Ethnicity Kills?: The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in SubSaharan Africa

234 Pages·2000·3.51 MB·English

by  Einar Braathen

Ethnicity Kills?
The Politics of War, Peace and
Ethnicity in SubSaharan Africa
Edited by
Einar Braathen, Morten Bøås and
Gjermund Sæther
Ethnicity Kills?
International Political Economy Series
General Editor: Timothy M. Shaw, Professor of Political Science and
International Development Studies, and Director of the Centre for Foreign
Policy Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Titles include:
Glenn Adler and Johnny Steinberg (editors)
THE SOUTH AFRICAN CIVICS MOVEMENT AND THE TRANSITION TO
DEMOCRACY
Glenn Adler and Eddie Webster (editors)
TRADE UNIONS AND DEMOCRATIZATION IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1985–1997
Einar Braathen, Morten Bøås, Gjermund Sæther (editors)
ETHNICITY KILLS?
The Politics of War, Peace and Ethnicity in SubSaharan Africa
Deborah Bräutigam
CHINESE AID AND AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
Exporting Green Revolution
Gavin Cawthra
SECURING SOUTH AFRICA’S DEMOCRACY
Defence, Development and Security in Transition
Jennifer Clapp
ADJUSTMENT AND AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA
Farmers, the State and the World Bank in Guinea
Neta C. Crawford and Audie Klotz (editors)
HOW SANCTIONS WORK
Lessons from South Africa
Susan Dicklitch
THE ELUSIVE PROMISE OF NGOSIN AFRICA
Lessons from Uganda
Kees Kingma
DEMOBILIZATION IN SUBSAHARAN AFRICA
The Development and Security Impacts
International Political Economy Series
Series Standing OrderISBN 978-0-333-71708-0 hardcover
Series Standing OrderISBN 978-0-333-71110-1 paperback
(outside North America only)
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Ethnicity Kills?
The Politics of War, Peace
and Ethnicity in SubSaharan Africa
Edited by
Einar Braathen
Research Fellow
Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP)
Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR)
Bergen
Norway
Morten Bøås
Research Fellow
Centre for Development and the Environment
University of Oslo
Norway
and
Gjermund Sæther
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Vienna
Austria
First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-41616-5 ISBN 978-0-333-97735-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780333977354
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-22988-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ethnicity kills? : the politics of war, peace and ethnicity in SubSaharan Africa /
edited by Einar Braathen, Morten Bøås, and Gjermund Sæther.
p. cm. — (International political economy series)
Papers of a conference entitled “The politics of peace, war, and ethnicity in con-
temporary Sub-Saharan Africa,” held Sept. 26–27, 1997, at the University of
Oslo, which was organized by the Centre for Development and the Environment,
University of Oslo, and the Centre for Development Research, University of
Bergen.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-22988-7 (cloth)
1. Africa, Sub-Saharan—Politics and government—1960—Congresses. 2. Civil
war—Africa, Sub-Saharan—History—20th century—Congresses. 3. Africa,
Sub-Saharan—Ethnic relations—Political aspects—History—Congresses.
I. Braathen, Einar, 1957– II. Bøås, Morten, 1965– III. Sæther, Gjermund,
1967– IV. Series
DT353 .E85 1999
967.04—dc21 99–046784
Editorial matter and selection, Chapters 1 and 9 ©Einar Braathen, Morten Bøås and Gjermund
Sæther 2000
Chapter 6 ©Gjermund Sæther 2000 Chapter 7 ©Morten Bøås 2000
Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 ©Macmillan Press Ltd 2000
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-333-77381-9
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written
permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P0LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained
forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Contents
List of Tables, Figures and Maps vii
Preface viii
List of Abbreviations x
Notes on the Contributors xii
Part 1 Introduction
1. Ethnicity Kills? Social Struggles for Power, Resources and
Identities in the Neo-Patrimonial State
Einar Braathen, Morten Bøås and Gjermund S{ther 3
2. The Politics of War: a Meditation
V. Y. Mudimbe 23
Part 2 Ethnicity and Civil War
3. The Somali Catastrophe: Explanation and Implications
