Modern African States Research Articles

Ghosts of African Education: Mass Hysteria and Embodied Resistance within Postcolonial Senegalese Schools and Atlantic Migrations

This article works toward conceptualizing frictions between colonial education and non-Western traditions of African education in the modern African state. Signaling manifestations of educational friction or disequilibrium, we apply the concept of haunting to uncover ways the legacy of colonial education is reproduced through Western modernity as a form of disembodied educational practice, conflicting with the ghostly presence of collective African educational traditions. More specifically, we offer a conceptual inquiry into the phenomena of Jinne Maimouna, what has been called a mysterious “mass hysteria” within Senegalese schools. In doing so, we work toward a rethinking of education in relation with the transatlantic Black Radical Tradition and links to haunted forms of Atlantic migrations by Senegalese youth. The article gestures toward the power within the deeply rooted knowledge systems and practices emanating from Africa that return in the present and future. We suggest that practices of deciphering and rethinking the embodiment of traditions of African education might offer methods that break from colonizing episteme toward longer temporal educational liberation.

Africa and the prospects of rotational democracy

AbstractSharing of social, economic, and political opportunities is crucial for the stability of many African states. Democracy has been identified as an inclusive framework that allows individuals to freely contest for these opportunities. However, in Africa, democracy appears not to work as compared to Western democratic societies. Some African political philosophers blame the problem on liberal democratic type practiced in the continent, which is modeled after the hegemonic socio‐political discourse in Europe and North America. Thus, it is argued that workable democratic model for Africa must be embedded in the continent's cultural and historical nuances. Consequently, initial effort by the Ghanaian philosopher Kwasi Wiredu appealed to the nonpartisan Consensus Democracy of traditional Akan society. But it is doubtful that the consensual model, which was successful in the mono‐ethnic traditional Akan society, will produce the same effect in a multi‐ethnic society as the modern African states. At present, ethnicity inter alia remains a major obstruction to democratization of the continent. Africa needs a democratic model that takes its rigid multi‐ethnic character into account instead of uncritically imposing global democratic knowledge to African situations or totally disregarding local knowledge of democracy. Therefore, I investigate how ethnicity inter alia can be accommodated in democratic practice. An experimental model called “Rotational Democracy” is introduced based on the traditional African social practice of One Cup, which embodies the phenomena of power rotation and rationing of the traditional society. The article demonstrates how indigenous knowledge can be the starting point for democratic practice in Africa.

African States, Democracy and Political Indicators of Development: The Nigerian Scorecard

This paper discusses African states, democracy and the political indicators of development while laying emphases on the Nigerian scorecard. The purpose of the modern African state is indeed still highly confounding and the embedded puzzle is largely attributable to democracy discontents. There was the supposition that democracy would lead to development on the continent. However, it is the position of this paper that this assumption is becoming increasingly mislaid. The paper adopted the documentary method of research which entails the use of textbooks, journals, internet and other documented materials and subsequently interrogates the linkages between democracy and development among African states with specific focus on Nigeria. It tables the political indicators of development and assesses the performance of the Nigerian state against the background of these indications. The thesis of the work is that as long as the political indicators of development are in deficiencies in Nigeria, democracy and development will remain immensely disarticulated. Relying on elite theory, the study concludes that elitist personification of the state and its institutions remains the major impediment to the linking of democracy with development in Nigeria. It recommends reforms of the institutions of the state to serve as catalyst for development in the country.

Designing Viable Republican Constitutions for Modern African States: Why the Institution of Traditional Kingship Must Be Abolished

In this paper I argue for the adoption of an unmitigated republican constitutional system by modern African nation states as a necessary condition for the realisation of their democratic aspirations. I identify the continued retention of the traditional kingship institution, even in a much whittled down form, as a major impediment to the establishment of full-fledged republics in contemporary Africa. I then argue for the total abolition of the kingship system on the following grounds: (i) that it was founded on historical injustice to begin with, (ii) that it has no relevance or utility to modern African states, and (iii) mostimportantly, that its continued existence is antithetical to the requirements of a modern democracy. This last point, I take largely for granted. I provide ashort elucidation of ‘republicanism’ as a constitutional philosophy. Finally, Isuggest some constitutional measures that African nation states may adopt toeradicate the traditional kingship institution and thereby ensure the survivaland flourishing of their republics.

