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Power-sharing in Africa's war zones: how important is the local level?
[journal article]
Abstract Research on power-sharing in Africa remains silent on the effects of national peace agreements on the sub-national level. Conversely, most armed conflicts originate and are fought in (or over) specific areas. A plausible hypothesis would be that for power-sharing to have the desired pacifying effect... view more
Research on power-sharing in Africa remains silent on the effects of national peace agreements on the sub-national level. Conversely, most armed conflicts originate and are fought in (or over) specific areas. A plausible hypothesis would be that for power-sharing to have the desired pacifying effect throughout the national territory, it needs to be extended to the local level. Based on fieldwork in six former hotspots in Liberia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) we find that there is hardly any local content, including local power-sharing, in national agreements. However, contrary to our hypothesis, neither local content (inclusion of actors or interest) nor local-power-sharing (either introducing a local power balance or monopoly) are indispensable to effectively bring about local peace, at least in the short-term. On the contrary, it might even endanger the peace process. The importance of the sub-national level is overestimated in some cases and romanticised in others. However, the history of spatial-political links, centralised policies, and the establishment of local balances or monopolies of power ultimately play an important role.... view less
Keywords
peacekeeping; Burundi; civil war; Liberia; Africa; political power; war; West Africa; peace process; Central Africa; conflict; Democratic Republic of the Congo; domestic security
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Peace and Conflict Research, International Conflicts, Security Policy
Free Keywords
power-sharing
Document language
English
Publication Year
2013
Page/Pages
p. 681-706
Journal
The Journal of Modern African Studies, 51 (2013) 4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X13000645
ISSN
1469-7777
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications
With the permission of the rights owner, this publication is under open access due to a (DFG-/German Research Foundation-funded) national or Alliance license.