The Governance of Daily Life in Africa

The Governance of Daily Life in Africa
Author: Giorgio Blundo
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2009
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004171282

Anchored in an empirically-grounded anthropology, this book explores the notion of governance in a non-normative way. It describes and analyses the institutional and political processes through which social actors and groups - be they state, private or 'third-sector' - contribute to the provision of public and collective goods or services. The book draws on case studies from Anglophone and Francophone Africa, crossing anthropological traditions that have too often evolved in parallel directions and dealing with a range of topics such as health, water supply, sanitation and waste management, security, humanitarian aid, land issues and decentralisation. Beyond African boundaries, it contributes to current debates about governmentality, public policy, subject making, public/private boundaries, and the role of the state.

The Everyday State in Africa

The Everyday State in Africa
Author: Daniel Mulugeta
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2021-09-30
Genre:
ISBN: 9781032174921

This book offers a new understanding of the workings of the everyday Ethiopian state through analysis of the everyday politics of state-society relations.

Everyday Corruption and the State

Everyday Corruption and the State
Author: Giorgio Blundo
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2013-04-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1848136641

Daily life in Africa is governed by the 'petty' corruption of public officials in services such as health, transport, or the judicial system. This remarkable study of everyday corruption in three African countries investigates the reasons for its extraordinary prevalence. The authors construct an illuminating analytical framework around the various forms of corruption, the corruptive strategies public officials resort to, and how these forms and strategies have become embedded in daily administrative practices. They investigate the roots of the system in the growing inability of weakened states in Africa to either reward their employees adequately or to deliver expected services. They conclude that corruption in Africa today is qualitatively different from other parts of the world in its pervasiveness, its legitimations, and its huge impact on the nature of the state.

Real Governance and Practical Norms in Sub-Saharan Africa

Real Governance and Practical Norms in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Tom De Herdt
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2015-05-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317527739

Although international development discourse considers the state as a crucial development actor, there remains a significant discrepancy between the official norms of the state and public services and the actual practices of political elites and civil servants. This text interrogates the variety of ways in which state policies and legal norms have been translated into the set of practical norms which make up real governance in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that the concept of practical norms is an appropriate tool for an ethnographic investigation of public bureaucracies, interactions between civil servants and users, and the daily functioning of the state in Africa. It demonstrates that practical norms are usually different from official norms, complementing, bypassing and even contradicting them. In addition, it explores the positive and negative effects of different aspects of this ‘real governance’. This text will be of key interest to academics, students and researchers in the fields of development, political science, anthropology and development studies, African studies, international comparative studies, implementation studies, and public policy.

Democracy in Ghana

Democracy in Ghana
Author: Jeffrey W. Paller
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2019-03-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1316513300

A detailed account of politics in Ghana's urban neighborhoods, providing a new way to understand African democracy and development.

States at Work

States at Work
Author: Thomas Bierschenk
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2014-01-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004264965

States at Work explores the mundane practices of state-making in Africa by focussing on the daily functioning of public services and the practices of civil servants.

Governance and the postcolony

Governance and the postcolony
Author: David Everatt
Publisher: Wits University Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2019-08-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1776143442

Civil society, NGOs, governments, and multilateral institutions all repeatedly call for improved or ‘good’ governance – yet they seem to speak past one another. Governance is in danger of losing all meaning precisely because it means many things to different people in varied locations This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, the postcolony takes many forms, reflecting the imperial project with painful accuracy. Offering a set of multidisciplinary analyses of governance in different sectors (crisis management, water, food security, universities), in different locales across sub-Saharan Africa, and from different theoretical approaches (network to adversarial network governance); this volume makes a useful addition to the growing debates on ‘how to govern’. It steers away from offering a ‘correct’ definition of governance, or from promoting a particular position on postcoloniality. It gives no neat conclusion, but invites readers to draw their own conclusions based on these differing approaches to and analyses of governance in the postcolony. As a robust, critical assessment of power and accountability in the sub-Saharan context, Governance and the Postcolony: Views from Africa brings together topical case studies that will be a valuable resource for those working in the field of African international relations, public policy, public management and administration.

Democracy, Good Governance and Development in Africa

Democracy, Good Governance and Development in Africa
Author: Mawere, Munyaradzi
Publisher: Langaa RPCIG
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2015-10-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956763004

Questions surrounding democracy, governance, and development especially in the view of Africa have provoked acrimonious debates in the past few years. It remains a perennial question why some decades after political independence in Africa the continent continues experiencing bad governance, lagging behind socioeconomically, and its democracy questionable. We admit that a plethora of theories and reasons, including iniquitous and malicious ones, have been conjured in an attempt to explain and answer the questions as to why Africa seems to be lagging behind other continents in issues pertaining to good governance, democracy and socio-economic development. Yet, none of the theories and reasons proffered so far seems to have provided enduring solutions to Africa’s diverse complex problems and predicaments. This book dissects and critically examines the matrix of Africa’s multifaceted problems on governance, democracy and development in an attempt to proffer enduring solutions to the continent’s long-standing political and socio-economic dilemmas and setbacks.

Participation of Young People in Governance Processes in Africa

Participation of Young People in Governance Processes in Africa
Author: Kurebwa, Jeffrey
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2019-06-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 152259390X

Active political engagement requires the youth of today to begin their journeys now to be leaders of tomorrow. Young individuals are instrumental in providing valuable insight into issues locally as well as on a national and international level. Participation of Young People in Governance Processes in Africa examines the role of young peoples’ involvement in governance processes in Africa and demonstrates how they are engaging in active citizenship. There is an intrinsic value in upholding their right to participate in decisions that affect their daily lives and their communities, and the content within this publication supports this by focusing on topics such as good citizenship, youth empowerment, democratic awareness, political climate, and socio-economic development. It is designed for researchers, academics, policymakers, government officials, and professionals whose interests center on the engagement of youth in active citizenship roles.

Making Nations, Creating Strangers

Making Nations, Creating Strangers
Author: Sarah Rich Dorman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2007
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004157905

This book explores the instrumental manipulation of citizenship and narrowing definitions of national-belonging which refract political struggles in Zimbabwe, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Somalia, Tanzania, and South Africa, where conflicts are legitimated through claims of exclusionary nationhood and redefinitions of citizenship.