State Fragility and State Building in Africa: Cases from Eastern and Southern Africa PDF
Preview State Fragility and State Building in Africa: Cases from Eastern and Southern Africa
United Nations University Series on Regionalism 10 Dele Olowu Paulos Chanie Editors State Fragility and State Building in Africa Cases from Eastern and Southern Africa United Nations University Series on Regionalism Volume 10 Series Editors Philippe De Lombaerde and Luk Van Langenhove International Editorial Board members include Louise Fawcett, Oxford University Sieglinde Gstöhl, College of Europe, Bruges Henryk Kierzkowski, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva Fukunari Kimura, Keio University, Tokyo Edward D. Mansfi eld, University of Pennsylvania T. Ademola Oyejide, University of Ibadan Jacques Pelkmans, College of Europe, Bruges Joaquin Roy, University of Miami Ramón Torrent, University of Barcelona The United Nations University Series on Regionalism, launched by UNU- CRIS and Springer, offers a platform for innovative work on (supra-national) regionalism from a global and inter-disciplinary perspective. It includes the policy-oriented World Reports on Regional Integration, published in collaboration with other UN agencies, but it is also open for theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions from academics and policy-makers worldwide. Book proposals will be reviewed by an International Editorial Board. The series editors are particularly interested in book proposals dealing with: – comparative regionalism; – comparative work on regional organizations; – inter-regionalism; – the role of regions in a multi-level governance context; – the interactions between the UN and the regions; – the regional dimensions of the reform processes of multilateral institutions; – the dynamics of cross-border micro-regions and their interactions with supra-national regions; – methodological issues in regionalism studies. Accepted book proposals can receive editorial support from UNU-CRIS for the preparation of manuscripts. Please send book proposals to: [email protected] and l vanlangenhove@ cris.unu.edu . More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/7716 Dele Olowu (cid:129) Paulos Chanie Editors State Fragility and State Building in Africa Cases from Eastern and Southern Africa Editors Dele Olowu Paulos Chanie Global Peace Compact OSSREA Amsterdam , The Netherlands Addis Ababa , Ethiopia ISSN 2214-9848 ISSN 2214-9856 (electronic) United Nations University Series on Regionalism ISBN 978-3-319-20641-7 ISBN 978-3-319-20642-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-20642-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015951977 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 T his work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. T he use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. T he publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www. springer.com) Fore word T here are different perspectives on the state today. Some experts believe that states are no longer relevant to our global society; their existence has been overshadowed by transnational actors with corporate character—whether legal and civic, like mul- tinational global companies and not-for-profi t organizations, or illegal and violent, like Al Qaeda or any of its extremist variants. Other observers maintain, however, that states remain the most critical institutions that must be rediscovered and recov- ered to serve their most existential functions of guaranteeing security, welfare, pros- perity, posterity and peace of ordinary individuals within our world community. This book belongs to this latter school especially as it relates to Africa. It provides evidence based on current global studies and especially eight case studies from the part of the continent in which states are arguably the most developed to demonstrate how states became systematically weakened to the point of fragility. It also points the way to how they can be revitalized in view of their critical importance and relevance. The authors are scholars who live and work in eastern and southern Africa. They draw on contemporary scholarship of studies on the state fragility within and out- side Africa. They use a common conceptual and theoretical framework of the state and state fragility to illustrate through these case studies—which were selected through a competitive process by the Organization of Social Science Research in Southern and Eastern Africa (OSSREA)—to demonstrate how states that have func- tioned well on the African continent have withered into fragility and failure over time. Many explanations of Africa’s poor performance have often focused on the external forces, and there is much truth in this. However, the fortunes of nations throughout history have been determined not by moaning and complaining against external forces but by the people themselves shaping and reshaping external forces in the light of their own needs and challenges. The state is a foremost institution required in this struggle. Moreover, the positive economic news coming out of Africa at this time underscores not only the great potentials of the continent but the critical need to examine how states can acquire the most essential attribute for their sustainable effectiveness and vitality, namely, r esilience . v vi Foreword I n essence, then, this book demonstrates that states are essential for the promotion of the welfare, security and prosperity of our global community, individual nations and citizens. Moreover, it shows that state fragility is more widespread than thought in our world. In Africa generally and especially in eastern and southern Africa, the authors argue fi rst that the causes of fragility are quite complex, rooted in historical, social, political, economic, global and domestic sources. Second, they also show that state building is a long-term, multidimensional process but one in