Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:55:56.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Civil Society in Europe and Africa: Limiting State Power through a Public Sphere*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Dwayne Woods
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The concept of civil society has gained currency in African studies. It is used in a variety of different ways, but usually refers to the emergence of new patterns of political participation outside of formal state structures and one-party systems (Bratton 1989, 407). In the absence of capable state institutions, the literature on Africa has started to shift attention away from the state and governing elites, and towards social actors who are devising various strategies to survive the nested crises of state action, economic development, and political legitimacy (Doornbos 1990). As an alternative conceptualization of possibilities of economic and social development, civil society is becoming an all encompassing term that refers to social phenomena putatively beyond formal state structures—but not necessarily free of all contact with the state.

Virtually no theoretical work, however, has been done on the concept as it relates to an African environment, with the exception of Bayart (1986) and, more recently, Bratton (1989). This essay explores in a more theoretical manner than has hitherto been the case what such a notion means within an African context by asking whether the growing use of the term contributes substantively to our understanding of new forms of participation and associational activity in Africa. The answer is affirmative, provided that this concept is elaborated and specified in ways which take into account the complex interaction between normative, economic, and organizational dimensions of civil society.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , September 1992 , pp. 77 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The author wishes to thank Naomi Chazan, Arun Kapil, Catherine Boone, and Michael Bratton for their helpful comments on this article.

