Böcker utgivna av CODESRIA

Elections and Governance in Nigeria's Fourth Republic is a book about Nigerian politics, governance and democracy. It at once encompasses Nigeria's post-colonial character, its political economy, party formation since independence, the role of Electoral Commissions, as well as, indepth analyses of the 1999, 2003 and 2007 general elections that involved extensive fieldwork. It also presents aspects of the 2011 and 2015 general elections, while discussing the state of democratic consolidation, and lessons learned for achieving good governance in the country. It is indeed, a must read for students of politics, academics, politicians, statesmen and policy makers, and in fact, stakeholders in the Nigerian democracy project. The book stands out as a well-researched and rich documentary material about elections in Nigeria, and the efforts so far made in growing democracy.

The agrarian reform dynamics in southern Africa have to be understood within the framework of colonial land policies and legislation that were designed essentially to expropriate land and natural resource property rights from the indigenous people in favour of the white settlers. Colonial land policies institutionalised racial inequity with regard to land although conditions are not homogeneous there are broad themes that cut across the southern Africa region. Colonialism dispossessed and impoverished the people by taking away the most productive lands. Neoliberal globalization has undermined the people's wellbeing through direct influences on agriculture and rural economies in conjunction with policies promoted by national governments and international agencies. Another shared feature is to be found in the high rates of unemployment, poor returns to small-scale agriculture, lack of access to social services such as health and education all of which serve to erode existing livelihood activities and perpetuate relative and absolute poverty in rural areas.

The book highlights, the gradual change in the status of the land and relationships with land in Mali in general and in the Niger river basin in particular. It is suggested that despite these inevitable transformations, institutional reforms need to be measured. They must be done in a prudent, methodical way with patience and determination while taking into account certain realities to mitigate its impact on the rural populations.

This book on Professor Samir Amin retraces his family origins, intellectual itinerary, political struggles as well as his experience in economic policy formulation in Egypt, Mali and many other countries. The fundamentals which shaped Samir Amin's thinking, directed his life-long work and influenced his action spawned from his early discovery in high school of Marxism and Historical Materialism, used as a scientific analysis of the history of human societies. This book also highlights Samir Amin's invaluable contribution to the struggle against capitalism through his indefatigable fight to deconstruct the concepts that are used to disguise the true face of historical capitalism, which is nothing but an unabashed pursuit for accumulation and dispossession of dominated countries and peoples. Through a series of interviews with Samir Amin, the author unravels the poignant and great ideas which have been at the heart of his intellectual and political fight for the last half century. The author also provides a selection of texts which includes an exhaustive bibliography, with all published writings of Samir Amin in French. This rich work is meant for a large readership - students, researchers, teachers, political leaders and citizens who are interested in the phenomenon of globalisation and its impact on the so-called 'under-developed countries.

This empirically grounded study provides a critical reflection on the land question in Africa, research on which tends to be tangential, conceptually loose and generally inadequate. It argues that the most pressing research concern must be to understand the precise nature of the African land question, its land reforms and their effects on development. To unravel the roots of land conflicts in Africa requires thorough understanding of the complex social and political contradictions which have ensued from colonial and post-colonial land policies, as well as from Africa's 'development' and capital accumulation trajectories, especially with regard to the land rights of the continent's poor. The study thus questions the capacity of emerging neo-liberal economic and political regimes in Africa to deliver land reforms which address growing inequality and poverty. It equally questions the understanding of the nature of popular demands for land reforms by African states, and their ability to address these demands under the current global political and economic structures dictated by neo-liberalism and its narrow regime of ownership. The study invites scholars and policy makers to creatively draw on the specific historical trajectories and contemporary expression of the land and agrarian questions in Africa, to enrich both theory and practice on land in Africa.

The 21st century qualifies as one in which humanity raised environmental decay, especially climate change, as a key global concern requiring urgent political attention. The book Framework and Tools for Environmental Management in Africa is written from this perspective. It provides researchers from different disciplines including environmental sciences, engineering, commerce, planning, education, agriculture and law, as well as NGOs, government officials, policy makers and researchers, with a platform to engage with concerns relating to sustainable environmental management in this epoch. Topics covered include global landmarks for environmental governance, environmental management on African agenda, sustainability reporting, environmental impact assessment and public participation as well as environmental education. These remain viable in the African set-up where major development projects in mining and agriculture require greater scrutiny. With a collection of both revision and critical reflection questions, carefully constructed by authors with significant experiences from institutions of higher learning across Africa, readers will find this publication a valuable addition to their shelves.

