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    Berman Ethnicity & Democracy002

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    Ethnicity & Democracy in Africa Edited by Bruce Berman, Dickson Eyoh & Will Kymlicka doo JAMES CURREY OXFORD 3° 243.430 OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS ATHENS | t A /Aoloy I Ethnicity & Democracy in Historical & Comparative Perspective il BRUCE BERMAN, DICKSON EYOH & WILL KYMLICKA Introduction Ethnicity & the Politics of Democratic Nation-Building in Africa ted crisis of development in which African countries have been enveloped in the past three decades betrays the propen- sity of Afficanist social sciences to alternate, seemingly without much effort, __ between moments of exaggerated optimism and despair about Alrica’s devel- ‘opment prospects. Competing explanations of the causes of the crisis agreed that the authoritarian post-colonial state was the primary culprit, The groundswell of popular opposition to authoritarian rule in the lare 1980s and early 1990s was, for many, a welcome sign of the re-animation of the agency ‘of Afticans to design for themsclves more promising furures — farures that ‘would be based on liberal polities and market economies. This euphoria did not last long, as successive electoral cycles reaffirmed the resilience of clien~ telism and patronage as the dominant practice of African politics.” Civil society, whose supposed resurgence was much vaunted, turned out to be riven by communal divisions, particularly of ethnicity and religion, Civic associa- tons reflecting such cleavages have had scant positive effect on party forma- tion and clectoral competition, and often demonstrate little ingerest in Gee flow of commentary on political responses to the multifac- | Colin Leys, The Rite and Fal af Deepen They. Oxford: James Currey; Bloangton, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996, pp. scot eee Fain or Woe are Soe” Cosy ae Seefoy sr Bend e's lass ise ca Ne Bote elo penis infra pracces of clentsiam ad pteonage Promoting liberal democracy. Everywhere the polities of identity and ethnicity appears resurgent.” Accounts of the travails of current experiments in multiparty politics turn on ‘unavoidably normatively laden definitions of democracy and dhe crit od to gauge its progress, To oversimplify two, bat by no means exclusive ves re prevalent inthe African erature There isthe mainstream perspective which Sen erode changes n govern. alan Bf democracy For ths po spective, unrelieved economic adversity, the paucity of middle and independent xpi clases cultural gmentation, et Junty explain the seolenee gh \ pstrimoniat pots. Range agains it are cits ol Gra ea = >) eh any of wom ate avocnentpepuatdemactngy ioe ee ee of clicatelism endures Because the main purpose of the elite-drven mulipary pl ics avoated che by the United States sw widen the ceulation an eer nt of elites and legitimate neo-liberal ‘reforms’, and not the transformation of existing inequalities in the distribution of economic and political power. We cannot in this contest evaluate the important conceptual and normative gllferences that separate these and other perspectives in the worldwie and Altica-ocused debates on current democratic experiments. We ean suggest hhoweves, thar the tthe socal plural ‘of Aca voces (a phenomenan or which etsy hascone oer alco convenient shorthand) ithe apo of len 8, and by extension, a lead atlonrbulding. They alo ncn toward ae ieee , based ‘on the presumption that African politics is saturated with a mercenary ethos, that regards 26-The mate- rial preoccupations and personalistie nature of patrot conduit of ethnic polities continue to tions, ideology and poli ical arena, The contributors ro this collection ate preoccupied by obvious questions which this commonsense about multiparty politics and ethnicity in Alriea clits. Why is ethnicity a political problem? How is the problem manifested? | And which institutional models offer the best prospéct of ameliorating the chal. lenges that ethnicity poses to democratic nation-building? The interdisciplinary ppetspectives offered in the papers in this collection differ from the dominant Perspectives in contemporary African political analysis