2011 Fall term Syllabus
African Conflicts and Democracy
The Maxwell School
of Syracuse University
Greenberg Building
Washington, D.C.
Professor: Mourtada Deme, Ph.D.
E-mail:
Thursdays 6:00-8:45 p.m.
Twenty years after the “Third Wave” of democratization first swept across the African continent, African states have experienced a wide range of successes and problems in seeking political development through democratic models. Common to nearly all African states, however, is the fact that they were created by colonial powers, forcing many formerly independent peoples to live under one political roof. Thus before they could go about the business of governing, African states at independence first had to address their artificial natures by building coherent nations out of the many peoples living within their borders. Democratic political systems were seen as the best solution to this governance problem by allowing the many peoples of African states flexible institutions through which they could negotiate their differences, and so govern effectively.
Within several years of independence, however, most of the early African democracies had collapsed under the weight of their deep ethnic and religious differences. Decades of authoritarian rule did little to address the problems of governance, and exacerbated ethnic chauvinism and clientelism. Bankrupt and often near collapse by the late 1980s, and under pressure from Western governments, many African states turned back to democracy in the 1990s. Yet their deep ethnic and other divisions remain, as do clientelistic patterns of political behavior.
These fundamental conflicts over the state and its governance have characterized African politics since independence. This class will review the problems of state development in Africa, and the extent to which democratic solutions can resolve those problems. We will do so by examining these issues from both the perspective of political science and of conflict resolution. Classes will draw principally on the perspectives of practitioners from the relief and rehabilitation community. Guest lecturers will include representatives of government agencies, international organizations, NGOs, and African nations themselves.
Course requirements
Classroom methodology will be highly participatory and demand active student engagement, as well as clear familiarity with the assigned course readings. Performance will be evaluated based on class and group participation, an analytical paper, a group presentation, and an examination.
Grading
Your final grade will be determined as follows:
30% Class and group participation
30% Analytical paper
40% Final paper
Class Topics:
You will be asked to purchase the following books:
Basil Davidson, The Black Man’s Burden: African and the Curse of the Nation-State (New York: Random House, 1992).
Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner, Democratization in Africa (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1999).
E. Gyimah-Boadi, Democratic Reform in Africa: The Quality of Progress (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2004).
Richard Joseph, ed. State, Conflict, and Democracy in Africa (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1999).
I. Overview of the class and introductions (Sep 8)
II. Introduction; Tradition, Statehood, and Democracy in Africa (Sep. 15)
Joseph, Chapters 1 and 4.
III. Traditional and Pre-colonial African Polities and Democratic Patterns; The Colonial Imposition of the Nation-State (Sep. 22)
Basil Davidson, The Black Man’s Burden: African and the Curse of the Nation-State (New York: Random House, 1992), chapter 1.
George Ayittey. Indigenous African Institutions (NY: Transnational Publishers, 1991), Chapter 3.
IV. Independence and The Fall of the First African Democracies (Sep. 29)
· Chapter 1: Larry Diamond, “Introduction: Roots of Failure, Seeds of Hope.”
· Chapter 2: Larry Diamond, “Nigeria: Pluralism, Statism, and the Struggle for Democracy.” Stop at p. 74.
· Diamond, Chapter 5.
V. Authoritarianism, Military Rule, and the Politics of Economic Collapse; Clientelism, Neopatrimonialism, and Personal Rule: The Rise of the “Big Men” (Oct. 6)
Samuel DeCalo, Coups and Army Rule in Africa (New Haven: Yale UP, 1990, 2nd ed.), Chapter 1.
Jackson and Rosberg, “Personal Rule: Theory and Practice in Africa.”
Bratton and van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa (Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 1997), Chapter 2 on neopatrimonialism.
Joseph, Chapters 5 and 6.
VI. Authoritarian Collapse, Failed States, and Transitions to Democracy in the 1990s (Oct. 13)
Joseph, Chapter 2.
Pearl Robinson, “The National Conference Phenomenon in Francophone Africa,” 36 Comparative Studies in Society and History 3 (1994): 575-610.
Diamond, Chapters 1 and 3.
VII. Why Democracy? The Great Debate Over the Appropriateness of Using Western Democratic Structures with African Political Cultures (Oct. 20)
Claude Ake. “Rethinking African Democracy.” Journal of Democracy 2, no. 4 (Winter 1991).
Diamond, Chapter 4.
Harris and Reilly, eds. Democracy and Deep-Rooted Conflict: Options for Negotiators (Stockholm: International IDEA, 1998), Chapter 4, sections 1, 2, and 4. Skim through sections 2 and 4 to familiarize yourself with the range of alternatives available. Read online at: http://www.idea.int/publications/democracy_and_deep_rooted_conflict/upload/chapter_4.pdf
VIII. Federalism, Decentralization, Constitutional “Crafting,” and Democratic Representation: Finding the Proper Ethnic Balance (Oct. 27)
Rotimi Suberu and Larry Diamond, “Institutional Design, Ethnic Conflict Management, and Democracy in Nigeria,” in Reynolds, ed. The Architecture of Democracy (Oxford UP, 2002).
Diamond, Chapter 7.
Joseph, Chapter 15.
IX. Elections, Legitimacy, and Conflict (Nov. 3)
Diamond, Chapter 2.
T. Sisk and Reynolds, eds. Elections and Conflict Management in Africa, Chapters 1 and 8.
Staffan Lindberg. 2006. Democracy and Elections in Africa. Johns Hopkins University Press.
X. Political Parties and Political Opposition; Civil Society and Reconnecting the State to the Citizen (Nov. 10)
Diamond, Chapters 13.
Stephen Ndegwa, The Two Faces of Civil Society: NGOs and Politics in Africa (West Hartford: Kumarian, 1996), Chapter 2.
Diamond, Chapter 14 (on parties)
Joseph, Chapter 18 (on civil society).
XI. Women, Democracy, and Conflict Resolution in Africa (Nov. 17)
DFID, “Promoting Women’s Rights through Shari’a in Northern Nigeria,” Center for Islamic Legal Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, 2005.
Ifeoma Malo and Darren Kew, “Women, Resource Control Struggles, and Conflict Management in the Niger Delta: A review paper on the literature regarding the women’s uprisings in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria,” Ford Foundation, 2005.
XII. Conflict, State, and Culture: How to Manage the Inevitable Frictions of Plural States? How to Rebuild the Collapsed Ones? (Dec. 1)
Collier, P. “Doing Well out of War,” Paper prepared for Conference on Economic Agendas in Civil Wars, London, April 26-27, 1999.
Timothy Carney, “Diplomacy against Conflict,” CSIS Africa Program report: Africa Policy in the George W. Bush Years: Recommendations for the Obama Administration, January 2009.
Review: Joseph, Chapter 17.
XIII. Building a Better Democracy: Deep Concerns and Reasons for Hope (Dec. 8)
Joel Barkan, “Advancing Democratization in Africa,” CSIS Africa Program report: Africa Policy in the George W. Bush Years: Recommendations for the Obama Administration, January 2009.
Darren Kew, “Building Democracy in 21st Century Africa: Two Africas, One Solution,” Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy (Spring 2005).
XIV. Review & Wrap-Up Final Paper due