Autocracy Violence Failed States Flashcards
Summarize Herbst
“ war and state in Africa”
Population density,- sparse populatio-difficult to build political institutions (tilly said same)
-war makes states and states make war
-Interstate war Europe critical to development of modern state, improve taxation administration and development of national identity, a process that occurred over many centuries
-African states did not form out of long process of warfare but I remnants of empires
-ill-equipped to carry out administrative tasks -lack of national unity that help build state legitimacy
-Lack of wars between states in Africa left weak states
Suggests Africa will have permanently week states
Summarize the Robert Rothberg article The new nature of nationstate failure
- policymakers should take more care to identify and strengthen states in Danger of collapse before they are beyond assistance and become an international threat
What was the Berlin conference of 1885
-competition between colonies in Africa- scramble for Africa
-conference was to divide the spoils in Africa, Land
-europeans borders established
It was known as the consolidation of colonial power and Africa is and doing
Conference was run by German Chancellor Bismarck
What’s the deal with Belgian Congo and King Leopold 1885
Who was ED Morel?
- personally owned Congo
- created public forced to drive out the Muslim Slave traders under the guise of humanitarianism but was really to control the population for his own need for rubber
- tax by forcing people to pay with rubber by holding women and children hostage,
- agents cut off hands of those who don’t submit and punishment was by Burning down villages
- terrain of Congo made communication and rule difficult
- Ed morel- supervise loading and unloading of ships and realized that rubber was going out and weapons were coming in
- he inferred that people were working in rubber were slaves➡️ forced labour
- Wrote a book called red rubber and was first international human rights campaign which his book exposed slavery in the Congo
What were the effects of Morels effort In the Congo
1780-1790 anti-slavery movement began
Leopold was pressured by morels efforts
1907 just before Leopold‘s death the administration shifted from Leopold to the government of Belgum and government stop the atrocities but still controlled the state
States and regimes in Africa
States
- mostly weak, some failed
- patrimonialism
Regimes
Democracy???
Limited Constitutional rule
Describe what happened postcolonial First Republic in congo
1960/1965 Congo gained independence
-parliamentary elections and Lumumba prime minister- supported USSR and USA supported his assassination
Describe what happened in the second republic 1965 to 1997
Mobutu
Mobutu staged a coup and took over in the late 60s early 70s and expand status already over civil society (churches student groups etc.)
-Wanted to squash ethnic identities and have everyone ID as Zairian’s
-began to replace local govn’ts with its own administrators
-using state to build a network of loyalties and patronage networks he is able to build high office is dependent on those closest to him
-became a presidential monarch very much like the Godfather
State was personalized and the state and Mobutu were fused into one thing
Patrimonialism-personal rule, institutions don’t matter as much as people
Summarize the William Reno article” sovereignty and the fragmentation of the democratic republic of Congo”
Mobutu‘s political significance over three decades-
- shows taking state control centralizing rule powers are fuse so much that the state is dismantled for his own personal coffers
- by 1990 to 95 percent of the money was going to Mobutu not spend on agriculture or social services
- Money went to personal friends and loyalties and to punish non-supporters
What was the downfall for mobutu
Mobutu-strongly supported by the west as he was against communism during the cold war
-after cold war protest and pressure for human rights violations began-Rwanda’s problem spilling over the border and Hutus flooding into eastern Zaire
- eventually forced out by Laurent Desiree Kabila from 1997 to 2001 and he becomes president
Kabila’s Sun replaced him in 2001
What were the wars about and when did they occur
First Congo war, East Congo, Ousting mobutu ‘96-‘97
Second Congo
war ended in 2003-
-was about looting resources
-mineral wealth and Colton, key component in manufacturing of cell phones and diamonds
-New war not clear grievance of groups but agreed reading resources from different surrounding governments
Summarize the Weinthal and Luongs article “combatting the resource curse”
-countries rich in resources can wind up both undemocratic and poor
-Democracy emerges when those who rule are compelled to share their power with the rising middle class, the state exchanges political power (representation) for economic resources (taxes)
-countries where significant wealth lies in the ground equation changes
-those in power can rely on oil or mineral wealth to support themselves and buy off or suppress the public
-natural resource wealth also tends to crowd out private business leading to smaller middle class less able to demand greater participation
/International community can help to move natural resources out of state hands
-privatization To domestic actors is an alternative path out of the resource curse
Also taking out resource rents out of state direct control
Summarize the collier and gunning article “why has africa grown slowly?”
Policy versus Destiny
-destiny internal and external
Policy -internal and external
-conclude that policy rather than the longer-term factors, Is mostly to blame.
-In the past, this largely meant external policies, that is, the intrusive policies of richer and more powerful countries
-more recently, internal policies have played them larger role
Summarize the Easterly article
To help the poor
- poverty of the indian village Gulvera village
- stats and looking at poverty around the world
Summarize the Acemoglu and Robinson article “disease and development”
-emph. outdated view of developing world poverty including ideas of rampant disease, low life expectancy, a result of high death rates- having too many kids and not being able to educate them
Proves that…
-Improvements in public health, better sanitation and almost universal immunodeficient, have lead to much lower death rates particularly among infants and children and much higher life expectancy’s. Those improvements have turned lower fertility rates and increased incentives to educate each child and worries about population explosion or exaggerated
-Lower death rate does not translate into more rapid economic growth although over the long run for greater propensity to invest in human capital education should have that effect