in a number of key fe networks that are the iminate the relevance of formal institu- differences i the organization of the Wider civic polit= fespects. Firs, they are all auentive to and built upon the ‘body of in two decades of research by historians and anthrops eae fv of Abioan albedo tte survivals of primordial stages 2 Patrick Chabal and Jen-Pasel Dilon fries Works Diode as Pai! Isramen, Oxon: Jes Carrey; Bloamingto, IN Indiana Univrsy res for the Tnremaonal Asean teats, 199%, pe 17-30; Richa Sandbzook, lng the Ci: Dasorasaton and Deepen ix Afi. Torey Bervesn the Lines; London ant New Yer Zed Peas, 2000, ch 2s Rover Futons atace in or ‘poesia: The civic lmtations of cil society facan Stas Reson 38,5, 1995; ok ‘Michael Bratton and Nicos van de Walle, Democrats Experiments Aas Rete Tiunson ty Comparsiee Passive, Cambridge: Cambridge University Pres, 1997 « Sunlbrook, Cling he Gil pp. 4-0; Dilaon Hyot,“Afican Perspectives on Demotacy an the Dilemmas of Pou-ColonalIecllectal” Aji: Tad, 353-4, 1998, pp 281-300 {Wiliam 1. Robinson, Promoting Puharcy: Clobalizatin, 12S. Itcrenion. and Hegemon (Cambridge: Cambege Universty ree, 1996, *Jean-Frangois Hayat, The Statin Aa: The Pls of he Bay, Landon: Longman, 1993, “ofsocial evelopment and of Aten etnc polis as simpy @ oni nsto- Sees ete ee ee ems les Masia iat fats oF ease geen sud pave ie FFaPa ha peripecmre re incorporation and reinterpretation of pre-colonial elements of culture and com- Tmunity ind tei instrumental invocnton and manipulation are contextally Iocated within the internal and extemal dimensions of communal pits. Thus, the essays which follow, especiily thoe that analyze African county cases are ‘unambiguous about th key vole played by eltes in the polation ote iy and the inherendly authoritarian and caplotative character of clentebisie Polis and patronage actworks, However tea needed corrective wy the eit Gene tho ch enemporany ane ey ugg th ur pre Ginton of the dynamics of ethnic politics and te challcages posts to depscgae ante Guig mut Geis dee oro seed pale’ Gi to tree both ethnic communities and © aNd pluralism is and will, ‘modernity that must be recog- | hlzed and incorporated within any project of democratic narion-bui this reason, the historians and anthropologists who contributed to this volume have been joined in a dialogue with politcal theorists concerned with the devel- ‘opment of democracy in multi-cultural societies and the institutional means for its realization, In the following sections of this chapter we shall briefly outline, first, the historical and cultural origins of modern African ethnic communities; second, the patterns of politicized ethnicity in contemporary politics, their rela- tionship to existing states and market economies, and the challenge they pose to democratic development; and, finally, the concepts and institutional options ‘available for creative adapration in the development of multi-ethnic democratic nation-states in Africa, ‘The Construction of Ethnic Communities and Identities in Africa Asnored earlier, all of the contributions to this vahume are based on the premise that Aftican ethnicities are not atavsti, primordial survivals of archaic primitive Gultures, but rather modem products of the Affican encounter with capitalism and the nation-state in the colonial and post-colonial eras. Contemporary ethnic Communities and identities in Africa did not and will not fade avay with the lnevituble advance of global modernity, but rather represent critical aspects of he particular African experience of ‘modernity. f. They are the outcomes of Bee plc Ae pen of meri fe Tey a ie atc of encounters of indigenous societies with the political economy and culture of the 7 Jon Pieters, Vaities of Einic Poles and Euhniciy Discouney in Fadmund Wilsen and Puirck Meise, eds, The Pass of Diferene: tonic Premier ina World of Pract. Chicago Universiy of Chicago Press, 1996; Dison Eyob, ‘Conflicting Nasratives of Anlophone Protest, and the Poles of Teay in Cameroon, Jonmal of Cantnponary Afcon Stale, 16,2, 1998, pp 30.55 Mest, as well as the deliberate manipulations of diverse political actors.