which reverses are possible along the way. In the absence of strong and effective social mechanisms and institutions to contain the symptoms of state failures, state fragility could be sudden and fast. Finally, they demonstrate that rebuilding state capacity is a herculean but not an impossible task, especially in light of the fact that about one-third of all Africans, some 200 million people, are estimated to live in states classifi ed as fragile. The book concludes by highlighting the critical steps towards sustainable institutional effectiveness and resilience, core to any state- rebuilding agenda. Scholars and students of Africa as well as development agencies interested in state fragility and/or global development would fi nd the book invaluable. OSSREA is grateful to the editors and authors for working with us over the years on this project. In particular, we express our deepest appreciation to Professor Dele Olowu, who was the lead expert that guided this work, and also to OSSREA’s past Executive Director, Professor Paschal Mihyo, under whose leadership the project was initiated and continued by his successors. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Herman Musahara August 2015 Endorsements T he Washington-based Fund for Peace has recently changed its ‘State Failure Index’ to a ‘State Fragility Index’. The interest in political and societal fragility is growing, following recent dramatic developments in countries like Mali, Yemen, and Libya. To understand the political dynamics in states struggling with fragility global and local drivers of this fragility are both important, and it is obvious that spill-over effects of state fragility ask for a regional approach. The impact of fragility can be traumatic for many people on earth and the traumas can be persistent. A recent growth of capacity building programs to strengthen the capacity of state institutions and non-governmental political ‘watchdogs’ has created fertile grounds for academic attention for their activi- ties and outcomes. This book offers many results of that new approach, written by African scholars with hands-on experience. The book can open eyes, and not only in Washington. Professor Ton Dietz Director, African Studies Centre Leiden www.ascleiden.nl In S tate Fragility and State Building in Africa: Cases from Eastern and Southern Africa , Professor Dele Olowu and his associates examine the various manifestations of the subject through country case studies from Eastern, Central and Southern sub- regions of the African continent (Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, and Zimbabwe). Readers would fi nd echoes of the issues examined in the book in the recent instability in Mali and the on-going crises in the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan. In a thoughtful and insightful concluding chapter, Olowu recommends a range of sensible measures for assuring strong governance institutions that can help mitigate the risks of fragility in African vii viii Endorsements countries. This is a timely and well-researched contribution to the literature on state fragility in Africa. Ladipo Adamolekun Professor of Public Administration and a former Lead Public Sector Management Specialist in the World Bank State Fragility and State Building in Africa: Cases from Eastern and Southern Africa is one of the most comprehensive publications on the subject matter of state fragility in Africa. The authors’ contribution to the current developments in the African State is by far the most authoritative, well-informed and nuanced commen- tary that should be taken seriously by academics, policy makers and researchers alike. Covering social, economic and political foundations of fragility, weakness of regional institutions, poverty amidst wealth and skewed neighborhood policies in confl ict and post-confl ict states, this book alerts us of the risk of adopting single issue attributions of state fragility. It goes further to show the way on how to under- stand and eventually come to grips with resolving these intricate issues. This book offers food for thought, a manifesto for professionals and practitioners. It is a must- read by those concerned with developing the capacity of fragile states in Africa and elsewhere as well those strive to lament the signifi cant academic and fi ndings intel- lectual refl ections of Dele Olowu and Paul Chanie’s multidisciplinary research and study. Mohamed Salih Professor Politics of Development both at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam (where he is Deputy Rector for Research) and the Department of Political Science, University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Contents 1 Introduction: Renewed Interest in State Weakness and Fragility .......................................................................... 1 Dele Olowu and Paulos Chanie Part I Drivers of Fragility 2 The Social Foundations of State Fragility in Kenya: Challenges of a Growing Democracy ........................................................................ 21 Otieno Aluoka 3 Zimbabwe: Institutionalized Corruption and State Fragility ............ 39 Langtone Maunganidze 4 State Fragility as State Incapacity: The Case of Post-apartheid South Africa .............................................................. 61 Sifi so Ndlovu Part II Impact of Fragility on Citizens and Neighbouring States 5 The Impact of Fragility on Social Services: The Case of Zimbabwean State, 2000–2008 ......................................... 91 Norbert Musekiwa 6 Regional Dynamics of Fragile States: Zimbabwe in the Southern Africa Region ............................................ 113 Lee M. Habasonda Part III Capacity Building Approaches 7 Effectiveness of Capacity Building Programs in Fragile States: The Ethiopia Case ..................................................... 135 Wisdom Gagakuma and Zigiju Samuel ix
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