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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Statehood, nationalism and citizenship in the Ivorian crisis : a brief political sociology of the "young patriots" of Abidjan
| Panel |
44. Negotiating statehood in Africa
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| Paper ID | 402 |
| Author(s) |
Banegas, Richard
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | In recent years, two approaches have gained pride of place in the analysis of conflict in Africa in general and in West Africa in particular : those focussed on the war economy and those centred on the notion of "failed states". According to the latter, violence is explained by the incapacity of African states, riddled with corruption and patrimonialism, to guarantee a minimum of political regulation, to consolidate a social pact and achieve a minimum of legitimacy. For the defenders of this extremely classical argument, the African state has failed to construct a nation and forge the solid allegiance of its citizens. Today's wars are seen as the product of this political and institutional failure, such as Doe's and Taylor's Liberia, or Mobutu's Zaïre whose fall symbolised the collapse of the kleptocratic state. The logical conclusion: in order to hasten the end to crisis, efforts must be made not only in the demilitarisation of society, but also, and above all, towards the "reconstruction of the state", "institutional development" and "good governance". This thesis has gained influence amongst international agencies.
Based on the Ivorian case study, this paper will not only demonstrate the inadequacy of the “State failure” premises. It will also try to demonstrate, at the opposite, that violence is often a byproduct of state formation and centralization. Investigating the social meaning of the state in day-to-day practices, we will argue that conflicts also produce statehood by redefining the imagination of citizenship, nation and sovereignty. Empirical data will be drawn from field research among the “patriotic youth” of Abidjan's popular suburbs. A particular attention will be paid to “patriotic” informal structures like “parliaments”, “agoras” and other “congress” that have grown since the triggering of the crisis. These political structures provide the "young patriots" with new opportunities to renegociate their relationship to state power and their place in the society.
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