Negotiating Statehood: Dynamics of Power and Domination in Africa

Negotiating Statehood presents a new conceptual framework that reveals how state and non–state actors forge statehood in Africa, where these processes occur, and what configurations of state and political authority they produce. A collection of essays from a group of international experts provides a nuanced understanding of the multiple actors, arenas, and repertoires that reproduce and recreate statehood. Empirical and analytical insights into these processes are provided by examining the evolution of statehood in eight different African countries: Democratic Republic of Congo–Uganda, Namibia, Ethiopia, Angola, Guinea, Mozambique, Côte d′Ivoire, and Somaliland. Essays draw attention to contested institutional processes that defy Western state models and, instead, underline the lively and partly undetermined processes of state failure and formation in Africa. With deep scholarly rigor, Negotiating Statehood offers a wealth of illuminating insights into the myriad forces that shape and define the development of statehood, both in contemporary Africa and beyond.

Notes on Contributors vii 1 Negotiating Statehood: Dynamics of Power and Domination in Africa Tobias Hagmann and Didier Péclard 1 2 Protection for Sale? War and the Transformation of Regulation on the Congo–Ugandan Border Timothy Raeymaekers 24 3 The Struggle Continues? The Spectre of Liberation, Memory Politics and ‘War Veterans’ in Namibia Lalli Metsola 49 4 Federal Restructuring in Ethiopia: Renegotiating Identity and Borders along the Oromo–Somali Ethnic Frontiers Asnake Kefale 74 5 Facing Up to the Centre: The Emergence of Regional Elite Associations in Angola’s Political Transition Process Inge Ruigrok 95 6 The People, the Power and the Public Service: Political Identification during Guinea’s General Strikes in 2007 Anita Schroven 116 7 The Party and the State: Frelimo and Social Stratification in Post–socialist Mozambique Jason Sumich 134 8 Maintenant, on sait qui est qui: Statehood and Political Reconfiguration in Northern Côte d’Ivoire Till Förster 154 9 Negotiating Statehood in a Hybrid Political Order: The Case of Somaliland Marleen Renders and Ulf Terlinden 177 10 Researching African Statehood Dynamics: Negotiability and its Limits Martin Doornbos 200 Index 222

Tobias Hagmann is a Lecturer at the Department of Geography, University of Zürich and a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute. He is the co–editor of Contested Power: Traditional Authorities and Multi–party Elections in Ethiopia . Didier Péclard is Senior Researcher at the Swiss Peace Foundation in Bern, where he works on statehood in societies after violent conflicts, and Lecturer in political science at the University of Basel. He has published extensively on nationalism, religion and state formation in Angola.