The Boda Boda (R)age: Economies of Affection in the Motorbike Taxis of Kenya

Nikushike namna gani? (How should I hold you?) The questions that women ask motorbike taxis operators are just one of the many ways that this new mode of transportation in both urban and rural Kenya have become a vehicle for laughter, outrage, (in)dignity and wealth. This paper focuses on moments of delight in the danger-filled work of motorbike taxi operators in Kenya. How much joy do boda boda (motorbike taxis) generate in modern Kenya? The delight is measured, not simply in terms of the varied financial and psycho-social accumulation that is made possible in this industry, but also in terms of the tone of the public conversations that have been triggered by the boda boda phenomena. I interrogate the grammar that has grown out of this mode of transportation, the platforms through which this grammar circulates and the tenor of the voices of thought-leaders and policymakers as they engage the conundrum of public transport. An examination of women’s engagements with boda bodas reveals a long arc that stretches from moral panic borne of knee-jerk recourses to both ethnic mores and pious religion – which often conspire to policewomen’s bodies – to reclamation and release in moments of freedom that are performed in several ways, including the erasure of the borders of personal space. Beyond the political economies of wealth and poverty in Africa, this paper is concerned with demonstrating cultural performativity in the context of post-colonial modernity and answering key questions about how national identities are forged and reinforced in a series of rapidly circulating discourses that underline commonalities far more than they entrench the differences that many see as both indelible and emblematic of the modern African state.

The crisis of the postcolonial nation‐state and the emergence of alternative forms of statehood in the Horn of Africa

AbstractThis article contextualises the crisis of the nation‐state in Africa. It does so by foregrounding the ongoing crises of the state in the Horn of Africa as evidence of the broader challenges of statehood on the continent. The Horn of Africa is viewed as a region of conflict and instability. Yet, the dominant analyses have not considered that the region is at the forefront of alternative imaginations of political community. This article proposes that rather than labelling the Horn of Africa as a zone of violent conflict, it might be more useful to think of it as a region that offers empirical alternatives to the postcolonial African nation‐state model. African statehood has been the subject of inquiry since African countries gained independence from colonial rule. However, analyses have been characterised by misdiagnoses of the problems facing African states. Deviations from what is viewed as the ‘model’ construct of the nation‐state are seen as aberrations and are viewed in pathological terms. These normative assessments of African statehood have misdiagnosed the situation and have been limited in their ability to pronounce on what lies beyond what we see as a crisis in modern African state formation. More than any other region on the continent, the Horn of Africa is actively redefining the meaning of statehood in the current African political milieu.

Политико-экономическая модель исследования революционного потенциала населения в диктаторских режимах на примере современной Африки

The article is devoted to the study of the revolutionary potential of the population living in a dictatorship on the example of modern African states. The article analyzes the possibility of studying the revolutionary potential of the population from the point of view of political and economic aspects in cases where it is impossible to focus on sociological data. A regression model has been created that takes into account such variables as net income, level of inequality, military spending, unemployment, inflation, social well-being (happiness index). The conclusions, advantages and limitations of the application of the formulated regression model in the study of modern African dictatorships are presented.

Coloniality, Legitimacy in Statebuilding, and the Use of Force in Africa

In Africa, legitimation and claims to the legitimate use of force are often challenged by the problematic nature of ethnic diversity, amongst other things. Although ethnicity and diversity are not the problems in themselves, the politicisation of ethnicity is. In this paper, we link this to a history of colonisation which clustered multiple ethnic groups together within single sovereign entities around the continent, as well as the current realities of coloniality which has prevented states within the continent from imagining and transcending the European artefact and design of the modern state in Africa. We link the exploratory term coloniality in statebuilding to the failure of African states to overcome the politicisation of ethnicity and ethnic diversity in order to mitigate the problematic nature of democracy in modern African states. This failure leads to challenges of legitimacy in any given state, and ultimately the states’ claim to the legitimate use of force. The resultant symptoms and indicators of such challenges are manifest in the rise of various insurgencies, separatism, and other forms of insecurity. The cases of Kenya, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia are briefly discussed in this article, highlighting the problematic nature of the claims to the legitimate use of force, legitimacy, and the resultant political ethnicity with all its consequences for these states.

