'Public Policy Trajectories in Developmental States in Africa: The Global Economic Crises, Issues, and Potential Trajectories for Transformation' (original) (raw)
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Issues: The complex political, economic, social, and cultural phenomena of state failure are little understood with failing states plagued by rampant corruption, predatory elites who have long monopolised power, an absence of the rule of law, and severe ethnic or religious divisions. Cases in the paper underpin the cruel consequences and reality of African failed states: Case (1) VAW - rape as a savage instrument of humiliation in Darfur; Case (2) Rise of vigilantes in IDP Camps; Case (3) Cultural and anthropological considerations in VAW; Case (4) Banditry; Case (5) Conflicts and HIV/AIDS; Case (6) RH needs of women; Case (7) Somalia: state collapse – Chronology of events. Actions: The ability of states to strip people of their rights to livelihoods security, behind the thin veneer 'non-interference in each other's internal affairs' is increasingly being challenged. Nevertheless, while the AU’s political evolution may allow such novelties, how do the responsibility to protect projects in Africa pursue their goals consistently in varying contexts, but do so without resorting to a self - defeating, overly scripted and stage- managed political "play"?. Strategies should focus on the different stages of conflict - conflict prevention, containment and peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction in the social, political, and economic spheres. Strategies need to be simultaneously `objective', dealing with substantive issues and the institutional mechanisms for response, and `subjective', in developing the awareness, understanding, and expectations at all levels. Conclusion: Notwithstanding the need to move beyond military definitions of security to a more comprehensive and strategic human security visions; the central hypothesis augurs on the strategic necessity for the relative strength of political organisations determines the rules of the political game that are installed; requiring a plural set of political organisations which promote and protect rules of peaceful political participation and competition. In this light, state hood building in Africa can be understood as a dynamic two-way operation, of generic forms on particular contents and particular contents on generic forms, in which the deployment of the conceptual and institutional machinery of democracy is at the same time the representation of specific needs, interests, motivations, claims, rights, and obligations by individuals and groups. Going beyond structuring or rearranging African political actors and institutional activities in their spontaneous, often turbid reality, this operation should result in their transformation into forms of transparent agency and practice within an effective political system.
With the end of the Cold War, the market economy appears to have triumphed. Universally worshiped Western ideals have become the prerequisite for any nation, seeking acceptance by the international community or assistance from international financial institutions. Their widespread adoption has been said to herald the end of history or, at least, the final victory of Western civilisation. Nonetheless, the 2008 crisis that has swept through the US and Europe has had a universal impact, hence, Capitalism, which is all built on debt, is not immune of crises, undergoing transfor-mation through three different stages ranging from triumph, stagnation and reinvention. The qualitative methodology employed an independent assessment of Global Governance trajectories with a view to design improved innovations and models in Global Public Management. Findings point to the fact that current discussions and analyses of global governance are generally are marked by several limitations that escape the discourse on global governance. Pluralistic global rule institutionalises uncertainty but succeed if and when all political actors accept this uncertainty as opposed to the rigidities of nonconformity. Further, social capital is crucial to human security deepening but sounds a more sceptical note and deprecates the carnival air surrounding much of the debate on its midwifery of human security; because the complexities of African associational life are less neat and seamier, than much of the literature cares to admit. Creating and economic society and legal empowerment of the poor seek to generate new policy recommendations that will reduce human insecurity through secure, enforceable property and labour rights, within an enabling environment that expands legal business opportunity and access to justice.
Rethinking the state in Africa … Whose state is it?*****
The raison d’être of the “state” in Africa is not really to serve its people(s), African peoples; it is, on the contrary, to respond, unfailingly, to the objective needs of its creators overseas. And to that extent, Africa, contrary to popular, predictable perception is a success, is working!
The Relevance of state-building in the 2020s and the case of Africa
2024
The study examines the relevance of state-building in the 2020s within the framework of International Relations (IR) theories, with a focus on the Liberal World Order (LWO). Rooted in liberal ideology, the theory of state-building asserts that adherence to universally accepted norms and regulations by sovereign states best achieves global security. We explore the concept of ‘offensive liberalism’, emphasising the proactive role of stable states in enforcing these norms in regions where state capacity is lacking. The paper revisits the literature on state-building and the international system, noting a decline in scholarly focus over the past fifteen years. However, contemporary conflicts such as the war in Ukraine have brought state-building back to the forefront of global political discourse. The study underscores the importance of state-building in maintaining the stability and security of the LWO and emphasises the need for comprehensive reconstruction efforts in war-torn regions. It argues for the continued relevance of state-building in maintaining the LWO, particularly in regions facing instability. It calls for flexible, context-aware strategies that prioritise local engagement and regional cooperation to address Africa’s unique socio-political landscape’s challenges and opportunities.
The African State and Special Procedures: Agency, Leverage and Legitimacy
The United Nations Special Procedures System, 2017
10 Danielle Beswick and Anne Hammerstad, 'African agency in a changing security environment: Sources, opportunities and challenges' [2013] Conflict, Security and Development 13 (5) 471-486; William Brown and Sophie Harman (eds), African Agency in International Politics (Routledge 2013); Lindsay Whitfield (ed), The Politics of Aid: African Strategies for Dealing with Donors (OUP 2008). 11 See William Brown, 'A question of agency: Africa in international politics' [2012] Third World Quarterly 10 (33) 1893-1899 for a more detailed discussion of this. 12 Danielle Beswick, 'From weak state to savvy international player? Rwanda's multi-level strategy for maximising agency', in William Brown and Sophie Harman (eds), African Agency in International Politics (Routledge 2013); Danielle Beswick and Anne Hammerstad, 'African agency in a changing security environment: Sources, opportunities and challenges' [2013] Conflict, Security and Development 13 (5) 471-486; William Brown and Sophie Harman (eds), African Agency in International Politics (Routledge 2013); Devon Curtis, 'Development assistance and the lasting legacies of rebellion in Burundi and Rwanda' [2015] Third World Quarterly 36 (7) 1365-1381; Jonathan Fisher, 'Structure, agency and Africa in the international system: Donor diplomacy and regional security policy in East Africa since the 1990s' [2013] Conflict, Security and Development 13 (5) 537-567; Jonathan Fisher, 'When it pays to be a "fragile state": Uganda's use and abuse of a dubious concept' [2014] Third World Quarterly 35 (2) 316-322; Valerie Freeland, 'Rebranding the state: Uganda's strategic use of the International Criminal Court' [2015] Development and Change 46 (2) 293-319; Donna Lee, 'African agency in global trade governance', in William Brown and Sophie Harman (eds), African Agency in International Politics (Routledge 2013); Thomas Tieku, 'Exercising African agency in Burundi via multilateral channels: Opportunities and challenges' [2013] Conflict, Security and Development 13 (5) 513-535; Lindsay Whitfield (ed), The Politics of Aid: African Strategies for Dealing with Donors (OUP 2008); Siphamandla Zondi, 'Common positions as African agency in international negotiations: An appraisal', in William Brown and Sophie Harman (eds),
The African State in a Changing Global Context. Breakdowns and Transformations
"During the first 25 years of independence, the African state was largely driven from within by the ambition to establish political order in a world where national sovereignty over issues of development was not in question. The next 25 years have been characterized by a different dynamic: external influences have become increasingly important in shaping the behavior of the state and its direction. The main theme of this volume is that more is at stake today than in the past: not only control of the state but also the nature of the regime. István Tarrósy, Ph.D. in political science, assistant professor, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pécs. Loránd Szabó, historian, assistant professor, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pécs. Goran Hyden, distinguished professor in political science, University of Florida"