Now available: The Limits of Democracy and the Postcolonial Nation State
Available in paperback and as Kindle ebook on Amazon
Peace is possible. Humans need hope. Even in the worst of times, we have to believe that better times will come. Nigeria’s General Clément Dayo Olukoju (we became friends through the European Peace University and the peace journalism network TRANSCEND – in the days when he was still a colonel) says wisely:
“In peace building it is not the number of the times you fail that matters, but the number of times you are able to overcome disappointments.”
Therefore I have now republished in a Second Edition (available in paperback and as ebook) – a book that emerged from my partnership with Raffaella Greco, one of our EPES Mandala consultants, a brilliant Italian lady living in Brussels who is a specialist on migrations. She is also a successful Italian novelist.
FIND THE BOOK ONLINE here
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Peace in Mali? Post-colonial Nation States are failing. This case-study of Mali is a reprise of Nigeria–Biafra, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and many other artificial States run by elites with no legitimacy. Mali’s disintegration was accelerated by Columbia drug cartels corrupting the ungoverned Sahara desert en route to Algeria and European drug markets. Terrorism? 20+ armed groups are presented, but the authors argue that Al Qaida and the Islamic State are labels: they bring respectability to organized crime, and large military budgets for corrupt generals (including Algerian and NATO generals). Their Conclusion: Mali is a victim of extractive (oil, uranium), military, mafia and religious corporations, all of whom are more powerful that any one Sahelian State.
“Someone in power in Brussels told my co-author Raffaella: “You are crazy to sign a book like this. It will damage your career.”
So we must be saying things in our book that are close to revealing uncomfortable truths. I hope you will read it, recommending it to your students and friends.”
Professor Jeremy Keenan writes from SOAS, London: “I must say that it really is an excellent - eye-opening - piece of work. And I love the layout - chapter structures, headings and conversations, etc. I cannot praise it too highly. It is without doubt the best work ever written on contemporary Mali.”
Dr Ibrahim Bangura writes from Sierra Leone: “Here is a comprehensive, well-written account of Mali’s recent history. To enrich their arguments, the authors use a unique approach, presenting conversations with key political figures, mediators and commentators, giving voice to Malian people. The conversations present perspectives that could not be found in any other. This is a major work of scholarship, providing unique insights into the security and socio-economic development of the very-strategic Sahel and Sahara region.”
This is not a book of jokes. This is about politics, peace and disarmament: indispensable for students of West Africa, of Sahara security, of development and disarmament, of terrorists and migrations.
There are some original ideas to discover and some challenging political themes that offer very new ways of looking at the problems of Africa. Here are some key themes:
+ Civil society is one of the Five Pillars of the West African State; CSOs form the second most important pillar after the Executive. Western political theory works with three pillars; in Africa we have five.
+ There is no such thing as a “Clash of Civilizations” – this is a political slogan for Neocons.
+ Africa suffers from a Clash of Corporations: extractive corporations (oil-gas-uranium); military corporations both private and public; international organized crime mafia corporations; and religious corporations with very political agendas. Many overlap (religion-crime-military groups, for example).
+ There is no such thing as “religious terrorism” or “Islamic terrorism” : these are labels that bring respectability to cover criminal activity. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is led by drug smugglers, many of whom are agents run by Algerian military intelligence.
+ Migrations are a result of poverty, lack of investment, few youth opportunities and political alienation. Those are the major drivers of migration to Europe; and they provide recruits for organized crime and terrorism. Economic investment in frontier areas is urgently needed.
+ Increasing the militarization of Africa’s frontiers is absurd. The EU funds “hardening frontiers” by equipping armed forces, whose corrupt behaviour simply increases out-migration.
+ The social economy is the best source of job creation and poverty alleviation in the Sahel. The private and public are weak. The social economy provides opportunities for women especially.
+ Women in West Africa are very powerful; but their social power has been undermined by the Nation State. Post-colonial Nation State are run by men controlling colonial language and laws.
+ The Nation State is failing through a lack of legitimacy: urban elections provide ‘legality’ but not ‘legitimacy’. African groups in frontier regions feel excluded and neglected by urban elites.
+ As a result of the lack of legitimacy, funding ministries is a poor route to development.
+ The Western ‘3-yr project cycle’ is an accounting concept that undermines ‘development’ work. Unless donors fund programs lasting 7- 25 years, they will have little or no impact. “Counting books” is not the same as “teaching children” (which has a project cycle of 12 years).
+ Corruption involves two sets of partners: corruptors with money, and the corrupted with desires. African political urban elites have been corrupted. Colombian cocaine crosses the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara Desert with NATO’s knowledge and complicity.
+ “Development” and “democracy” use the colonial languages, creating ever-widening gulfs between rich and poor … not unlike the way “liberal democracy” has been failing in Europe and America. The elites are increasingly alienated from their populations. The “mechanisms of democracy” have been hijacked by rich corporations. Unless the West strengthens its own civil society and diffuses power from the educated elites through intermediate institutions (trade unions, credit unions, associations of small towns working together), then the Western model will fail and a Chinese or Russian model will become preferred all over the world.
TO KNOW MORE, you can read :
Dr Ibrahim BANGURA’s BOOK REVIEWs published in 2017 HERE and HERE
Ibrahim Bangura is a lecturer at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He has worked extensively in the fields of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants, security sector reform, and sustainable livelihoods. Dr. Bangura is MA in Political Science and Gender Studies (Sierra Leone), and PhD in Economics (Leipzig, Germany).
and also:
Dr VALERIE YANKEY WAYNE’s book review published 2017 HERE
Valerie is an expert in African security and disarmament issues, an advisor to ministers, presidents and the African Union, and a frequent United Nations security expert.
Her doctorate from the University of Calgary in Canada, compared pre-colonial African states to the European model, to see whether similar factors influenced security competition and a motivation to maximize military power. Her Asante case study suggests African philosophy is a better fit.
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THE FRENCH TRANSLATION of this book is also available on AMAZON
UNE TRADUCTION EN FRANÇAIS des points essentiels du livre anglais, se trouve dans l’oeuvre suivante sur AMAZON et au Mali chez La Sahélienne.