References

Addi, L. 1989. “De la démocratie en Algérie.” Le Monde Diplomatique (10): 9.Google Scholar
Andriamirado, S. 1991. Jeune Afrique 27 03: 22–27.Google Scholar
Arato, A. and Cohen, J.. 1984. “Social Movements, Civil Society, and the Problem of Sovereignty.” Praxis International 4/3: 266–83.Google Scholar
Ayoade, J. A. A. 1989. “States without Citizens: An Emerging African Phenomenon.” In The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa, edited by Rothchild, D. and Chazan, N., 100–18. Boulder, Col. Westview Press.Google Scholar
Balandier, G. 1955. Sociologie des Brazzavilles noires. Paris: A. Colin.Google Scholar
Bandinter, E. and Bandinter, R.. 1988. Condorcet: un intellectuel en politique. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Barnes, S. T. 1975. “Voluntary Associations in a Metropolis: The Case of Lagos, Nigeria.” African Studies Review 18/2: 75–88.Google Scholar
Barnes, S. T. and Peil, M.. 1977. “Voluntary Association Membership in Five West African Cities.” Urban Anthropology 6/1: 83–106.Google Scholar
Baumol, W. J. 1990. “Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive, and Destructive.” Journal of Political Economy 98/5: 893–921.Google Scholar
Bayart, J. F. 1986. “Civil Society in Africa.” In Political Domination in Africa: Reflections on the Limits of Power, edited by Chabal, Patrick, 109–25. Cambridge: Cambridge Univetsity Press.Google Scholar
Bayart, J. F.. 1989a. L'état en Afrique: la politique du ventre. Paris: Fayard.Google Scholar
Bayart, J. F.. 1989b. “Les Eglises chrétiennes et la politique du ventre.” Politique Africaine 35: 3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, S. 1985. Fathers Work for their Sons. Accumulation, Mobility and Class Formation in an Extended Yoruba Community. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bobbio, N. 1988. “Gramsci and the Concept of Civil Society.” In Civil Society and the State, edited by Keane, John, 40–59. New York: Verso Press.Google Scholar
Bratton, M. 1989. “Beyond the State: Civil Society and Associational Life in Africa.” World Politics 41/3: 407–30.Google Scholar
Bredin, J. D. 1988. Sieyes: la clé de la Révolution Française. Paris: Editions de Fallois.Google Scholar
Callaghy, T. 1988. “The State and the Development of Capitalism in Africa: Theoretical, Historical, and Comparative Reflections.” In The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa, edited by Rothchild, D. and Chazan, N.. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Carnoy, M. 1984. The State and Political Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chazan, N. 1982. “The New Politics of Participation in Tropical Africa.” Comparative Politics 14/2 (01): 169–89.Google Scholar
Chauveau, J. P. and Dozon, P. J.. 1987. “Au Cœur Des Ethnies Ivoiriennes…L'Etat.” In L'Etat Contemporain en Afrique, edited by Terray, Emmanuel, 261–91. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Chauveau, J. P. and Dozon, P. J.. 1988. “Ethnies et Etat en Côte d'Ivoire.” Revue Française de Science Politique 38/5 (10): 732–47.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. 1983. Class and Civil Society. The Limits of Marxian Critical Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Copans, J. 1990. La Longue Marche de la Modernité Africaine. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
d'Aby Amon, F. J. 1951. La Côte d'Ivoire Dans La Cité Africaine. Paris: Larose.Google Scholar
Darbon, D. 1990. “L'état Prédateur.” Politique Africaine 39 (09): 40–59.Google Scholar
de Tocqueville, A. 1955. Democracy in America, 2 vols. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Delpech, B. 1983. “La Solidarité Populaire Abidjanaise.” Cahiers O.R.S.T.O.M. 21/4: 551–66.Google Scholar
Diamond, L. 1987. “Class Formation in the Swollen African State.” Journal of Modern African Studies 25/4: 567–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diop, M. C. and Diouf, M.. 1990. Le Sénégal sous Abdou Diouf. Paris: Karthala Press.Google Scholar
Doornbos, M. 1990. “The African State in Academic Debate.” Journal of Modern African Studies 28/2: 179–98.Google Scholar
Dunn, J. 1984. “The Politics of Representation and Good Government in Post-Colonial Africa.” In Political Domination in Africa: Reflections on the Limits of Power, edited by Chabal, Patrick, 158–74. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Duruflé, G. 1989. L'ajustement Structurel en Afrique. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Ekeh, P. 1975. “Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 17 (Fall): 91–112.Google Scholar
Fatton, R. Jr. 1990. “Liberal Democracy in Africa.” Political Science Quarterly 105/3: 455–73.Google Scholar
Fottorino, E. 1991. Le Monde 8 Aout: 18.Google Scholar
Gay, P. 1969. The Enlightenment: An Interpretation. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Gramsci, A. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
Graziano, L. 1978. “Center-Periphery Relations and The Italian Crisis: The Problem of Clientelism.” In Territorial Politics in Industrial Nations, edited by Tarrow, Sidney, Katzenstein, P. J. and Graziano, L., 280–320. New York: Praeger Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. 1989. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hamer, J. M. 1981. “Preconditions and Limits in the Formation of Associations: The Self-Help and Cooperative Movement in Subsaharan Africa.” African Studies Review 24/1: 113–28.Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. 1952. Philosophy of Right. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hoselitz, B. J. 1964. “La Estratificatión Social y el Desarrollo Económico.” America Latina 7/1 (01): 3–19.Google Scholar
Hunt, L. 1984. Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Hyden, G. 1980. Beyond Ujamma in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Jacquemot, P. 1988. “La Désétatisation en Afrique Subsharienne: Enjeux et Perspectives.” Revue Tiers Monde 29/114 (04-Juin): 271–91.Google Scholar
Karl, T. L. 1990. “Dilemmas of Democratization in Latin America.” Comparative Politics 22/5 (10): 1–21.Google Scholar
Keane, J. 1988. Civil Society and the State. New York: Verso Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Langellier, J. P. 1990. Le Monde 29 05: 6–7.Google Scholar
Lemarchand, R. 1989. “African Peasantries, Reciprocity and the Market: The Economy of Affection Reconsidered.” Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines 29/113: 33–67.Google Scholar
Leymarie, P. 1991. Le Monde Diplomatique 11: 1–32.Google Scholar
Little, K. 1967. West African Urbanization: A Study of Voluntary Associations in Social Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, J. 1984. “Political Accountability in African History.” In Political Domination in Africa: Reflections on the Limits of Power, edited by Chabal, Patrick, 126–57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
MacGaffey, J. 1988. Entrepreneurs and Parasites. The Struggle for Indigenous Capitalism in Zaire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mahieu, F. R. 1990. Les Fondements de la Crise Économique en Afrique. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M. 1990. “The Social Basis of Constitutionalism in Africa.” Journal of Modern African Studies 28/3 (09): 359–74.Google Scholar
Marshall, T. H. 1965. Class, Citizenship, and Social Development. New York: Anchor Press.Google Scholar
Markovitz, I. L. 1987. Studies in Power and Class in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Marx, K. 1963. The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
Marx, K.. 1970. Early Writings. London: Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A. 1985a. Afriques indociles. Christianisme, Pouvoir et Etat en Société Postcoloniale. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A.. 1985b. Les jeunes et l'ordre politique en Afrique Noire. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Molutsi, P. P. and Holm, J. D.. 1990. “Developing Democracy when Civil Society is Weak: The Case of Botswana.” African Affairs 89/356 (07): 323–40.Google Scholar
N'Da, P. 1987. Les Intellectuels et le Pouvoir en Afrique Noire. Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Nelson, J. M. 1979. Access to Power: Politics and the Urban Poor in Developing Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Poggi, G. 1978. The Development of the Modern State. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Polanyi, K. 1944. The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Przeworksi, A. 1985. Capitalism and Social Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ranger, T. O. 1986. “Religious Movements and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa.” African Studies Review 29/2: 1–69.Google Scholar
Schultz, M. K. 1977. “Observations on the Functions of Voluntary Associations with Special Reference to West African Cities.” Human Relations 30/9: 803–16.Google Scholar
Starr, S. F. 1990. “Soviet Union: A Civil Society.” In Comparative Politics, Notes and Reading, edited by Macridis, Roy C. and Brown, Bernard E., 194–97. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.Google Scholar
Stepan, A. 1988. Rethinking Military Politics: Brazil and the Southern Cone. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Szücs, J. 1988. “Three Historical Regions of Europe.” In Civil Society and the State, edited by Keane, John, 160–83. New York: Verso Press.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, I. 1964. The Road to Independence: Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar