlined. Findings Four implications can be concluded: first, CD cannot emerge when the state and society are isolated. Second, the level of SC and the scale of CD are positively related. Third, as an historical trend, the development of SQA is generally in linear progress; SQA starts from a low level (e.g. interest-based and welfare-based aims) and moves upwards to campaign for higher goals of civil and political autonomy. If the lower level of SQA is not satisfied, it can lead to larger scale CD in future. Fourth, the CD movement would be largest in scale when the state-society relationship confrontational and when major cleavages can be found within CS itself. Originality/value This paper serves to enrich knowledge in the fields of politics and sociology.

scholarly journals National Identity of Ukrainians in the Context of National Security

Al-Farabi ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Y. Poita ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
National Security ◽  
Regional Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Ukrainian Society

The peculiarities of the national identity of Ukrainians significantly influenced the process of national and state-building in Ukraine, thereby determining the national identity and subsequently the political behavior of its citizens. One of the striking examples of the influence of national identity in Ukraine is the events of 2013-2014 in Crimea and in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, when, under the influence of the internal political crisis and external influence, part of Ukrainian society took part in rallies, incl. with the aim of changing the social system and even secession from the country, which led to threats to the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The purpose of this article is to identify the features of the national identity of Ukrainians, which created the basis for massive anti-Ukrainian actions in 2013-2014, as well as modern trends in the development of Ukrainian society, and their impact on the national security of the state. The main results and conclusions of the article: significant regional differences in the identities of Ukrainians formed the conditions for the emergence and external construction of the socio-political crisis. Strong regional identity, low support for Independence, linguistic and political preferences of the inhabitants of the East and South of Ukraine became the key factors that influenced the stability of the state. Changes in Ukraine's policy after 2014, in the context of a military conflict with Russia, changed the characteristics of national identity, and probably contributed to the formation of a stronger Ukrainian state. The article can be used to further study the problematic aspects of the formation of national identity in the post-Soviet space, as well as to simulate scenarios for the development of political crises in order to develop an effective state policy that will help strengthen national unity, meet the needs of society, and find compromises between different social groups.

An Improvising State

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolly Daftary
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The State ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
Women's Employment ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
State Transformation ◽  
Women’S Employment ◽  
Development Practice

State-led neoliberalization is discussed through the case of rural development in Gujarat, India’s flagship state of market reforms. The essay takes neoliberalization not as given or self-evident, but as a process of reworking of the state’s boundaries with the market and civil society. State transformation in India includes a downsized rural bureaucracy recruiting temporary workers and contract NGOs to implement development, expanding women’s employment while rendering its circumstances precarious, delegating development practice to an ungoverned space in the locality, and employing techniques of self-governance among development subjects to rid the state of these responsibilities. The new state is revealed to be an improvising state, constantly departing from certainty and provisionally administering social life.

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