African Politics
Etablissement : ESPOL European School of Political and Social Sciences
Langue : Anglais
Formation(s) dans laquelle/lesquelles le cours apparait :
Période : S3
Bonnes notions d’anglais écrit et parlé.
Notions de bases de Relations internationales
The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with politics and political power in Africa, from the post-colonial era to the current one where the war against terror seems to dominate the headlines. This main issues we’ll study include: nation and state-building; elections and political participation; decentralization.
Some of the questions we will try to answer relate to the nature of the African state: its ability to supply the resources and public goods necessary to hold nations and states together. We’ll study political accountability and state fragility; elections and political violence; the rule of law and the development of countervailing institutions.
Requirements for this course include: Two group presentations on a topic students will select from a list of topics. Class participation is very important.
I – WHY STUDY AFRICAN POLITICS? (01/19)
Readings:
« African Economic Development and Colonial Legacies » by Gareth Austin, International Development Policy, 2010
« How diverse is Africa? » video (08:55)
“The danger of a single story” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, video (19:16) Read transcript here
Classroom activity: Quiz on African countries – During the last half hour, each student will do the quiz individually. You need to reach a score of at least 60%. If you fail to get this score the first time, you’ll need to try again until you reach that magic score…
II – ETHNICITY, NATION-BUILDING, STATE BUILDING (01/26)
Readings:
“Ethnicity: an African predicament” (1997) by Francis M. Deng, Brookings
“Nation-building in Africa: post-colonial experiences and lessons from Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and Namibia” by Tatenda G. Mukwedeya, Mandela Institute for Development Studies, 2016
Dinnen, Sinclair. (2007). The Twin Processes of Nation-Building and State-Building.
« Nation-building and state-building and the challenge of fragility » by René Grotenhuis in Nation-building as a necessary effort in fragile states (2016)
Questions: 1/ Define a “fragile state”
2/ Why does R. Grotenhuis use a constructivist approach to define a nation?
3/ What are the four reasons why Grotenhuis questions the tendency to apply a eurocentric perspective to study nation-building in the fragile states of Asia and Africa?
4/ Explain the tension between state-building and nation-building in a post-colonial context.
III – ELECTIONS, PARTIES AND POLITICAL COMPETITION (02/02)
Exercise: Two-student teams will make a 10 minute presentation on a recent election: what type of election was it ? [legislative | presidential] did the process run smoothly? did the incumbent win? if not, were election results accepted by the looser? Any violence? Use these pages for a list of recent elections in Africa: Wikipedia