® These Drocesses are both historically specific and contingent on the oureese of een, Bal and external struggles definmg the membership and bourgeois Communities and thelr rations withthe other communities wat akon share the same state. As several ofthe later chapter make clews eran heey heen constricted from diverse Indigenous and forigh cultaea manag continue to be defined and redefined up to the present (See pactentaty nt chapters by Diouf, Eyoh, Hendricks, Solway, and! Fale Ay pereeche ng democratic development in Alia that does not recognize the diversity and amis of ethnic comminties in any Toreseauble fate cannot rere ‘The development of ethnicity in Africa for more than a century has been 1arked by-a dialectic of expansion and diferentition.® Contemporary ethwicr / ties are both much larger in social scale and Population, and more sharply _> demarcated rom other such groups than the sles and Morea cone ee | ties of the pre-Muigia, The ter smnctum of Bay's enim cen compared of elites from his Beti nd co-cthie groups. Hae, toosihe Feehan Soe aed is defing mass oppo oncom oy es) mmipultion of administrative miles and pres os ee ca oe ide ts pagan cade poh, 5, South Afiica is held, with some justifcation, as an exception in the modern African poleal tajctory. Ts present conaational oe ger eee designed, and have been Inuded, for succeeding in dheuadige ne ae stoblzation (Simeon and Marks), Yer the postaparthed sae eee traces of the above characteristics of African post-colonial states. The apartheid ste as uit on a tparte race-based herrchy of cusencip’ Deore a impeccable commitment to an squal and unvenal cine, ess ‘african National Congress (ANC) overwhelmingly spponea fy ee AR (ack) maori, while the mor opposiion pars we bectea ee Rack (hie Indian and Colored) minocy etnies Glendche Sacer Mary Another powerful propellant of pals im otis’ is competition _Alv power berween competing elite from the same elhaie conpuaine he tardly surprising as elites of ethnic communities are never homogeneous; the Symbols grievances, and expectations that ae maraaied (onset sit peal onto ae tal cid by oe its fa fame community ee chapers by Lonsdale, Muniagha, Palo wie Maris, and Odhiambo). Muliparty political competion aceetas gee ou competion for leadership character ofthe prose oh ences by making contol over ical and regional populating a hs sone for pola success, Although instigated by trbarcbared sonar eee Brocests of political Hbealition have lest de eee ment society, which, with the exception of heally wibanad ene lmongst te eases, fs demographically predominant in Aisicas ees fee Affican societies, then, the vast number of political constituencies ouraide the ‘cosmopolitan’ cites and towns continue tobe difeentated ier ee tural ference ethnic andor religious. This realty undentaodsthe cinco ages nd rewards elite manipulation “of Linship'osiogte na en cpu nhc quest fore and eval encase mt Stal cent and inreasngly common forms of suth manipulation conebute icantly to inter and intaccomuntial politcal compention ad oe i, there is the invocation of disti ons between nou "groups to assert he rights of communities tobe soe oil. Second, theres the resort to ever narrower defintaoes el state vio- ‘rperiment. It also incubates the post-electoral sectarian violence Cj ‘come political leaders of their communities 1 boundaries to found claims for leadership within cultually-relared var f autochthony, as opposed to residence, as the core principle for determining local/regional leadership buttress conceptions of poli- tics a3 primarily a struggle for supremacy between ethnic communities or kinship groups. The political efficacy of the manipulation of localized kinship ideologies rests on the ability of elites to repress internal dissent over their con- sof ethnic and kinship boundaries. It feeds the increasingly violent polit- ically motivated confrontations in local society that often pit one ethnic minority fo segments of the same ethnic group against another (Mustapha, Falola, Marks, and Eyoh).. ‘i ‘The internal as well as external dynamics of political ethnicity challenge the often implicit assumption of elite-centered perspectives that citizens are} ‘unwitting victims of a form of political competition organized by and for the benefit of eomupt eles. The prevaling socal, clr economic wn pli factors outlined