FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2004
The international community must develop a special approach to the problem of big African states, which are the most unstable and least successful on the continent, argues a new paper, “Africa’s Big States: Toward a New Realism,” from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Forty years after independence, big African states are still struggling to find political systems that can hold together their diverse populations. Authors Jeffrey Herbst, Greg Mills, and Marina Ottaway argue that it is now time to consider rethinking old formulas.
The policy outlook paper—a collaborative effort among the Carnegie Endowment, the South African Institute for International Affairs, and the Political Science Department of Princeton University—considers the examples of Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Angola and analyzes the trend of dysfunctionality that runs in each. Since most domestic and international efforts to address these countries’ problems have failed, the international community needs to reconsider three widely accepted ideas: that the territorial integrity of all African states should be preserved at all costs; that federalism is always the solution in large states; and that large states must become regional peacekeepers and be charged with re-establishing order in smaller countries.
The authors argue that while the international community should not advocate the partition of large African states, it should accept the inevitability of dissolution for those chronically incapable of finding a formula for unity. Federal solutions also need to be examined closely, because they are likely to encourage the formation of regions based on ethnicity and religion. Finally, large, dysfunctional states need to focus on solving their internal problems and are not in a position to take on additional burdens. Access “Africa’s Big States: Toward a New Realism” at www.carnegieendowment.org/democracy.
Jeffrey Herbst is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and Chair of the Department of Politics. Greg Mills is the National Director of the South African Institute of International Affairs, a policy research institute based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Marina Ottaway is a Senior Associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
This policy outlook paper is based on a research project on big African states led by Jeffrey Herbst and Greg Mills, with the participation of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.