If the institutionalization of power, the local anchoring of central government and the self-limitation of the ruling classes through the codification of law constitute the central characteristics of the modern, Western-type state, then state-formation in Africa is still underway. In this perspective, African states appear like permanent, and never finishing building sites. However, there is a striking absence of empirically grounded studies of the day-to-day functioning of African bureaucracies, public services and the professional practices of African civil servants. There is in fact very little empirical knowledge of the banal, habitual, routinized functioning of what might be called the ‘real’ state ‘at work’.
The project analyses these ‘real’ workings of states and public services, at both the central and local levels, with a focus on two key sectors, education and justice, in four West African countries (Benin, Ghana, Mali, Niger). It combines institutional and actor approaches, complemented by a historical perspective.
Our research has highlighted that the often low productivity of African public services is not the expression of a single and uniform logic, but the result of numerous cumulated micro-differences. Like all social phenomena, African statehood is path-dependent. The sedimentation of colonial and post-colonial experiences (in particular, the projection of a despotic model of state under colonial rule, the fragmentation caused by the post-colonial development regimes and its spiral of incomplete and contradictory reforms, as well as the political mise en dependence of administrations by politicians) have resulted in highly disintegrated bureaucracies which resemble never-finishing “building sites”. Two organizational responses are the production of a large range of informal rules within these bureaucracies themselves, and the co-production of public services by public and private actors. For the public servants, these bureaucracies are highly complex, and to a large extent opaque moral orders, which are shot through by hypocrisy and numerous double-binds.
| Publications |
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| For a preliminary synthesis of research results, see Number 113 of the Working Papers of the Department of Anthropology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. The Working Papers No. 82, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 103, 106, 109, 111 present findings from „States at Work“ subprojects or deal with related topics. |
| 113 Thomas Bierschenk, 2010 States at work in West Africa: sedimentation, fragmentation and normative double-binds Eine überarbeitete Version dieses Textes wurde veröffentlicht als: Bierschenk, Thomas, 2014: „Sedimentation, fragmentation and normative double-binds in (West) African public services“. In: Thomas Bierschenk und Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan (Hg.): States at Work in Africa. Dynamics of Public Bureaucracies. Leiden: Brill, 221-245. Keywords: State, bureaucracy, public service, administration, functionaries, Africa | Staat, Bürokratie, Öffentlicher Dienst, Verwaltung, Beamte, Afrika |
| 111 Azizou Chabi Imorou, 2010 L’action politico-syndicale des enseignants au Bénin (1945-2008). Approche socio-historique Keywords: Syndicat, enseignants, grèves, citoyenneté, Bénin, participation politique | unionism, teachers, strikes, citizenship, Benin, political activism |
| 109 Aurelia Wa Kabwe-Segatti; Colin Hoag & Darshan Vigneswaran, 2009 The Turnaround Strategy from below: Public sector reform among South African Home Affairs migration officials in Johannesburg Keywords: Public sector reform, organizational culture, public services, bureaucracies, South Africa, Home Affairs, migration management, state |
| 106 Chris Willott, 2009 „Get to the bridge and I will help you to cross“: Merit, personal connections, and money as routes to success in Nigerian higher education (co-published with the Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath) Keywords: Nigeria, higher education, bureaucracy, patronage, factionalism |
| 103 Mirco Göpfert, 2009 Security in nocturnal Niamey – Preliminary reflections and conceptual outlook This working paper has now been published in a revised version in: Journal of Modern African Studies, 50(1): 53-74. Keywords: Sicherheit, Polizei, Staat, Ereignis, Niamey, Niger | security, police, state, event, Niamey, Niger |
| 97 Gifty Amo Antwi, Jan Beek et al., 2009 „They are not enlightened“. Wie Staatsbedienstete in Nordghana Differenz zwischen sich und ihren Klienten konstruieren Keywords: Aufklärung, Bürokraten, Dichotomie, Differenzierungspraktiken, Ghana, Staat |Bureaucrats, Dichotomy, Enlightenment, Ghana, Making of Differences, State |
| 96 Oumarou Hamani, 2008 L’administration des carrières des magistrats au Niger. Une ethnographie du conseil de la magistrature publication conjointe avec le LASDEL Niamey |
| 95 Sarah Fichtner, 2009 A playground for educational reform or a battlefield of donor intervention? Local debates on primary education and the New Study Programmes in Benin (revised version) Dieser Artikel ist nun in einer kürzeren Version erschienen / Now published in a condensed version: Fichtner, Sarah. 2010. A laboratory for education reform or a battlefield of donor intervention? Local debates on primary education and the New Study Programmes in Benin. International Journal of Educational Development (30): 518-524. Keywords: Bildungspolitik, Bildungsreform, Nouveaux Programmes d’Etudes, Entwicklungskooperation, Benin | Educational policy, educational reform, New Study Programmes, development cooperation, Benin. |
| 94 Carola Lentz, 2008 Travelling emblems of power: The Ghanaian ‚Seat of State‘ This working paper has been published in a revised version in Critical Interventions 2011 (7), 45 – 64. Keywords: Ghana, Nkrumah, political symbols, parliament, democracy, state arts and artists | Ghana, Nkrumah, politische Symbole, Parlament, Demokratie, Staatskunst und -künstler |
| 93 Jan Beek, 2008 Friend of the Police. Polizei in Nord-Ghana (Upper West Region) Dieses Arbeitspapier ist nun in einer kürzeren Version veröffentlicht / Now published in a condensed version: Jan Beek. 2011: „Every car has an offence on it“: Register polizeilichen Handelns bei Verkehrskontrollen in Nordghana. Sociologus 61 (2): 197–222. Keywords: Ghana, policing, police, police research, security, state | Ghana, Polizei, Polizeiforschung, Sicherheit, Staat |
| 82 Nora Brandecker, 2007 Der Wandel der bildungspolitischen Ansichten der Weltbank Keywords: Weltbank, Bildung, Bildungspolitik, Entwicklungspolitik |
| Media |
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| Press release Universität Mainz |
| Press release VolkswagenStiftung |
| JOGU Article (195/ Februar 2006) |
Participants and Sub-Projects