In the atmosphere of suspicion and anger that characterizes our time, it is a joy to hear the voice of Iqbal, both passionate and serene. It is the voice of a soul that is deeply anchored in the Quranic Revelation, and precisely for that reason, open to all the other voices, seeking in them the path of his own fidelity. It is the voice of a man who has left behind all identitarian rigidity, who has 'broken all the idols of tribe and caste' to address himself to all human beings. But an unhappy accident has meant that this voice was buried, both in the general forgetting of Islamic modernism and in the very country that he named before its existence, Pakistan, whose multiple rigidities n political, religious, military n constitute a continual refutation of the very essence of his thought. But we all need to hear him again, citizens of the West, Muslims, and those from his native India, where a form of Hindu chauvinism rages in our times, in a way that exceeds his worst fears. Souleymane Bachir Diagne has done all of us an immense favor in making this voice heard once again, clear and convincing. Charles Taylor, Professor, McGill University Quebec, Canada

The five research reports that constitute this monograph are a fruit of the collaboration between the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in African (CODESRIA) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), two institutions with a longstanding interest in the study of youth and social transformations in Africa. Under the collaboration, 12 young African researchers were able to benefit from fellowships, workshops and the expertise of resource persons. The studies contribute significant empirical insights from five different countries (Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Cameroon) to ongoing debates on how youth and social processes in Africa shape, and are shaped, by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

This monograph highlights the necessity for taking preventive measures in the form of peace-building as a sustainable and long-term solution to conflicts in West Africa, with a special focus on the Mano River Union countries. Apart from the Mano River Union countries, efforts at resolving other conflicts in say, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, C?te d'Ivoire and Nigeria, have suffered from a lack of attention on the post-conflict imperatives of building peace in order to ensure that sustainable peace is achieved. Given the often intractable and inter-related nature of conflicts in this region, it argues for the need to revisit the existing mechanisms of conflict resolution in the sub-region with a view to canvassing a stronger case for stakeholders towards adopting the peace-building strategy as a more practical and sustainable way of avoiding wars in the sub-region. Peace-building in consonance with its infrastructure is a more sustainable approach to ensuring regional peace and stability and, therefore, ensuring development for the peoples of West Africa. Dr Osita Agbu is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos. His areas of specialization include Peace and Conflict studies, Governance and Democratization and Technology and Development. He was until recently, a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies, Chiba, Japan.

The shocks of the unexpected outbreak of violent internal armed conflicts in post Cold War West Africa continue to linger in policy and academic circles. While considerable attention is devoted to explaining the civil wars, there is little understanding of the delicate and unpredictable processes of reconstruction. Post-war reconstruction programmes in Africa have become, by and large, externally driven processes; and while externalisation may not be negative per se, it is important to interrogate how such intervention recognises and interacts with local dynamics, and how it manipulates and conditions the outcomes of post-conflict reconstruction agenda. Investigating the interface between power elite, the nature of post-war regimes and the pattern which post-war reconstruction takes is important both for theory and practice. This original study, by some of West Africa's leading scholars, interrogates post-war reconstruction processes in the twin West African countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone, focusing on the effects of regime types on the nature, scope, success or failure of their post-war reconstruction efforts. Political scientists, diplomats, the international community, donor and humanitarian agencies, advocacy groups, the United Nations and its agencies, would find it an important resource in dealing with countries emerging from protracted violence and civil war.

It is hoped that readers of this synthesis report will find it useful as a quick and easily digestible summary of some of the key developments in West Africa that had a direct bearing on governance in the sub-region during 2006.

Xenophobia is a political discourse. As such, its historical development as well as the conditions of its existence must be elucidated in terms of the practices and prescriptions that structure the field of politics. In South Africa, its history is connected to the manner citizenship has been conceived and fought over during the past fifty years at least. Migrant labour was de-nationalised by the apartheid state, while African nationalism saw it as the very foundation of that oppressive system. However, only those who could show a family connection with the colonial/apartheid formation of South Africa could claim citizenship at liberation. Others were excluded and seen as unjustified claimants to national resources. Xenophobia's current conditions of existence are to be found in the politics of a post-apartheid nationalism were state prescriptions founded on indigeneity have been allowed to dominate uncontested in condition of passive citizenship. The de-politicisation of a population, which had been able to assert its agency during the 1980s, through a discourse of 'human rights' in particular, has contributed to this passivity. State liberal politics have remained largely unchallenged. As in other cases of post-colonial transition in Africa, the hegemony of xenophobic discourse, the book shows, is to be sought in the character of the state consensus. Only a rethinking of citizenship as an active political identity can re-institute political agency and hence begin to provide alternative prescriptions to the political consensus of state-induced exclusion.