A Theory of Indigenous Entrepreneurship in the Modern African State: The Case of South Africa and Zimbabwe

It is argued in this article that many modern-day African states share a set of characteristics in their political ideology and economic doctrines which stem from a shared history of colonialism and forms of foreign occupation and subjugation of indigenous peoples. Policies such as black economic empowerment (BEE) in South Africa and indigenisation and economic empowerment (IEE) in Zimbabwe are archetypes of this policy explicitly aligned with this indigenisation project and designed to promote indigenous people’s participation in economic activities. In the context of this political economy of empowerment-oriented political ideology and legislative and policy frameworks in African states, this article seeks to define the features of indigenous entrepreneurship, which is the natural focus of much of the indigenisation project. It is theorised in this article that these factors combine to form a unique type of entrepreneurship, here termed indigenous entrepreneurship in the modern African state.

Insecure borderlands, marginalization, and local perceptions of the state in Turkana, Kenya, circa 1920–2014

ABSTRACT Africa’s international borders have been sites of inter-ethnic and inter-state relations and media for material and cultural exchange. Drawing on archival materials and interviews, the article illustrates how decades of cross-border insecurity and violence from livestock raiding and tension over pasture and water resources have entrenched a consciousness within a marginalized Turkana community that critiques the role of the modern state as protector and provider. Their views are reinforced by a colonial legacy of marginalization of Turkana based on a hostile geographical environment, a vulnerable pastoral economy, and Turkana’s peripheral location relative to the center of political decision-making – Nairobi. Starved of development and provision of necessities since colonial times, Turkana have appropriated episodic insecurity from cross-border violence to underline the need for government to protect and provide basic infrastructure. In the process, the article reflects on the weaknesses or incapacities of the modern African state to deal with legacies of colonial administrative and development challenges in areas considered peripheral to the mainstream state.

Border Treaties and Interstate Disputes in Africa: An Extension of the Normative Theory in Explaining the Malawi-Tanzania Conundrum

The colonial project for the partition of Africa in the second half of the 19th century, which culminated in the 20th century, led to the disgruntlements among African countries in the post-colonial period. One discontentment manifests itself in the interstate border disputes. This paper is a critique to colonial scholarship which maintains that African borders were defined by colonial treaties with great precision. While I acknowledge the colonial border treaties as the foundations of the modern African states, this paper argues that most of the treaties were imprecise, incomplete, ill-defined, used vague documentation, routinely ignored ethnic composition of the territories and did not reflect realities on the ground, and, consequently staked interstate conflicts and wars in post-colonial period. To advance this argument, this paper is situated in the normative theory to explain the Malawi-Tanzania border dispute in the Lake Nyasa area, which reflects an ill-fated legacy of colonial boundary making process. Data for this paper are mainly drawn from the archival sources accessed from the British National Archives in the United Kingdom, Federal Archives in Germany, SOAS; and another documentary information accessed from various libraries – public and private. Findings divulge that the Anglo-German Agreement of 1890 which situated the boundary between Malawi and Tanzania contained some anomalies entrenched in the contradictions within the treaty, limits and exercise of sovereignty of the two powers and geographical realities. The paper sums up that the two countries cannot use the treaty as one and the only justification for situating the boundary either on the eastern shore or in the middle of the lake. The treaty may, however, provide the basis for the two nation-states to renegotiate and compromise their shared boundary and rectify the errors noted.

The state, sectarian violence, and freedom of association in a secular context: the case of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria

This paper examines the interrelationship between the State, freedom of association and sectarian violence among faith communities in Nigeria. It specifically discusses the role of the State in maintaining peace, and the government’s official response to sectarian violence among religious associations. In modern African states, sectarian violence has been prevalent and deadly among religious group movements. It is deployed as the most preferred means of attracting recognition, affirming feasibility and proclaiming existence among other religious associations in the State. This trend is associated with the Islamic Movement of Nigeria. It is against this background that this paper historicises sectarian violence, the myth and reality of religious freedom, the interrelationship between religious freedom, the State and secularism in Nigeria while discussing the constitutional provisions of religious freedom and religious associations in Nigeria. The paper concludes that religious freedom and freedom of association are integral features of the Nigerian Constitution and, therefore, all religious associations are permitted to live in peaceful coexistence.

