Ethnicity, Patronage and the African State: The Politics of Uncivil Nationalism

Berman, Bruce J.

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007947

Cited by 389 publications

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“…Group identity based on ethnic structure and practice is also contested in the historiography of ethnicity. Berman writes, ethnicities are "ambiguous, constantly contested and changing results of cultural politics; they are the outcomes of an endless process in which they are always simultaneously old and new, they are grounded in the past and perpetually in the process of creation" [50] (pp. 311-312).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group Inequality and Environmental Sustainability: Insights from Bangladesh and Kenyan Forest Commons

et al. 2014

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Abstract:The paper contributes to understanding the interactions of environmental and social dimensions of sustainability in situations of acute group inequalities. Using case studies of Mount Elgon in Kenya and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh it shows the importance of ethnicity based inequalities in defining sustainability outcomes. The paper explores, first, the mechanisms through which dominant ethnic groups are able to exert influence on resource management at the expense of less powerful groups; and second, the consequences of ethnic inequalities for resource uses within ostensibly democratic systems. It combines information from social and political history with remote sensing data to explore causes, processes and patterns behind spatial trends in the study of forests. The paper concludes that efficacy of national democracy and its institutions in achieving positive environmental outcomes depends on the power relations among social groups, particularly in historically contested contexts. Further, environmental and social OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2014, 6 1463 dimensions of sustainability cannot be treated separately and the issue of equity among groups, ethnic or otherwise, needs to be recognised in policies for sustainable development. The study points out the need for further research into integrating socio-political history with spatial data to better understand social and spatial distribution of policy impacts.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group Inequality and Environmental Sustainability: Insights from Bangladesh and Kenyan Forest Commons

et al. 2014

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“…In Sub-Sahara Africa, elections were, broadly speaking, introduced with decolonization in the mid-twentieth centuryyet again, political marketplaces were generally characterized by high levels of fragmentation. This was primarily due to colonialism, which -as Berman [6] explains -'rested largely on the institutionalization of BBig Man-Small Boy^politics in rural society, built on the hierarchies of personal rule of the Bdecentralized despotism^of chiefs and headmen.' In other words, colonial rule had -by sponsoring local strongmen -led to a large number of powerful loyalty sellers whose support in electoral contests could only be secured by keeping formal institutions weak and providing ample opportunities for corruption.…”

Section: Comparative Perspectives and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The historical origins of corruption in the developing world: a comparative analysis of East Asia

Hellmann

2017

Crime Law Soc Change

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A new approach has emerged in the literature on corruption in the developing world that breaks with the assumption that corruption is driven by individualistic self-interest and, instead, conceptualizes corruption as an informal system of norms and practices. While this emerging neo-institutionalist approach has done much to further our understanding of corruption in the developing world, one key question has received relatively little attention: how do we explain differences in the institutionalization of corruption between developing countries? The paper here addresses this question through a systematic comparison of seven developing and newly industrialized countries in East Asia. The argument that emerges through this analysis is that historical sequencing mattered: countries in which the 'political marketplace' had gone through a process of concentration before universal suffrage was introduced are now marked by less harmful types of corruption than countries where mass voting rights where rolled out in a context of fragmented political marketplaces. The paper concludes by demonstrating that this argument can be generalized to the developing world as a whole.Recently, the analysis of corruption in developing countries has undergone a radical revision. Specifically, scholars are increasingly emphasizing that we need to move away from studying corruption as individualistic acts of deviant behavior and instead acknowledge that corruption can become institutionalized as informal rules and routines, thus putting great pressure on individuals to perform according to these norms. [t]he Bbasic norm^of this invisible legal system sanctions the unavoidability of bribes, the rule that recourse to hidden exchange cannot be avoided in return for any Bresource^of value obtainable from the public structure within the corruption network'.

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“…In the context of Africa after the Cold War, states tend to be governed by authoritarian regimes or unconsolidated democracies with weak or fragmented institutions, and often lack a firm control over parts of their territory as well as strong overarching national identities (Herbst, 2000;Jackson, 2002). To gain and remain in power, politicians often rely on patrimonial and clientelist networks and appeal to subsets of the population based on ethnic or religious identity, while employing different measures to contain the threat from potential challengers (Berman, 1998;Cederman, Wimmer & Min, 2010;de Mesquita et al, 2005). The state's authority and power may depend on the support of some groups and be upheld through the marginalization of other groups (Raleigh 2010;Wimmer 2004).…”

Section: Strategic Interests and Intervention In Communal Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

Providing security or protecting interests? Government interventions in violent communal conflicts in Africa

Elfversson

2015

Journal of Peace Research

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What factors drive governments’ decisions to intervene in local conflicts within their borders? Communal conflict – that is, organized violence between non-state groups that are mobilized along a shared communal identity – kills thousands each year and severely impacts local livelihoods, at times threatening to spread and affect entire regions. Given the state’s assumed monopoly over the legitimate use of force, we should expect the concerned governments to be critical actors of the overall effort to restore peace in cases of local communal conflict, but empirical evidence indicates that central states tend to only intervene in some cases but not in others. This phenomenon has so far been understudied and the variations in states’ efforts to manage these conflicts remain unexplained. This article presents the first quantitative study of state intervention in communal conflicts. Building on existing scholarly work, I argue that state intervention is explained by a combination of strategic interests and state capacity, and that interests related to ethnic constituencies and land control play an important part in explaining governments’ strategies. These propositions find support in a statistical analysis covering sub-Saharan Africa from 1989 to 2010.

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Ethnicity, Patronage and the African State: The Politics of Uncivil Nationalism

Cited by 389 publications

References 0 publications

Group Inequality and Environmental Sustainability: Insights from Bangladesh and Kenyan Forest Commons

Group Inequality and Environmental Sustainability: Insights from Bangladesh and Kenyan Forest Commons

The historical origins of corruption in the developing world: a comparative analysis of East Asia

Providing security or protecting interests? Government interventions in violent communal conflicts in Africa

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