African State-building: Actors, Actions, Performances

Panel Convenor(s)

• ST

  Shinichi Takeuchi

  Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, African Studies Center, Japan

Panel Chair(s)

• ST

  Shinichi Takeuchi

  Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, African Studies Center, Japan

Panel Discussant(s)

• FM

  Frank Matose

  University of Cape Town, Centre for African Studies, South Africa

Presenter(s)

• ST

  Shinichi Takeuchi

  Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, African Studies Center, Japan
• KA

  Kojo Amanor

  University of Ghana, Institute of African Studies, Ghana
• CS

  Chizuko Sato

  Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan
• HC

  Horman Chitonge

  University of Cape Town, Centre for African Studies, South Africa
• AA

  Akiyo Aminaka

  Institute of Developing Economies - JETRO, Japan

After more than six decades from independence, building a state that enables political stability and economic development remains a fundamentally important challenge in Africa. It has been widely acknowledged that the root of African predicaments, including armed conflicts and economic crises, lies in problems concerning the state. While discussions on African states have tended to emphasize their weaknesses and challenges, such views have been reconsidered in recent research. Previous research has had some important problems. Firstly, they have often underestimated the African states' capacities to capture the population. States have captured the population not only through regular administrative mechanisms but also through various institutions, including customary chiefs and security organizations. Secondly, they have tended to overlook the approach of ordinary people towards the state. People not only passively get captured by the state but actively utilize its authority and symbols to create relationships with it.
      Based on the above understandings, this panel considers that the analysis of the African state should integrate the state actions from above and people’s actions from below and should grasp the historical evolution of the state-society relations. We, therefore, examine the African state through the “state-building” lens, emphasizing its “longue durée” perspective and the agency of both the state and society.
        This panel addresses African state-building by comparing the experiences of different countries. Takeuchi's paper is an introduction that presents the overview and explains the approach of the panel papers. Amanor's and Sato's papers deal with the natural resource management regarding forest and land. Natural resource management is an excellent topic for observing negotiations, tension, and collaborations between the state and society. The papers clarify these points through the case studies in Ghana and South Africa. Chitonge's paper focuses on the state capacity in the economic domain in South Africa, examining how the most industrialized African state has succeeded in (or failed) regulating monetary and productive activities. Aminaka analyzes the state-society struggles in Mozambique. In examining protest movements in rural and urban areas, the paper sheds light on how Mozambican competitive authoritarian regimes deal with popular movements from below.

Panel supported by: African Studies Center, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Presentations:

• 14:00 - 15:45 GMT

  Understanding African state-building: Integrating approaches from above and from below
  

  Presenter: Shinichi Takeuchi – Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, African Studies Center
• 14:00 - 15:45 GMT

  State Building in the Forestry and Cocoa Sectors of Ghana: Relations between state, chiefs and farmers
  

  Presenter: Kojo Amanor – University of Ghana, Institute of African Studies
• 14:00 - 15:45 GMT

  Land reform and state-building in democratic South Africa
  

  Presenter: Chizuko Sato – Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
• 14:00 - 15:45 GMT

  Challenges of State-building in Africa: The Effects of the Level of Economic Sovereignty on State-Capability?
  

  Presenter: Horman Chitonge – University of Cape Town, Centre for African Studies
• 14:00 - 15:45 GMT

  State-Society Relations under Competitive Authoritarian Regime: A Study on Punitive Voting in Mozambique
  

  Presenter: Akiyo Aminaka – Institute of Developing Economies - JETRO