This book analyses the impact of the Western idea of 'modernity' on development and underdevelopment in Africa. It traces the genealogy of the Western idea of modernity from European Enlightenment concepts of the universal nature of human history and development, and shows how this idea was used to justify the Western exploitation and oppression of Africa. It argues that contemporary development, theory and practice is a continuation of the Enlightenment project and that Africa can only achieve real development by rejecting Western modernity and inventing its own forms of modernity. The book is divided into four sections. The first section provides an outline of the theory of modernity in the Enlightenment project. In the second section, an attempt is made to trace the genealogy of the idea of development as modernity and how the African development process gets entangled with it. Here, its evolution is mapped through three periods: early modernity, capitalist modernity and late modernity. Zeroing in on the current era of late or hypermodernity, the book contests the idea that there is something new in globalisation and its neo-liberal development paradigm. The third section turns to the complex but pertinent question of how, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Africa can transcend the impasse of modernity. The fourth and final section sums up the argument and points the way forward.

Africa is richly blessed with cultural and natural heritage, key resources for nation building and development. Unfortunately, heritage is not being systematically researched or recognised, denying Africans the chance to learn about and benefit from heritage initiatives. This book offers a preliminary discussion of factors challenging the management of intangible cultural heritage in the African communities of Zanzibar, Mauritius and Seychelles. These islands are part of an overlapping cultural and economic zone influenced by a long history of slavery and colonial rule, a situation that has produced inequalities and underdevelopment. In all of them, heritage management is seriously underfinanced and under-resourced. African descendant heritage is given little attention and this continues to erode identity and sense of belonging to the nation. In Zanzibar tensions between majority and minority political parties affect heritage initiatives on the island. In Mauritius, the need to diversify the economy and tourism sector is encouraging the commercialisation of heritage and the homogenisation of Creole identity. In Seychelles, the legacy of socialist rule affects the conceptualisation and management of heritage, discouraging managers from exploring the island's widerange of intangible heritages. The author concludes that more funding and attention needs to be given to heritage management in Africa and its diaspora. Rosabelle Boswell is a senior lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Rhodes University, South Africa and a specialist of the southwest Indian Ocean islands. Her research interests include ethnicity, heritage, gender and development. Boswell's PhD was on poverty and identity among Creoles in Mauritius and her most recent work is onthe role of scent and fragrances in the heritage of the Swahili islands of the Indian Ocean region.

Niger's political history has lacked a synthesis on the army's involvement in politics since independence. The country is a fertile ground for such analysis. Between 1964 and 1999, the country witnessed three successful military coups during the democratisation process (April 1974, January 1996, and April 1999) and at least four military coup attempts (1964, 1975, 1976, 1983). In its forty years of independence, Niger has been under military rule for twenty-one years. It has also experienced seven different institutional regimes while four out of the six presidents who headed the country were soldiers. Niger evolved from the Second to the Fifth Republic in less than ten years - from the national conference (November 1991) to the last military coup (April 1999). In statistical terms, Niger has been witnessing a military coup or a military coup attempt every five-years since 1974. In addition to that, the country recorded seven mutinies and various other forms of troop rebellion between December 1963 and August 2000. In terms of institutional instability, Niger's record is unparalleled in Africa. A study on the army is therefore more needed than ever before. The recurrence with which the military appears on the political scene imposes another way of looking at Niger's army. A critical analysis of the military phenomenon, if not an assessment, would help envisage new prospects for Niger's future. This work, which was undertaken by a multi disciplinary team, suggests an analysis, from a historical and sociological perspective, of the long-standing involvement of the army in politics (the apparition of war leaders in the 19th century, the transition from colonial army to national army, the politicisation of the army and the emergence of 'military-politicians', the army sociology.). It aims at providing an answer to a key question: Why is the army so deeply involved in politics in Niger? It reveals how a significant military component has been gradually built up in Niger's political arena to become a highly dynamic political entrepreneur, able to compete with civilian politicians. The work shows, on the one hand, the significance of socio-political and economic contexts that promote the propensity for military interventionism, and on the other hand the transformations within the army that explain its propensity to intervene. It relates two decades of 'military rule', analyses their modes of legitimating, organising and managing power, gives an assessment of their economic policies and sheds light on women's role in that institution, which was thus far a men's business.

