African states are frequently described as weak, but what are the alternatives for a population in search of protection, security, orientation? This panel focuses on two settings where non-state actors provide for some sort of authority: big cities and refugee camps.
The debate on the African state has achieved a certain maturity in social sciences. Limits and scope of statehood, continuities and change between pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial governance have all been highlighted and commented. Most authors agree on the relative weakness of “the” African state, but few concentrate on alternatives for a population in search of protection, security, orientation etc. This panel focuses on two distinct settings where a number of non-state actors provide for authority in the absence of efficient state structures.
The growing number of big cities on the continent has attracted attention by geographers and sociologists, but rarely political scientists. The process of social disintegration advances rapidly in these cities and lead to serious conflicts. Violence is frequently associated with criminal activities and „conquest“ of whole neighbourhoods by street gangs. Behind these features stand fundamental questions about the constitution of security (as a public good). Some violence actors (vigilantes, traditional/religious authorities etc.) can partly claim authority and legitimacy.
In refugee camps the international community (via humanitarian agencies, peacekeepers) provide opportunities and orientation, while older (pre-conflict) networks and hierarchies may still be at work. Traditional authority is severely under strain. Some observers believe that the emergence of “para-statal” structures in refugee camps could be the start for a post-conflict state-building from below - while the reluctance of host states to acknowledge political rights of refugees is significant.
Faced with the inability and reluctance of the state police to provide security over much of Kampala and Freetown, there has been a diversification of policing away from the state to non-state formal and informal agencies. This paper will explore the range of options available beyond the state police. It examines who is authorising and delivering this multi-choice policing; how do state and non-state policing agents interact; how effective and accountable are the different sponsors/providers of policing; who gains and loses in terms of public safety as a result of multi-choice policing; and what contrasts are there between Uganda and Sierra Leone and why? The paper concludes with considering the implications of the research findings for government policy in tackling crime and maintaining a control of policing. In particular, can legislation and working partnerships with the state police be established to harness the benefits of non-state policing and to improve the quality of security for city dwellers?
“Look at that building”, says a young man, “look at the pockets on the outside that’s where they keep the money they steal from the people.” The man is pointing towards the parliament building situated on top of a down-town hill in the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown. Young marginal people in urban Sierra Leone readily blame both personal and societal failures on the “system” being an abstraction of state powers. This text looks into the various ways that young urbanites, in the aftermath of a century of civil war, view state power, how they use it, and how they contest it.
Material is drawn from an ongoing research project (post-doctoral fieldwork carried out for two years between June 2004 and May 2006) focusing on marginal livelihoods, micro-economic networks and structural violence in urban Sierra Leone.
This paper considers the Ugandan states policy towards refugees from 1959 to 1994, and examines the paradox between the refugee policy, and the implementation of refugee rights. The Ugandan state had a strict set of laws governing the rights of refugees to citizenship, voting, and land ownership. In reality, the refugees found mechanisms to work around the system. This paper examines the ways in which the refugees operated beyond the governance of the state.
In retrospect, the presence of refugees in the Great Lakes until 1996 can be seen as having contributed to the reconfiguration of the regional balance of power. The experience of these refugees, who were for the majority under the control of the soldiers and militias responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, modified the conventional stereotype of refugee as victims fleeing persecution. This paper will explore how the refugee camps, owing to the presence of armed elements, the replication of Rwandan administrative setting and the humanitarian activities, affected the economy, the strategies, the policies and even the mere existence of host states (Burundi, Tanzania and Zaire). If some of them (Burundi, Tanzania) were able to manage this situation, at a highly cost for the refugees, others such Zaire collapsed.
In 1991 Western Somaliland discovered itself in a very particular condition, witnessing the collapse of the Somali regime in conjunction with the unpredicted and parallel collapse of the state and its institutions. In may 1991 even the Ethiopian regime collapsed, UNHCR remaining the only institution on the ground. In these conditions occured the setting up of the Darwanaje refugee camp, situated along the Ethiopian-Somaliland border, on the Ethiopian side. From 1991 to 2001 the camp provided first security and protection to its inhabitants and later it became the rock on which the social, economic and political recovery of the region was based, both on the Ethiopian and Somali side. Humanitarian aid became in fact part of the local social and political landscape, but only through the strict articulation between aid and local social networks the camp succeded in providing stability. Aid comes from outside but becomes useful and meaningful on the ground only after a transformation and its ‘localization’. The paper thus is a description of these transformations.