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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The concept of civil society and the process of nation-building in African States
Authors:Kössler, ReinhartISNI
Melber, HenningISNI
Year:1996
Periodical:Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft
Issue:1
Pages:69-80
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:political systems
nation
Abstract:The idea, taken up by the anticolonial movement and the postcolonial States, of the nation as a peaceful and harmonious community has shown itself to be a dangerous illusion in Africa. Without an economic base and in the face of highly heterogeneous societies, particularly in ethnic terms, this national aspiration could not become reality. Instead, rival elites came to see the control of State power as the key to enriching themselves and their clienteles. This further weakened the economic foundation for a national society. Regimes founded on the notion of national development saw their legitimacy hollowed out. Although democratization movements have sparked a political renewal since the late 1980s, formal democratization alone cannot alleviate the absence of cohesion arising out of these countries' particular socioeconomic heterogeneity. Democratization provides the necessary institutional precondition for every form of participatory politics. But it does not provide the necessary material conditions for effective participation: a minimum of organizational stability and material security. Civil society as a space for societal discourse and the articulation of interests can only function under these minimal conditions. Besides, a fully functioning civil society does not come into being on its own. Without incorporation into international alliances civil society in Africa will remain underdeveloped. Bibliogr., sum. (p. 109).
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