Ahmed I. Samatar 37
4. Causes of Civil War in Rwanda: the Weight of History
and Socio-Cultural Structures
Antoine Lema 68
5. The Struggle for Kingship: Moses or Messiah – Ethnic War
and the Use of Ethnicity in the Process of Democratization
in Congo-Brazzaville
Anne Sundberg 87
6. The Political Economy of State Collapse in Somalia and
Liberia
Gjermund S{ther 109
Part 3 Transitions from War to Peace?
7. Nigeria and West Africa: from a Regional Security
Complex to a Regional Security Community?
Morten Bøås 139
8. Nationalism and Ethnicities: Lessons from Mozambique
Michel Cahen 163
v
vi Contents
9. Conclusion – Transcending the Discourse on the Politics
of War
Einar Braathen, Morten Bøås, and Gjermund S{ther 188
Bibliography 206
Index 219
List of Tables, Figures and Maps
Tables
Table 2.1 The military technology of African state systems 29
Table 8.1 The Mozambique legislative elections of
27–29 October 1994: respective regional weights
of Renamo and Frelimo 175
Table 8.2 The Mozambique legislative elections of
27–29 October 1994: average percentages won by
Frelimo and Renamo in districts each predominates 176
Figures
Figure 3.1 The constitution of the old Somali order 50
Figure 4.1 Social rank-positions in Rwanda after
independence 1962 82
Maps
Map 5.1 Brazzaville 88
Map 5.2 Congo-Brazzaville 91
vii
Preface
This book originates from the conference entitled ‘The Politics of
Peace, War and Ethnicity in Contemporary SubSaharan Africa’ held at
the University of Oslo September 26–27, 1997. The conference was
organized by the Centre for Development and the Environment,
University of Oslo, and the Centre for Development Research,
University of Bergen. With the exemption of the editors’ contributions,
the chapters in the present volume were all presented at this confer-
ence. It was made possible through funding from the Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of
Bergen, the Centre for Development and the Envir-onment, University
of Oslo, and the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo.
We believe that a major strength in this volume is the diverse disci-
plinary backgrounds represented by the contributors. From a variety of
disciplines one can better grasp the complexities of our topic, as well as
addressing the shortcomings inherent in some of the conventional
ideas about the issues raised.
The editors owe a special thanks to Professor Timothy M. Shaw at
Dalhousie University for making this publication possible. Ever since we
first mentioned the idea of such a book he has been positive and has
remained so throughout the whole process. At Macmillan Aruna
Vasudevan, our commissioning editor, has also provided us with many
useful comments, and we would also like to express our graditude to
Janey Fisher, freelance book editor, for her many suggestions. The editors
have had valuable assistance from Aslak Orre and financial support from
his institution, SEFOS, University of Bergen, in the editing process. We
would also like to thank Dr Daniel Bach (CEAN, University of Bordeaux),
Riselia Duarte Bezerra (University of California, Riverside), Professor
Helge Hveem, Professor Jan Hesselberg and Dr Ketil Fred Hansen (all at
the University of Oslo) for useful comments on a draft version of the first
chapter.
While many have contributed to the development of the volume,
the responsibility for errors and omissions is ours. We hope that,
despite any deficiency, this collection of writing can illuminate an
often stereotyped and distorted topic. We are very much aware of the
responsibility of interpreting and understanding the tragic events that
unfold daily in contemporary SubSaharan Africa. We believe such an
awareness is reflected in the book.
viii
Preface ix
During the course of the work we realized that the book concerns
some of the very essence of politics in any setting, namely the links
between violence and politics. We therefore hope not only that the
book will be seen as a volume on violent conflict in Africa, but that it
also contributes to illuminate the connection between war and politics
as such. We are confident that the book can assist in eroding some of
the many misunderstandings of ‘difference’ between the West and
Africa.
Einar Braathen
Morten Bøås
Gjermund Sæther
Bergen/Oslo/Vienna, April 1999