This study explores the service-citizenship nexus in Nigeria, using the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme as an empirical backdrop. It attempts to understand the relationship between civic service and citizenship on the one hand, and it examines the question as to whether youth service promotes a sense of citizenship and patriotism on the other. In the relevant studies on service and sociology, the assumption that service is antecedent to, and impacts positively on citizenship, is taken for granted. However, conclusions from this study call for an urgent rethinking of this wisdom. Using data from open-ended interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions, the study traces the ways in which political dynamics in Nigeria have affected the implementation of the NYSC programme. The study articulates allegiance to national ideals as an essential foundation for creating and nurturing citizenship. Although it upholds the potential of national service as a tool for national integration, this research cautions against unalloyed faith in its presumed agency, arguing that the limitations imposed by the prevailing socio-political ecology should not be ignored.

When, why and how can religion and culture be both sources, and places of expression for fundamentalisms, particularly in relation to politics? Those are the central questions asked throughout this book alongside a discussion on the result when religion, strenthened by culture, is used as a political tool to access moral and social power. Cultural and religious messages often form the basis of decisions, laws and programs made in politics, and have a direct effect on society in general, and on women and gender relations in particular. The various forms taken by fundamentalisms in some African countries and the contexts under which they have emerged, the ways in which they (re)shape identities and relationships between men and women are also analysed in this book. These fundamentalisms are frequently sources of concern in social debates, in feminist and feminine organizations as well as in academia and politics. The manipulation of cultures and religions are becoming progressively political, and consequently can cause social discrimination, or even physical, moral, and symbolic violence.

A la lumière d'une expérience propre, cet ouvrage présente différentes problématiques de gouvernance universitaire en Afrique avec un accent spécifique sur les dynamiques en cours. Il permet de mieux comprendre les mutations aux niveaux des structures de gouvernance des établissements d'enseignement supérieur avec le nouveau management public et les périmètres de responsabilités des dirigeants tant sur le plan du financement, de la formation, que des modes et canaux de délivrance des enseignements et de l'organisation de la recherche. Ce livre propose un outil à la mesure des défis de l'Afrique : la Fondation Africaine pour la Recherche, l'Innovation et la Mobilité (FARIM) fondée dans une certaine mesure sur les orientations du développement durable. Il propose aussi un canevas pour l'élaboration d'un plan stratégique. Pour une meilleure internalisation de l'enseignement supérieur, une attention particulière est portée sur les valeurs ainsi que leur promotion et convoque à la communication.Cet ouvrage est recommandé à tous ceux qui désirent découvrir le trésor caché dans l'enseignement supérieur. C'est un bon outil pour tous, pour l'ensemble la communauté universitaire, notamment pour ceux qui veulent transformer l'Afrique dans ce contexte de l'économie du savoir, ceux qui dirigent ou veulent diriger les établissements d'enseignement supérieur car quand la résultante des forces en présence ne parvient pas à créer la dynamique, il est fait recours au leader pour indiquer le chemin et y mobiliser le plus grand nombre.Abdou Salam Sall est professeur de Chimie Inorganique spécialisé dans la Chimie Bioinorganique. Il a une expérience de vingt-trois années dans le management universitaire durant lesquelles il a occupé différents postes en tant que Secrétaire Général du Syndicat Autonome de l'Enseignement Supérieur du Sénégal (SAES), Recteur de l'Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), et expert et consultant de l'enseignement supérieur. Le Professeur Sall est l'initiateur de la Visio-actions de l'UCAD. Il a été de 2013 à 2014, Président du Comité National de Pilotage des Assises de l'Éducation et de la Formation du Sénégal. Le Professeur Sall est auteur de deux ouvrages et co-auteur d'un ouvrage sur l'enseignement supérieur, ainsi qu'auteur ou co-auteur d'une cinquantaine de publications scientifiques.This book discusses various issues related to university governance in Africa, with a specific focus on current dynamics. It provides an understanding of the changes in the governance structures of higher education institutions. The book will appeal to those who wish to transform Africa in the context of the knowledge economy.

