Beyond the State: Civil Society and Associational Life in Africa

1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bratton
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Associational Life ◽  
Economic Production ◽  
Societal Actors ◽  
Sub Saharan

The current scholarly preoccupation with the state may obscure more than it reveals for students of politics in sub-Saharan Africa. The weakly formed state in Africa—beset by decline in economic production and political authority—is now retreating from overambitious attempts at social transformation. The time is therefore ripe for societal actors to play an enhanced role in political change. This article reviews the current literature on state-society relations in Africa with particular emphasis on the nature of African associational life and the extent to which it is taking on a politically organized form as an identifiable civil society. The author proposes a theoretical framework and research agenda that takes account of the capacity of either state or societal actors to exercise a range of options to engage or disengage.

scholarly journals State, Market and Citizens’ Sector in Post-Transition Societies: Towards an Inclusive Framework of Governance in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. p211
Author(s):  
Abdulhamid Ozohu-Suleiman, Ph.D.
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The State ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Engagement Process ◽  
State And Market ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Tripartite Relationship

The crisis of governance being experienced by states in the continent of Africa since the fourth quarter of the last century has provoked widespread debates on good governance and its requirements. These debates revolve around the premises of welfarism aimed at evaluating the capacity of the state to deliver existential requirements of citizens. The point at issues is that the most significant ends of good governance are citizens and their quality of life. Thus, in connecting government with the society as a whole (to secure this mandate), scholarly preoccupation has been on the changing tripartite relationship among the state, market and the citizens’ sector. This paper seeks to interrogate this relationship in Nigeria in terms of what has been achieved and the prospects for improved quality of governance, bearing in mind the constraints imposed by certain tendencies in the democratization process. It argues that the post-transition impact of civil society (broadly referred to as citizens’ sector), which constitutes a significant part of the environment in which the state operates has not received sufficient scholarly attention in states of Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper observes that the triumph of market economy and the concomitant shrinking of the state have significantly altered the institutional landscape of governance for the citizens’ sector to deepen its engagement with a trimmed government. In other words, outside the formal institutions of the state and market, the citizens’ sector has a crucial role to play in the good governance project. In states like Nigeria, liberal political conditions have provided the needed impetus for this inclusive framework of governance to flourish. It acknowledges that though, civil society (operating under a variety of organizations) has established its visibility in the political space, none-the-less, proactive and sustainable engagement with the state on policy issues is required to effectively drive the good governance project. Be that as it may, this paper recommends among others that the legal framework in respect of this tripartite relationship should be strengthened for optimal results, and that in (specific terms), in order to deepen the collaboration between the state and the citizens’ sector, the National Assembly should make law to provide a legal framework aimed at institutionalizing the Office of the Senior Special Assistance to the Presidents on Civil Society. This institutionalization will cascade into the role of civil society in the citizen engagement process.

Funding of a free healthcare campaign in a rural district of Cameroon: Optimizing the role of civil society in sub-Saharan Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-224
Author(s):  
B. Keugoung ◽  
F. Fouelifack Ymele ◽  
J. Dongtsa Mabou ◽  
C. Nangue ◽  
P. Ngouadjio Kougoum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Rural District ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Free Healthcare ◽  
Sub Saharan

State, Civil Society, and Market in India: The Context of Mobilization

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Oommen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Economic Liberalization ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory Construction ◽  
The West ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Communal Life ◽  
Intergroup Conflicts

Western societies have accomplished relative autonomy of the state, civil society, and market. The current thrust of social transformation in post-colonial and post-socialist societies also point in the same direction. This article traces the trajectory of autonomization achieved and/or attempted in these societies, and identifies the implications of the processes involved for theory construction. It is argued that in the context of mobilizing for change, privileging either state, civil society, or market would be a rash prejudgment. The possessive individualism of the West articulated in its rapacious market mechanisms alienates individuals destroys communal life. With reference to India, I trace out how the current tendency of privileging civil society as the sole agency to reestablish democratic values in past socialist societies-and relegating the state to the background-may foment serious intergroup conflicts. The recently initiated process of economic liberalization in the part-colonial democratic societies often ignores that there is nothing much to chose between the behemoth of the market and the leviathan of a state. It is suggested that only an equipoise between the state, society and market can produce a 'good society."

