6 - Citizenship and Rights: The Failures of the Post-colonial State in Africa
Corresponding Author(s) : Karuti Kanyinga
Africa Development,
Vol. 28 No. 1-2 (2003): Africa Development: Special Issue on 'Globalization and Citizenship in Africa'
Abstract
hroughout Africa, economic and political reforms introduced to resuscitate 'development' have failed to facilitate growth. Inequalities and poverty have continued to deepen and there is unprecedented reproduction of parochial identi ties and local social conflicts. Social citizenship itself is in a crisis: there is mass disempowerment and dispossession of ordinary citizens through loss of means of livelihood. The refonns have generally failed to promote and safeguard citizens' interests. This article examines how popular struggles for social citizenship and in particular struggles for protection of social-economic rights are organized and sus tained and the challenges they experience in this regard. The new forms of inter action between the state, the peasants and the markets are also discussed. The article is based on findings of a study on Mwea rice irrigation scheme in Kenya. The discussion concludes that the state remains an important actor in the local social-political and development space notwithstanding the reforms that have taken place. Politically and economically influential elites have control over local structures for development as well as popular organizations. This makes it difficult for consolidation of social citizenship. The crisis facing social citizenship therefore is bound to deepen if the reforms do not seek to democratize local level power structures simultaneous with democratization at the broader national level.
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- Ake, Claude, 1996, Democracy and Deveelopment in Afirica, Washington D.C: Brookings.
- Barbalet, J. M., 1988, Citizenship, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Chege, Michael, 1994, 'Retum of Multi-Party Politics' In Barkan, Joel D. , ed., Beyond Capitalism vs. Socialism in Kenya and Tanzania. Nairobi: East African Education Publishers.
- Eke, P.P, I 978, 'Colonialism and the Development of Citizenship in Africa: A study of ldeologies of Legitimation' ln O. Otite, ed., Themes in Aji-ican So cial Po!itical Thought. Enogu: Fourth Dimension.
- Gibbon, Peter, ed., 1995a, Markets, Civil Society and Democracy in Kenya, Uppsala: Nordic African lnstitute.
- Gibbon, Peter, 1995b, 'Civil Society, Political Change and the Developmentalist State in Africa,' Mimeo.
- Halisi, C.R.D; Kaiser, Paul, J. and Ndegwa, Stephen, 1997, Guest Editors' Intro duction: the Multiple Meanings ofCitizenship-Rights, ldentity, and Social Justice in Africa, A_fi·ica Today,. 45 (3-4).
- lfidon, Ehimika, A, 1996, 'Citizenship, Statehood and the Problem of Democra tization in Nigeria' Africa Developement, XXI (4).
- Kanyinga, Karuti, 1998b, The Land Question in Kenya: Struggles, Accumulation and Changing Politics. Unpublished Dissertation, International Development Studies, Roskilde University.
- Kanyinga, Karuti and Cleophas Torori, 1999, 'lnto the New Millennium in Kenya: Reconstructing Civil Society from bclow,' A study commissioncd by the Com monwealth Foundation and donc for and on behalfofthc National Council of NGOs in Kenya, Nairobi: NGOs Council.
- Mafeje, Archie, 1999, Class and ldeology of Ethnicity in Africa: A proposai for a new Paradigm, CODESRIA: Mimeo.
- Mamdani, Mahmood, 1996, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of the Late Colonialism, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Mamdani, Mahmood, 1998, 'When Does a Subject Become a Native? Reflec tions on the Colonial Roots of Citizenship in Equatorial Africa and South Africa' Inaugural Lecture as AC Jordan Professor of African Studies, Univer sity of Cape Town, New Series No. 208, May 13.
- Mkandawire, Thandika, 1998, Thinking about Developmental States in Africa, Mimeo.
- Mkandawire, Thandika and Soludo, Charles, C., 1999, Our Continent, Our Fu ture: African Perspectives on Structural Adjustment. Dakar: CODESRIA. Moyo, Jonathan, 1999, Govenance and Civil Society in Eastern and Southern
- Africa: Challenges for the Donor Community, A paper presented in a work shop on 'What Works for
- Developmcnt', Organized by IDRC, Nairobi, Safaripark Hotel, February.
- Ndegwa, Stephen, N., 1997, Citizenship and Ethnicity: An Examination ofTwo Transition Moments in Kenyan Politics' In American Political Science Re view, vol. 91, No. 3.
- Ndegwa, Stephen, N., 1998, Citizenship Amidst Economie and Political Change in Kenya. Mimeo.
