Suchergebnisse

Since the restoration of traditional leaders in Uganda in 1993, the Kingdom of Buganda has developed unusually effective institutions, financing mechanisms and policy tools, re-building itself as a quasi-state. The reinforcement of Buganda's empirical statehood provides one of the farthest-reaching examples of the current trend of traditional resurgence in African politics and to some extent supports claims for the participation of traditional structures in contemporary political systems. Yet, the Buganda experiment also highlights the limits of traditional resurgence as a mode of reconfiguration of politics in Africa. First, it is unclear how the kingdom can maintain the momentum of its revival and the allegiance of its subjects in view of its fiscal pressure on the latter and the limited material benefits it provides to them. Already the monarchists are finding it difficult to translate the king's symbolic appeal into actual mobilisation for development, shedding doubts on one of the main justifications for the kingdom's rebirth. Second, Buganda's claims to political participation clash with the competing notion of sovereignty of the post-colonial state. These limits are likely to confront other similar experiments across the continent.

Analyzes the Democratic Republic of Congo's nationalist paradox, defined as the Congolese people's strong support for the state & its institutions despite their failure to benefit the republic's population. Failed state institutions are reasoned to remain intact due to their delivery of resources across societal & political levels. The relationship between nationalism & international sovereignty is explored. With the political economic context established, Congo's civil war is examined. 7 References. L. Collins

Der Beitrag eines in den USA tätigen Wissenschaftlers untersucht Rolle und Stellenwert des traditionellen Königtums der Buganda in dem ostafrikanischen Staat Uganda. Er analysiert die traditionellen, institutionellen und administrativen Dimensionen und die ökonomischen Grundlagen dieses "Beinahe"-Staates und die Perspektiven seiner Existenz. 1967 unter der Obote-Regierung abgeschafft, wurde der Buganda-Monarchie in der Verfassung von 1995 ausdrücklich ein Platz eingeräumt. (DÜI-Kör)

A review essay on books by (1) Jean-Francois Bayart [Ed], La Greffe de l'Etat ([Transplant of the State] Paris: Karthala, 1996); (2) Mamadou Dia, Africa's Management in the 1990s and Beyond: Reconciling Indigenous and Transplanted Institutions (Washington, DC: World Bank, 1996); (3) Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (NJ: Princeton U Press, 1996); & (4) William Reno, Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone (England: Cambridge U Press, 1995). Each of these texts acknowledges the significance of the fact that contemporary sub-Saharan African states are European rather than African & rarely meet the state criteria of monopolistic power, effectiveness, & legitimacy. Dia refers to the "disconnected state" in his interpretation of economic management problems as an incongruency between formal & indigenous institutions. Bayart speaks of the "rhizome state," but differs from the others in that his examination of African political stability concludes that exogenous institutions have become substantially Africanized. Reno uses the term "shadow state" in his analysis of the informal sector & its relationship to the state in Sierra Leone. Mamdani argues that colonialism resulted in a bifurcation of the state &, in contrast to Dia, interprets even so-called indigenous or native authority as derived from colonialism. All four books offer excellent, though very different, statements on the development-related significance of the state in Africa. E. Blackwell