“WO”man of the People:

Gendered assumptions of nationalism have been an integral part of liberation and post-liberation theory and fiction resulting in the construction of disempowered national identities for women in the modern African states. The narratives of idealization and mythologizing sketch women in the developing literary canvas as symbolic or biological figures who had no active social or political roles or voices. This paper focuses on how gender roles in national identity and nation-building have evolved in the works of the major male African writer Chinua Achebe. It examines the narratives that have reinforced or challenged Achebe with particular focus on how the portrayal of women in his final novel stands him as a progressive in terms of a new vision of the role and space of women in modern Africa.

How Far Human Rights?

This short introductory paper explains the broader research setting from which the idea for this symposium arose. I then summarise the arguments mounted by Simon Hope and Kofi Quashigah respectively. Taking a philosophical perspective, Hope asks whether insisting on the language of human rights when broaching issues of historical injustice may not risk misunderstanding the nature of the original wrong. Quashigah analyses the legal conundrums facing modern African states when in seeking to comply with international human rights requirements they risk further alienating members of traditional societies whose own sense of justice is often violated by fulfilment of those requirements. Both papers explore, from different disciplinary perspectives, the limits of morally defensible human rights reasoning. I briefly consider possible responses to each set of reflections from proponents of ‘orthodox’ and ‘political’ human rights reasoning respectively.

The fortunes of Africa: a 5000-year history of wealth, greed, and endeavour

Africa has been coveted for its riches ever since the era of the Pharaohs. In past centuries, it was the lure of gold, ivory, slaves that drew fortune-seekers, merchant-adventurers, conquerors from afar. In modern times, the focus of attention is on oil, diamonds, other valuable minerals. Land was another prize. The Romans relied on their colonies in northern Africa for vital grain shipments to feed the population of Rome. Arab invaders followed in their wake, eventually colonizing the entire region. More recently, foreign corporations have acquired huge tracts of land to secure food supplies needed abroad, just as the Romans did. In this vast vivid panorama of history, Martin Meredith follows the fortunes of Africa over a period of 5,000 years. With compelling narrative, he traces the rise fall of ancient kingdoms empires; the spread of Christianity Islam; the enduring quest for gold other riches; the exploits of explorers missionaries; the impact of European colonization. He examines, too, the fate of modern African states concludes with a glimpse of their future. His cast of characters includes religious leaders, mining magnates, warlords, dictators, many other legendary figures--among them Mansa Musa, ruler of the medieval Mali empire, said to be the richest man the world has ever known. I speak of Africa, Shakespeare wrote, and of golden joys. This is history on an epic scale.

Negative statecraft and the Social Worse-offs in the modern African state: Exploring the concept of political utilitarianism for ethical leadership and governance

This work makes two fundamental claims. First, the problem of negative statecraft has persisted in Africa, causing a negatively upward shift in the general curve of poverty as well as what John Rawls calls the social worse-offs on the continent. Preliminary research shows that this problem is usually mainly addressed from the social scientific perspective in Africa. Second, the present work normatively reacts to this implicit challenge, from the social sciences, through an ontologically ethical submission that the problem of negative statecraft is largely reducible to the moral deficit of leadership in Africa. Therefore, the work argues that a constitutional emphasis on political utilitarianism, a derivative from normative utilitarianism, largely addresses the problem. Just as normative utilitarianism reduces the rightness or wrongness of human conduct to the extent and intensity of the good produced or failed to produce, to satisfy the greatest number, political utilitarianism also analyzes the performance or non-performance of political leadership in Africa by the extent and intensity of the good produced, or failed to produce, to benefit the greatest number. Ultimately, this normative turn reinvents ethical leadership and governance, making the political leadership more responsible and responsive to the people in the modern African state.