earlier that have led to the historical development of African a aan ra ascna a eee nec a spose ordinary citizens to privilege kinship and communal alfiniies as a premise political participation. On the one hand, electoral campettion has accent ated conflict within ethnic communities over lite claims to leadership and class- based confrontations over the moral obligations and reciprocities of rich an« ‘poor. The example of Kenya stands our strongly (Lonsdale, Muigai, Odhaimbo). On the other, political liberalization also has opened up space for the articulation of inter-ethnic regional grievances that were often repressed by authoritarian regimes. These grievances stem from the hierarchical incorporation of ethno- regional communities within the state system of power and the attendant inter communal inequalities of access to resources in modemity. ‘The moral validity and proposed redresses of regional grievances are matters for debate, The exam ples of Nigeria (Mustapha, Falola, Ejobowah,) Cameroon (Eyoh) and Senezsi (iow!) sugzest, however, that the ‘feelings’ of collective disadvantage that impel regionalist movements are shared by cross-sections of elites and commoners of eoncemed communities. Neo-liberal programs of reform that sanctify free- inatket principles of eficency in the allocation of public investments promise ro “exacerbate regional economic, social and political disparii However constructed, transformed and instrumentalized politically, ethnicity (7 is always or nearly always metaphoric kinship?®. For the vast majority of con temporary Africans, the orical kinship of ethnicity remains crucial to securing basic security, and similar to the ‘horizontal kinship” of nationalism of peoples all over the world,# to their conceptions of selfhood and social belong. dng. Ics, thus, the durability of kinship as the most fundamental unit of social © trust (Ekeh and Berman) that ultimately grounds the vitality of ethnicity as the ‘idiom of political identity and competition in post-colonial Africa. The histori cal experiences and repertoires of cultural practices that structure and differen- tite kin-based ethnic communities embed normative references for judging claims to communal belonging and the exercise of politcal authority within. To recall Lonsdale’s persuasive argument, moral ethnicity gets perverted into poli ical tribalism when ethnic groups collide in competition for resources in sate- fondered arenas, and the measure of effectiveness of political representation i the 2 Thomas Hyland Estsen, A Non-Eibnie State in Aiea? A Live Work Approch tothe Ieaing ‘f Commute, in Pais Yeros ed, Ethic and Nama in fa: Comruciv Rctios a! (Contemporary Pac. Hasire: Macmillan, 1999, * Anderson, Inagnad Commis, ability of clites to promote the interests of State institutions clominated by ethnic patrons and their cliemteles*™ (Hereon and Eke). finate groups, even if they are ultimately the losers in the flow of the resources of modernity through patronage networks, are equally the deployment of kinship and ethnic tes for political purposes for on: it enables evaluation of the legitimacy of elite pottial leadertio through a shared, if constantly contested, moral vocabulary. And few moder ___ lites can escape without personal conflict the their primary community through PAr0Up membership, whichis ako conta to thee ate '"(Ekeb, Odhiambo, Lonsdale), he The failure of post-colonial states to service competently and without bi ‘est elementary material and security needs of their citizens has compen social identities the Hance on kinship and ethnic networks by individuals and groups seeking ways unrelenting economic hardship and for sanct lite-orck eae Tats mee JF Serman). This has ‘nttalization of state administrations, but algo fo ‘making that recognize and allow for the political ey prompted calls not only for F new approaches to nation- spression of the social plural in of Alfican societis. The arguments behind such advocacy oe task Fiery ate, eae cata commas WF greater relevance t0 the polit an the abstracti sal) idate indigenous precepts of political community and mathorie ‘espretenation ofboth individual and communal interests lene tal ofthe eye inthis volume evew the normative premises