scholarly journals The state of business sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan Africa: an agenda for policy and practice

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Tilt ◽  
Wei Qian ◽  
Sanjaya Kuruppu ◽  
Dinithi Dissanayake
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
The State ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Sub Saharan

Purpose Developing countries experience their own social, political and environmental issues, but surprisingly limited papers have examined sustainability reporting in these regions, notably in sub-Saharan Africa. To fill this gap and understand the state of sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper aims to investigate the current state of reporting, identifies the major motivations and barriers for reporting and suggests an agenda of future issues that need to be considered by firms, policymakers and academics. Design/methodology/approach This paper includes analysis of reporting practices in 48 sub-Saharan African countries using the lens of New Institutional Economics. It comprises three phases of data collection and analysis: presentation of overall reporting data collected and provided by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). analysis of stand-alone sustainability reports using qualitative data analysis and interviews with key report producers. Findings The analysis identifies key issues that companies in selected sub-Saharan African countries are grappling within their contexts. There are significant barriers to reporting but institutional mechanisms, such as voluntary reporting frameworks, provide an important bridge between embedding informal norms and changes to regulatory requirements. These are important for the development of better governance and accountability mechanisms. Research limitations/implications Findings have important implications for policymakers and institutions such as GRI in terms of regulation, outreach and localised training. More broadly, global bodies such as GRI and IIRC in a developing country context may require more local knowledge and support. Limitations include limited data availability, particularly for interviews, which means that these results are preliminary and provide a basis for further work. Practical implications The findings of this paper contribute to the knowledge of sustainability reporting in this region, and provide some policy implications for firms, governments and regulators. Originality/value This paper is one of only a handful looking at the emerging phenomenon of sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan African countries.

Including chiefs, maintaining peace? Examining the effects of state–traditional governance interaction on civil peace in sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katariina Mustasilta
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Traditional Authorities ◽  
Traditional Governance

The continued influence of traditional governance in sub-Saharan Africa has sparked increasing attention among scholars exploring the role of non-state and quasi-state forms of governance in the modern state. However, little attention has been given to cross-country and over-time variation in the interaction between state and traditional governance structures, particularly in regard to its implications for intrastate peace. This study examines the conditions under which traditional governance contributes to state capacity to maintain peace. The article argues that the type of institutional interaction between the state and traditional authority structures influences a country’s overall governance dynamics and its capacity to maintain peace. By combining new data on state–traditional authorities’ interaction in sub-Saharan Africa from 1989 to 2012 with intrastate armed conflict data, I conduct a systematic comparative analysis of whether concordant state–traditional authorities’ interaction strengthens peace. The empirical results support the argument that integrating traditional authorities into the public administration lowers the risk of armed conflict in comparison to when they remain unrecognized by the state. Moreover, the analysis suggests that the added value of this type of interaction is conditional on the colonial history of a country.

Law Reform in a Developing Country: A New Code of Obligations for Senegal

1964 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
E. Allan Farnsworth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Republic

The Republic of Senegal has embarked upon a project to reform its private law. This fact, of itself, might not seem worthy of the attention of the legal profession in the United States, since Senegal is a country of only about 3,250,000 inhabitants, less than the population of the state of Alabama, covering only 76,000 square miles, less than the area of the state of Kansas, and having a total of exports and imports to the dollar zone of less than twelve million dollars in 1962. With twenty per cent of its population in its six largest cities of more than 30,000 inhabitants, it is the most urban, most literate, and most Europeanized of the francophonic countries of sub-Saharan Africa, but this alone would evoke little interest abroad in its attempts at law reform.

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