The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Philosophy, Music and African Studies: A Trilogical Identification of Three Conceptual Relevancies in State Tertiary Education

The need for a paradigm shift in African development blueprint is also a call for reform of certain critical aspects of education in Africa. In the main stream African studies, this need may be defined as the Africanization of the contents of Africa’s inherited modern educational system. Presently, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the study and practice of music as an integral agenda of African studies and African philosophy. Current educational reforms in both African studies and general education have continued to demand for this shift in the curriculum contents of mainstream African studies that have to do with the philosophy of music education. The trilology of music, philosophy and African studies are the identified three conceptual relevant disciplines where this call should be concentrated and worked out in good time. In essence, this article is a call for state tertiary institutions to “Africanize” music as a discipline, as an art and as a curriculum, using the philosophical analysis derived from the core principles of African studies. Philosophy will help the search for the Africanization of music education by giving it a safe human value base in African philosophy. We have argued in this paper that Western concepts of philosophy and aesthetic education currently taught in the 1950s failed to reflect the human values that are African and this failure and the need to reform their existing content informed the emergence of the centers of African research, renewal and studies known as Institutes of African studies in different Universities in Africa and Europe. Aesthetically speaking, music has a psychological role in culture, arts and the education of indigenous communities in Africa. Aesthetically, musical education based upon Western values alien to Africa has negative implications for the modern musical educational policies, curriculum and practice for the modern African state. From the analytical perspectives of both African Philosophy and African studies, we are able to argue and establish what should constitute the dynamics of new musical paradigm shift in Africa and to define the relevancy of music education to the African educational system, using analytical situation drawn from Nigeria examples in the study.

On the Size and Shape of African States1

Green, Elliott. (2012) On the Size and Shape of African States. International Studies Quarterly, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2478.2012.00723.x © 2012 International Studies Association African states are both unusually large and well known for having artificial borders created during the colonial period. While African state size and shape have been previously shown to be correlated with negative development outcomes, no one has heretofore examined the origins of either phenomenon. Here, I show that African state size and shape are not arbitrary but are rather a consequence of Africa’s low pre-colonial population density, whereby low-density areas were consolidated into unusually large colonial states with artificial borders. I also show that state size has a strong negative relationship with pre-colonial trade and that trade and population density alone explain the majority of the variation in African state size. Finally, I do not find a relationship between population density and state size or shape among non-African former colonies, thereby emphasizing the distinctiveness of modern African state formation.

The weakness of ‘social capital’ as a key infringement to African development: the Ivorian example

The Afrocentrism debate remains dominated by the issue of Africa's past glory and its preponderant role in the emergence of human civilisation – a trend reliant on the assumption that if Africans want to move forward, they need to be concerned with their cultural heritage. This article, however, is based on the premise that it is also necessary to continue raising the issue of the socio-political auto-determination of Africa, which requires an analysis of the historical environment in which current African states have emerged and evolved. Drawing from the example of Côte d'Ivoire, this article looks at the twist and turns that took place on the continent after independence, and caused Africa to miss its rendezvous with modernity. It suggests that social capital – a concept that should primarily be understood as a sense of confidence in state institutions – remains to be built on the continent; and also argues that emerging modern African states have kept, in their effective operations, the administrative models of traditional society, where individuals matter more than social structures and where power remains concentrated in the hands of a strongman who has pre-eminence over any institutions.

Constitutional Accommodation of Ethnocultural Diversity in Thepost-Colonial African State

The issue of minorities or the question of the accommodation of ethnic diversity is a longstanding dilemmas that has continued to trouble the post-colonial African state. Despite more than four decades of nation-building, most African states lack national cohesion and suffer from problems of ethnic conflicts. This article submits that this is largely attributable to the nature of Africa’s post-colonial nation-building process. The first and main aim of this article is accordingly to investigate the nature of post-colonial nation-building. To this end, the paper interrogates the nature of constitutional and policy approaches of the post-colonial African state to this dilemma and explicates why and how these approaches have failed. As the investigation reveals, one of the characteristics of the post-colonial nation-building and constitutional discourse and practice in Africa was the refusal to take due account of Africa’s ethno-cultural diversity and develop relevant institutions and policies for the accommodation of the interests and identity of the different communities that together constitute the modern African state. Second, against the premise of the imperative of the politics of recognition, using materials from liberal multiculturalism and international human rights, the article argues for and sketches out an alternative constitutional framework that facilitates the accommodation of the interests and identity of members of various groups in the process of national integration. This anaysis reveals that South Africa represents a good example of a country with such a constitutional framework, from which other African countries can identify important insights for building a democratic constitutional order that adequately accommodates their diversity.