The Great Lakes region of Africa is characterized by protest politics, partial democratization, political illegitimacy and unstable economic growth. Many of the countries that are members of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) which are: Burundi, Angola, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia, have experienced political violence and bloodshed at one time or another. While a few states have been advancing electoral democracy, environmental protection and peaceful state building, the overall intensity of violence in the region has led to civil wars, invasion, genocide, dictatorships, political instability, and underdevelopment. Efforts to establish sustainable peace, meaningful socio-economic development and participatory democracy have not been quite successful. Using various methodologies and paradigms, this book interrogates the complexity of the causes of these conflicts; and examines their impact and implications for socio-economic development of the region. The non-consensual actions related to these conflicts and imperatives of power struggles supported by the agents of 'savage' capitalism have paralysed efforts toward progress. The book therefore recommends new policy frameworks within regionalist lenses and neo-realist politics to bring about sustainable peace in the region.

This book focuses on African childhood and youth within the context of development and socialization where children are expected to be moulded in the image of adults. In many African societies children are generally held as passive bearers of the demands of adults, regardless of the fact that they are often exposed to a multitude of challenges that originate from the capriciousness of those adults. However, buoyed by international conventions and national legislations that offer them greater protection, and the ubiquitous internet that exposes them to childhood and youth experiences elsewhere, many of them are increasingly becoming assertive in homes, schools, and communities as well as re-invigorating their survival and self-preservation instincts. It is in this regard that this book, through the various chapters, engages with their competencies, skills and creativity to respond to experiential challenges as independent migrants or ones under coercion working in city streets and markets or cocoa farms or juggling work and schooling in pursuit of some education. Confronted with their parents' and siblings' health predicaments and the inadequacies of state and familial care, or urgent negotiation of their sexualities, they demonstrate incredible resilience. Similarly, their perceptiveness is demonstrated in a unique appreciation of politics and its actors and a capacity to assume responsibilities beyond their chronological age. Thus while highlighting some of the challenges confronting African children, the book provides gripping evidence of how they resiliently negotiate those challenges.

Revendiquer sa culture, exiger son droit à la diversité culturelle ou procla-mer son appartenance à un groupe de croyants et s'emparer du fanion de cette croyance pour perpétrer des actions dès lors qualifiées de « saintes », pour terroriser ses semblables en leur imposant sa vision des choses et sa loi, telles sont, à n'en pas douter, deux des caractéristiques les plus préoccupantes de l'entrée de nos sociétés dans ce vingt-et-unième siècle qui commence. C'est pourquoi les textes réunis ici ont été jugés aptes, à ouvrir une réflexion sérieuse et méthodique sur la religion et la culture en Afrique au seuil du 21ème siècle. Les contributions réunies dans ce volume s'ouvrent par une interrogation et, plutôt que de se fermer, elles se terminent par une ouverture sur des horizons de recherche. Il y a là de quoi ouvrir et alimenter les enquêtes que seuls ou en groupes structurés les spécialistes des sciences de l'homme sont invités à imaginer et conduire sur la religion et la culture de l'Afrique d'aujourd'hui.Claiming its culture, demanding its right to cultural diversity, or proclaiming its membership of a group of believers and taking possession of the flag of that belief in order to perpetrate actions that are then called "holy", to terrorize its fellows by imposing on them His vision of things and his law, are undoubtedly two of the most worrying features of the entry of our societies in the twenty-first century. For this reason, the texts gathered here have been deemed fit, to open a serious and methodical reflection on religion and culture in Africa at the threshold of the 21st century.

The role of higher education in establishing structures and procedures in society and industry is clearly articulated in scholarly discussions. The narrative has recently taken a new momentum in Kenya with acknowledgement of the creative industry involves many youth, as an area that impacts on the economy. In unravelling the link between higher education and industry, the authors focus on leadership and governance in higher education and its expected and perceived contribution to the shaping of the creative industry. Through analysis of cases, the authors interrogate the processes and structures that govern the teaching and practice of the creative subjects, noting how these affect the creative industry in Kenya. This book approaches the creative disciplines from the perspectives of the students, lecturers and university administrators. The three voices provide a balanced view of what higher creative arts education in Kenya is. The multiple authorship of the book further provides a balanced account of the development of these disciplines in higher education, and their growth in industry. The key concepts here are the development of the creative industry and how higher education should contribute to the same.