Christian Lund (ed.)

Twilight Institutions

Public Authority and Local Politics in Africa
Herausgeber: Lund, Christian

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

State and society are powerful concepts, but actual public institutions in Africa defy clear-cut distinctions. Questions of citizenship, property and security are not the preserve of the state. While formal government is often weak and sometimes failing, public authority is dislocated to, or appropriated by, other institutions that endeavour to act as the state. Focusing on the condition of public authority in Africa, Twilight Institutions investigates how a range of institutions seek voluntary compliance to their authority, and claim legitimacy in an attempt to govern. This volume approaches public authority 'from below', exploring a variety of concrete encounters between forms of public authority and the more or less mundane practices of ordinary people. The expertly written essays in this collection reflect upon the failure of government institutions to maintain control; while there is no shortage of institutions attempting to exercise authority, none is continuously successful. Fading in and out of power, these institutions operate between public and private in the twilight between state and society

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Wiley
• Seitenzahl: 288
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. Mai 2007
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 151mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 415g
• ISBN-13: 9781405155281
• ISBN-10: 1405155280
• Artikelnr.: 22282609

Autorenporträt

Christian Lund is Professor in International Development Studies at Roskilde University, Denmark. He has conducted specialized research on socio-legal processes of conflict and their relationship to policy and politics, institutional arrangements of property, and natural resources management. He has gained extensive field experience while working in Niger, Ghana, Bur¬kina Faso, Mali, and Senegal. He is the author of Law, Power and Politics in Niger - Land Struggles and the Rural Code, 1998, and the co-editor of Negotiating Property in Africa, 2002.

Inhaltsangabe

1. Twilight Institutions - An Introduction: Christian Lund(International Development Studies, Roskilde University).

2. Twilight Institutions. Public Authority And Local Politics InAfrica: Christian Lund (International Development Studies, RoskildeUniversity).

3. The Politics Of Vigilance In South-Eastern Nigeria: DavidPratten (Oxford University).

4. Reordering Society. Vigilantism And Sovereign Expressions InPort Elizabeth's Townships: Lars Buur (Danish Institute forInternational Studies and Research Associate, Wits Institute forSocial and Economic Research, Johannesburg South Africa).

5. Negotiating Authority - Between Unhcr And 'ThePeople': Simon Turner (Danish Institute for InternationalStudies, Copenhagen).

6. "It Was Satan That Took The People": The MakingOf Public Authority In Burkina Faso: Sten Hagberg (UppsalaUniversity).

7. Dealing With The Local State. The Informal Privatization OfStreet-Level Bureaucracies In Senegal: Giorgio Blundo (Ecole desHautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Marseille).

8. Decentralization, Local Taxation And Citizenship In Senegal:Kristine Juul (Institute of Geography and International DevelopmentStudies, Roskilde University).

9. Contested Sources Of Authority. Re-Claiming State SovereigntyBy Formalizing Traditional Authority In Mozambique: Lars Buur(Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen) and HeleneMaria Kyed (Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagenand International Development Studies, Roskilde University).

10. Statemaking And The Politics Of The Frontier In CentralBenin: Pierre-Yves Le Meur (Groupe de recherche etd'échanges technologiques, Paris and IRD,Montpellier).

11. Decentralization, the state and conflicts over localboundaries in North-Western Ghana: Carola Lentz (Johannes GutenbergUniversity, Mainz).

12. Strong Bar, Weak State? Lawyers, Liberalism And StateFormation In Zambia: Jeremy Gould (University of Helsinki).

Rezensionen

"This volume offers well-researched and original insights into animportant area of politics. Compared to contributions fromanthropology on politics in Africa in the 1990s, this volume takesa more fruitful direction." (African History, March 2008)

"Offer[s] insightful analytical perspectives on theemergency and behavior of 'twilight institutions'... good addition for university libraries and collectionsspecializing in Africana and comparative politics.Recommended."(Choice Reviews)