- Neocosmos, Michael., 2000, The State and Civil Society in Aji-ica: Forms of Politics and Political prescriptions. Mimeo
- Ogachi, Oganda, 1999, Economie Refonn, Political Liberalization and Economie Ethnie Conflict in
- Kenya,' Africa Development, XXIV (1 &2).
- Osaghae, Eghosa, 1995, Structural Adjustment and Etlmicity in Nigeria. Research Report No. 98. Uppsala: Nordic African Institute.
- Osaghae, Eghosa, Forthcoming, 'Competing Ethnicities and Contested Citizen ship in Contemporary Africa' .
- The Economist. 2000, London: May 13.
References
Ake, Claude, 1996, Democracy and Deveelopment in Afirica, Washington D.C: Brookings.
Barbalet, J. M., 1988, Citizenship, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Chege, Michael, 1994, 'Retum of Multi-Party Politics' In Barkan, Joel D. , ed., Beyond Capitalism vs. Socialism in Kenya and Tanzania. Nairobi: East African Education Publishers.
Eke, P.P, I 978, 'Colonialism and the Development of Citizenship in Africa: A study of ldeologies of Legitimation' ln O. Otite, ed., Themes in Aji-ican So cial Po!itical Thought. Enogu: Fourth Dimension.
Gibbon, Peter, ed., 1995a, Markets, Civil Society and Democracy in Kenya, Uppsala: Nordic African lnstitute.
Gibbon, Peter, 1995b, 'Civil Society, Political Change and the Developmentalist State in Africa,' Mimeo.
Halisi, C.R.D; Kaiser, Paul, J. and Ndegwa, Stephen, 1997, Guest Editors' Intro duction: the Multiple Meanings ofCitizenship-Rights, ldentity, and Social Justice in Africa, A_fi·ica Today,. 45 (3-4).
lfidon, Ehimika, A, 1996, 'Citizenship, Statehood and the Problem of Democra tization in Nigeria' Africa Developement, XXI (4).
Kanyinga, Karuti, 1998b, The Land Question in Kenya: Struggles, Accumulation and Changing Politics. Unpublished Dissertation, International Development Studies, Roskilde University.
Kanyinga, Karuti and Cleophas Torori, 1999, 'lnto the New Millennium in Kenya: Reconstructing Civil Society from bclow,' A study commissioncd by the Com monwealth Foundation and donc for and on behalfofthc National Council of NGOs in Kenya, Nairobi: NGOs Council.
Mafeje, Archie, 1999, Class and ldeology of Ethnicity in Africa: A proposai for a new Paradigm, CODESRIA: Mimeo.
Mamdani, Mahmood, 1996, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of the Late Colonialism, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mamdani, Mahmood, 1998, 'When Does a Subject Become a Native? Reflec tions on the Colonial Roots of Citizenship in Equatorial Africa and South Africa' Inaugural Lecture as AC Jordan Professor of African Studies, Univer sity of Cape Town, New Series No. 208, May 13.
Mkandawire, Thandika, 1998, Thinking about Developmental States in Africa, Mimeo.
Mkandawire, Thandika and Soludo, Charles, C., 1999, Our Continent, Our Fu ture: African Perspectives on Structural Adjustment. Dakar: CODESRIA. Moyo, Jonathan, 1999, Govenance and Civil Society in Eastern and Southern
Africa: Challenges for the Donor Community, A paper presented in a work shop on 'What Works for
Developmcnt', Organized by IDRC, Nairobi, Safaripark Hotel, February.
Ndegwa, Stephen, N., 1997, Citizenship and Ethnicity: An Examination ofTwo Transition Moments in Kenyan Politics' In American Political Science Re view, vol. 91, No. 3.
Ndegwa, Stephen, N., 1998, Citizenship Amidst Economie and Political Change in Kenya. Mimeo.
Neocosmos, Michael., 2000, The State and Civil Society in Aji-ica: Forms of Politics and Political prescriptions. Mimeo
Ogachi, Oganda, 1999, Economie Refonn, Political Liberalization and Economie Ethnie Conflict in
Kenya,' Africa Development, XXIV (1 &2).
Osaghae, Eghosa, 1995, Structural Adjustment and Etlmicity in Nigeria. Research Report No. 98. Uppsala: Nordic African Institute.
Osaghae, Eghosa, Forthcoming, 'Competing Ethnicities and Contested Citizen ship in Contemporary Africa' .
The Economist. 2000, London: May 13.