Archive / Working Paper
Crisis of the State and Civil Domains in Africa
06/12/2006 By Mariano Aguirre, David Sogge
Whenever the debate about fragile, weak or failed states is raised, most sub-Saharan African countries are referred to by way of example.
When the list of collapsed states is mentioned Somalia comes to mind, and in the previous decade Sierra Leone and Liberia. For some time Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were highlighted as fragmented states in which central administration did not control the national territory as a whole.
Even the so-called big States (Nigeria, DRC, Ethiopia, Sudan and Angola) suffer from severe structural problems.
Only South Africa and Botswana emerge, in general, as states with efficient administrations, although their internal problems are still serious.
The remaining states in the continent do not guarantee security or rights, and neither do they facilitate citizens’ access to public and private goods.They do not control the territory as a whole from the point of view of public security, administration of justice and provision of services, and they do not have the legitimate monopoly of the use of force.
Historian Martin Meredith suggests that the majority of African states "are no longer instruments capable of serving the public good. Indeed, far from being able to provide aid and protection to their citizens, African governments and the vampire-like politicians that run them are regarded by the populations they rule as yet another burden they have to bear in the struggle for survival".
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Keywords
Failed states Fragile state Sub-Saharan AfricaBio author: Mariano Aguirre
Mariano Aguirre is Director of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre in Oslo, and a fellow of the Transnational Institute. Former Director of Peace, Security and Human Rights at FRIDE.
Bio author: David Sogge
David Sogge is a Fellow at the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam. He works as an independent analyst.
