Articles · Vol. 14 No. 2 (1989): Africa Development

2 - The Character of the State, Legitimacy Crisis and Social Mobilization in Africa: An Explanation of Form and Character

by Eghosa E. Osaghae

  • Eghosa E. Osaghae
    Eghosa E. Osaghae https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2634-2506 (unauthenticated)
    Eghosa Emmanuel Osaghae Eghosa E. Osaghae, is the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Nigeria's foreign policy and international affairs think tank. A tenured Professor of Political Science at the University Ibadan, he was Vice...
    Their articles →
Vol. 14 · 1989 No. 2 Africa Development AD

Abstract

La clef de l'analyse de la mobilisation sociale réside dans le caractère des rapports entre l'Etat et la société. L'Etat postcolonial africain est confrontée à une multitude de problèmes dont ceux relatifs à la crise du développement et à la légitimité sont les plus critiques. Ces problèmes paralysent l'Etat et affaiblissent sa capacité à mener la sociétgé aux objectifs désirés. Par réaction, beaucoup de régimes africains s'embarquent dans diverses formes de mobilisation sociale qu'ils perçoivent comme moyen de surmonter aussi bien la crise de développement que celle de légitimation quelles que soient les conditions dans lesquelles elles sont libellées. L'accent porte surtout sur la résolution de la crise de légitimité et c'est ce qui explique la prévalence de la mobilisation sociale autoritaire dans la plus grande partie de l'Afrique. C'est, dans une large mesure, pour cette raison que la mobilisation sociale tend à être intermittente dans la majeure partie du continent puisque la chûte d'un régime marque la fin d'une phase de mobilisation et le début d'une autre par le régime suivant.

 

Statistics

Abstract views
178
Downloads
77

Author Biography

  • Eghosa E. Osaghae

    Eghosa Emmanuel Osaghae
    Eghosa E. Osaghae, is the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Nigeria's foreign policy and international affairs think tank. A tenured Professor of Political Science at the University Ibadan, he was Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Okada, Nigeria’s premier private University, for a record fourteen years (2004-2018). Professor Osaghae is a Fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies, STIAS, and the 2019 Claude Ake Chair at the Uppsala University, Sweden. He was the 2017 Van Zyl Slabbert Professor of Politics and Sociology at the University of Cape Town and the 2014 Emeka Anyaoku Visiting Chair of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. His Anyaoku Chair Inaugural Lecture, A State of Our Own: Second Independence, Federalism and the Decolonisation of the State in Africa, in April 2014 became the first inaugural lecture by a Nigerian in the history of the University of London. He was a Rockefeller ‘Reflections on Development’ Fellow (1989/90), and was most recently a MacArthur Fellow. Professor Osaghae served as Chair of the Panel on Quality Assurance Assessment, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2011-2012, and served on the Steering Committee of the Consortium for Development Partnerships, a successful model of North-South intellectual collaboration that involved institutions from North America, Europe and Africa between 2005 and 2012. He is a member of several learned societies and serves on the editorial boards of reputable social science journals. Professor Osaghae has published extensively on ethnicity, federalism, governance and state politics in books and journals, and attended over 300 conferences, workshops and seminars in different parts of North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. He is married to Veronica Amen (nee Jatto), and they are blessed with children and grandchildren. In December 2008, he was ordained a Reverend of the Anglican Church by the Bishop of Benin Diocese (Anglican Communion), Rt. Rev. P.O.J. Imasuen.

In this issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (1989): Africa Development →