and probe lems of institutional models of how best to reconcile the competing dernn for individual and communal fend eI have already experimented with new approuchs to nisonebeiee tha give greater space to indigenous identities and greater romeo razon authors, Some county, for example, have ateripied to doce # power to sub-national political unite that are defined alone cee Sultural fines, By iwel however this has nor resolved probly ic étlinicity or political accountability. Reorganization of states in Uae / sisks eneourging solidification of thn aries and cementing competi i es ethno-regional oligarchies as the basis of national polities (see Historical and comemporary migration have eure that cles and _¢ fresions in African nation-states that are ethnically homugencs are ae | Aare, as Mamdani ia ores apued elect ee eee | AY Mees rates than residence, ts te exhse esteion eee sociey imposed as one ofthe most compelling skeen builing esoition of the question ‘when does the stranger becomes toe Sam Lanslle,‘MoratEahicty and Polke ¥ibatem,” in Preben Kaurols a J Hl sth, cons and Bnei: Hira and exchoplgeteppvacer ws the ssay of ke ‘seibrain, Reskikie, Denmask: Institute for Developmen Side, Univeeny of Rerkiae: oo Puttick Chabal, Power in frie, New York Se Many Pra thee qaltthiond Mamues, When de a Seiler become a Natta? Racin on the Colonie! Ro of isan i Paul Aiea and Seth Aca Inaugural Lactate az A.C. Jorden Cok okie, Swudies, Cape Town: University of Cape Tenn, 1008 tat et ‘moral obligations oftheir primary | Unless this question i answered in fair and democratic way, the use ofeultual criteria, in le of autochthony, to delineate citizenship rights thin area ee ay fare caesar Wrage te bona es ion of iret nd ea ei Other counties have experimented withthe use of Wada pole in tities an the bei of local democracy. Whatcver tac mecis (and they ae cor able) of uch popooal frrata the cas ha theo intone oe aon by definion hierreieal and authoritarian. Shape by and addressed to the Beds of primary Jal groups hey tend Co eacude noes and migrant Ls 1m political participation (Solway on Botswana). ‘They are also inher- deny women the right to equal participation in local pol- ten NOPMErpeapy, the ierese of seed ceaibea! Reser oe Sos least well served by attempts 10 constiutionalize chiefly authority in post- | apartheid South Africa that conilice with the gender equality enshrined in the constitution (Marks). ‘These examples show that greater formal accommodation of social pa (through such things as ethnic federalism or traditional chiefly authority) is not | cessarily or inherently beneficial to democracy. If we are to find a way of rec- gnciling ethnicity and democracy, we need to find ways of encouraging plural- without compromising norms of freedom and equality. That i the challenge discuss in the next section. Strategies of Reconciliation and Democratization Bg aon ii nt ne on a eee a en ay eee re. te aie nS wl warkably successful in it, and there is no basis for the pessimistic eta ial ae ee ati ci as At aad hb we people who live within them, But that was also originally true of many borders Sen ag een ny Ur ent ee ee ‘constructing common loyalties amongst a diverse population, arene? SETS eas cent Nae pee cin heey ee eee 78 ‘neutral’ or ‘difference-blind” stare ~ Jacobin republicanism (nation-building from above) ~ civil society (nation-building from below) ~ federalisin/decentralization = consociationalism planned economy t0 a market economy. It is not surprising, therefore, that sues of ethnic conflict have proved more dangerous and destabilizing in Eastern Europe than in either Western Europe or Latin America, Fears about ethnic conflict are exacerbated when people are already suffering from broader Rite, i forms of economic, political and soc insecuriy. But even in Latin Americ {of these are intended to create freedom and equality for the members and Eastern Europe; funetioning states and national economics existed to sehnic groups within a democratic regime, There ae, of cours, ales atone, | demoemsed and eras, ln nany Afton cosnsics by coanat see oo ties which are premised on cthnic hegemony rather than equality. These typi,_

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