Social Movements and Political Culture

Sub programme 3
Insecurity and conflict production

Conflict in Africa is still widespread and tenacious. The persistence of conflicting narratives of politics, culture and social groups/classes in African societies is remarkable and is often rooted in material poverty, scarcity, ecological decline and inequality. The antagonisms are partly related to international entanglements in Africa but also emanate from local tensions and the workings of unequal, non-redistributive socio-political systems. They are often internalized and (re)produced as social templates in daily life. The impact and persistence of conflicts in Africa (and some other parts of the globe) seem to be of a larger scale and more disruptive. There is a continued need to study the generative processes producing and transforming conflict based on a proper assessment of historical, political and cultural factors. Why are current conflicts seldom ‘solved’? How do they transform? What is the role of political culture? And what actors and factors determine this? One cannot study African societies and ignore the material and ideological-cultural conditions producing (violent) conflict. Also, patterns of humiliation and abuse – grievance next to greed – shape the habitus of both individuals and groups, and have long-term effects that fuel conflict in new forms.
The deep insecurities of life in many African countries – ecological, material, social, political and health-wise (notably due to HIV/AIDS) – have a direct impact on conflict behavior and need to be studied in their political manifestations, especially at the local level where they are initially produced. Apart from assessing pervasive mal-governance and gross abuse of state power (the record of the Sudanese government in Darfur is a case in point), we also have to understand the nature and role of ‘ungoverned political spaces’ across the continent that are enhancing conflict and transnational crime.
The study of new religious identities may also be included in this theme, perhaps with a sub-programme on religious reorientations or, in some forms and settings, radicalization. In many ways, new ideologies or worldviews of a political or religious nature can function as ‘mental retreats’, narrating new forms of insulated certainty that can become socially rooted. This is a global phenomenon (cf. Russia, South East Asia, the Middle East) but also holds for several African societies,¹ and can be reinforced by the workings of the international system.
Studies are envisaged into transformations of social (class) and ethnic conflict, religious confrontations and conflicts around resources (linked to the study of criminal networks).

1. A major study of how wrong things can go is: A. de Waal (ed.), Islamism and its Enemies in the Horn of Africa (London: C. Hurst & Co., 2004).

Research Projects:

a. Political cultures in Ethiopia: intersections of the national and the local
G.J. Abbink

The project addresses trajectories of political change in Ethiopia and the wider Horn on both national and local levels. Constituent factors of politics, governance and social/political movements will be explored to explain the relatively high levels of conflict and resistance in the Horn countries. The conflicts have both local and national aspects, and the way they interlock is an important object of study. Conflicts are not always state-generated but have local roots in economic, social and sometimes religious differences, but are brought out in new context of politics. Conflict-generating and conflict-mitigating processes or institutions, such as customary law frameworks, will be studied. Identity questions still loom large in disputes and conflicts in Ethiopia and other Horn countries, and emerge in a multi-ethnic setting where ethnicity is an officially defined civic identity. Apart from the fact that these conflicts may be based in resource scarcity (or in some cases relative abundance compared to adjacent areas or groups), they also have a 'feedback' impact on systems of natural resource management and food production. Livelihoods are influenced, resources are restricted or removed and people's physical conditions are endangered. The project explores the social, economic and political causes of the strains on food production and productive capacity and their impact on people's livelihoods, 'identity' struggles and social and community relations.

b. The long-term impact of conflict and violence on food production systems and food security in Africa
J.W.M. van Dijk and G.J. Abbink

Recently, conflicts over resources have been placed centre stage in social science research. However, apart from the fact that these conflicts may be based in resource scarcity (or abundance) in a context of population growth and climate change, they also have an impact on systems of natural resource management and food production. This impact has rarely been a subject of research although its influence may have been long-lasting in conflicts, land-tenure systems, infrastructure and knowledge change. Livelihoods are influenced, resources are restricted or removed and people's physical conditions are endangered. This may have a long-term negative impact on people's livelihoods and the way in which food production systems function. Previous research in Chad and in Central Ethiopia indicates that this is indeed the case.

c. Pastoralism, nature conservation and natural resource management in Africa
J.W.M. van Dijk

Nomadic pastoralism is increasingly under threat as competing demands are made on natural resources by nature conservation, agriculture and forestry. International environmental NGOs, European Union and national governments therefore seek to intervene in pastoral systems in order to ensure the conservation of nature and wildlife resources. Pastoralists on their side organize themselves to have better political representation and forma countervailing power.