Politics of Contemporary Africa

Description

This course provides an introduction to the study of politics in contemporary Africa. The focus will be on the historical dynamics of state formation since the establishment of colonial rule and on the relations between state and society. Students will be brought up to date with current debates on politics and the state in Africa. States in Africa are very often portrayed as weak, inefficient, if not utterly collapsed or failed, mainly because they are seen as 'import products' that were imposed by colonial rulers and did not take root in the African social soil. Such perspectives are based on a normative perception that focuses on the degree to which African states differ from the 'Western norm' rather than on the ways in which they actually work, on their own historical dynamics, as well as on their internal logic.The latter is precisely what this cours proposes to do by looking at political dynamics of state formation across the continent so as to provide a historical, rather than normative, explanation to their relative 'strengths' and 'weaknesses'. The course is structured both chronologically and thematically. We start with the legacies of colonial rule and move on to the formation of one-party states in the Cold War context, the crisis of modernization and the implementation of neo-liberal policies, the post-1990 democratization dynamics and their consequences, civil wars and the 'failure' of the State in the 1990s, and the current rhetoric of 'Africa Rising'. The course is composed of a 2-hour weekly lecture (Wednesday, 10-12) and a weekly 2-hour mandatory course complement (Monday, 10-12), where students will have the opportunity to explore some themes more in depth. The course evaluation comprises of a written exam (lecture) and short essays or oral presentation (course complement). The course cannot be taken without the course complement.