Decentralization and Power-Sharing in Africa

Governance and Development Workshop: Notes on Power-Sharing and Decentralization

As part of an effort to reach out to new constituencies and expand the dialogue with policy makers, the African Studies Association collaborated with the Local Arrangements Committee for the 2011 Annual Meeting to organize workshops the day before the conference formally began. American University’s School of International Service, with generous support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, organized a workshop under the theme “Governance and Development.” The half-day meeting focused on decentralization and power-sharing as two institutional trends deserving some rethinking.

Re-Assessing Decentralization in Africa

One set of discussions focused on decentralization, which was a popular prescription during Africa’s transitions to democracy in the 1990s. Political reformers praised decentralization as an institutional antidote to years of dictatorship and centralization, and also as an engine of the free market. Development agencies variously embraced decentralization as a means of combating corruption or stimulating participation through community empowerment.

However performance monitoring by implementers and new academic research reveal a mixed empirical record. This has led to a more cautious and holistic approach to decentralization. Professor J. Tyler Dickovick from Washington and Lee University served as a lead consultant for a USAID project rethinking and re-researching decentralization, which has culminated in an important study entitled Comparative Assessment of Decentralization in Africa. He is also the author of Decentralization and Recentralization in the Developing World: Comparative Studies from Africa and Latin America. You can download Professor Dickovick’s PowerPoint presentation here.

In addition to the paper describing the overall framework, USAID also commissioned ten studies to assess the status of decentralization in specific countries such Botswana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. These studies are based on the academic literature and some fieldwork. Workshop participants raised concerns some about the research design driving the choice of case studies. USAID anticipates that the country studies are effectively “pilots” that will form the basis for more comprehensive future research. Frankly, I find this a refreshing approach to applied knowledge and I hope that USAID’s budget continues to allow them to re-evaluate their thinking on a macro level — taking a step back from (the equally important) performance monitoring and daily drumbeat of proposals.

Richard Asante from the University of Ghana also outlined new research on decentralization coming out of the Institute of African Studies in Legon. The panel was moderated by Gina Lambright, an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University. Check out excerpts from her important new book, Decentralization in Uganda: Explaining Success and Failures in Local Governance.

The State of Power-Sharing in Africa

Professor Scott Gates, the Director for the Centre for the Study of Civil War at the Peace Research Institute at Oslo (PRIO)

A second set of discussions during the workshop centered on power-sharing. These pacts, designed to bring together a broad range of political parties and stakeholders, have become a familiar component of conflict resolution. As I have pointed out in my own research though, recent analyses raise questions about the efficacy and appropriateness of this inclusive governance strategy, particularly when applied as a solution to flawed elections. Professor Scott Gates, from Norway’s Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) outlined the principle tradeoffs entailed in Africa’s recent power sharing agreements. You can also download a copy of his presentation, “Fragile Bargains: Civil Conflict and Power-Sharing in Africa.“ Building on the conceptual framework developed at PRIO, he distinguishes between dispersed and inclusive power-sharing and then outlines some of the current problems facing African agreements. You might also be interested in his forthcoming book, edited with Kaare Strøm on power-sharing.

Patrick Hajayandi, a Lecturer at Hope Africa University and a PhD candidate in Russia, delivered an unconventional analysis of Burundi’s power-sharing arrangement. His paper, based on his based on his dissertation, shows how Burndi’s agreement has managed to stop the fighting by bringing rebel groups to the table and empowering disenfranchised communities. However new regionally-based cleavages are replacing these factional identities, and they pose no less of a threat for peace and stability. While moderating the session, I added that because the power-sharing agreement is based on fixed quotas, even a modest level of change in the proportional distribution of Burundi’s ethnic groups would alter the balance of representation. In a region with a history of huge migrations due to poverty and violence, this is not unlikely.

Imani Countess, NDI Country Director for Zimbabwe and ASA Board Member

Professor Adrienne LeBas raised some related concerns about power-sharing during the discussion. Her importantnew book, From Protest to Parties: Party-Building in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2011) shows how the propensity for violence, and the likelihood of transcending parochial cleavages, depends on the type of authoritarian legacy in Africa’s “hybrid” regimes. Nicolas Cheeseman, the author of another important paper in the Journal of Modern African Studies about the perils of power-sharing in Kenya and Zimbabwe, was also among the many insightful workshop participants. Imani Countess, who is currently the Zimbabwe Country Director for the National Democratic Institute, offered critical notes from the field.

The ASA has issued a call for workshops for the 2012 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. I hope to see you there…I plan to attend the workshop on African cooking!

January 24, 2012 · admin · No Comments
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