Beyond Criminal Justice: Toward a New Paradigm for Political Settlement in Africa
Mass violence in contemporary Africa typically occurs in cycles. Months or years after one wave of violence is brought to an end, another wave overtakes it. Peace agreements are swept away and yesterday's victims emerge as today's perpetrators. Research explains these cycles of violence by pointing to state and institutional weaknesses as perpetuating the violence. More precisely, the state and its institutions tend to fail to uphold the political settlement and promote broad-based public support for it. As a result, development agencies have invested billions of dollars into state-building enterprises based on the logic that a stronger state would be better positioned to escape the conflict trap. This project challenges this dominant perspective by arguing that it is not the state's weakness that has led to repeated cycles of mass violence in Africa, but rather that the very nature of the state-society relationship is to blame. Put simply, the answer lies in understanding how these cycles of violence are intertwined with how the modern African state has used ethnic politics to shape and divide society. The project also aims to determine the ways in which political settlements can provide a foundation for sustainable peace, or further polarize communities and set the stage for resumed conflict based on levels of inclusiveness. Its objectives include: -to generate knowledge about political settlements that follow or precede episodes of mass violence; -to expand options and expertise available to those negotiating political settlements and to the policy community; -to develop a new generation of scholars who can actively participate in and guide African-initiated peace and justice processes; and, -to enable Makerere Institute of Social Research in Kampala, Uganda, to establish itself at the center of academic and policy debates on peace-building and state-building issues. The research team will conduct a comparative analysis of six cases: Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya (the Rift Valley), South Sudan (Darfur), Rwanda, and Burundi. They will demonstrate how divergent approaches to establishing a framework for peace can promote or break cycles of violence. In each case, researchers will test the hypothesis that political settlements that promote more inclusive political and social reform processes among communities of survivors provide the foundation for more durable and sustainable peace.
Project ID
107453
Project Status
Completed
End Date
Duration
24 months
IDRC Officer
Ramata Thioune
Total Funding
CA$ 396,143.00
Location
Burundi
Kenya
Mozambique
Rwanda
South Sudan
Uganda
Programs
Governance and Justice
Governance and Justice
Institution Country
Uganda
Project Leader
Prof. Mahmood Mamdani
Institution
Makerere University
Institution Website
Outputs
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Justice and peace after war : conceptual difficulties in the discourses of transition and reform in post-war societies Study
This paper explains conceptual lapses in the discourses of transition and Author(s): Ocen, Laury Language: English |
Beyond Nuremberg : the historical significance of the post-apartheid transition in South Africa Study
The end of apartheid has been exceptionalized as an improbable outcome produced by the exceptionality of Nelson Mandela. It is thus said that the violence of Africa’s civil wars results from a culture of impunity among African leaders, and calls for punishment rather than political reform. This essay asserts the core relevance of the South African transition as an exemplar for ending civil wars in the rest of Africa. Whereas Nuremberg shaped the notion of criminal justice, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) calls on us to think of justice as primarily political. Author(s): Mamdani, Mahmood Language: English |
| Politics of indigeneity : land restitution in Burundi Study
Political reform in Burundi has sought to resolve the land question, using the law, itself a product of political violence, as a way to render justice to victims of the past. This paper shows how land ownership becomes central to belonging in the nation-state and how indigeneity and ethnicity are reasserted through land after violence. The paper is divided in three sections: the first traces the history and connections between land tenure, indigeneity, ethnicity, violence and the law. The second section looks at policy on land restitution, while the third frames the debate on land restitution policy in practice. Author(s): Bangerezako, Haydee Language: English |
What is Kenya becoming : dealing with mass violence in the Rift Valley of Kenya Brief
Kenya has become a land of the landless, alongside huge land acquisitions by others, as well as a country where ethnicity is employed not just as a weapon for fighting this social injustice, but also as an instrument for defending the social injustice. National politics have made Kenyans become apprehensive of each other, ‘those whose leaders are in government’ against ‘those whose leaders are in opposition’. The 2010 Constitution of Kenya reflects some of the independence debates of the majority – minority representation, and the question of devolved government. This paper addresses democratization, and the self-awareness of Kenyans as their own people. Author(s): Omaada, Esibo S. Language: English |
Justice and peace after war : conceptual difficulties in the discourses of transition and reform Brief
The way memory of war is constructed in transitional periods stems from how international agencies, national governments, civil societies, non-governmental organizations, and local actors deploy human and material resources in the servicing of peace and justice. A liberalized rule of law can help transition from war to peace. It regulates social behavior of war parties in post conflict communities. The paper argues that legal inclusiveness is capable of creating a rule of law that facilitates implementation processes of integration, settlement, and reconstruction of post-war societies. Creating “survivability” is a collective work of surviving communities, national, local, and other exogenous entities. Author(s): Ocen, Laury Lawrence Language: English |
Kenya's constitution and institutional reforms after political violence 1991-2010 Brief
This policy brief looks at what the cyclical political violence, Author(s): Akech, Akoko Language: English |
Beyond Nuremberg : learning from the post-apartheid transition in South Africa Brief
The contemporary human rights movement holds up Nuremberg as a Author(s): Mamdani, Mahmood Language: English |
Politics of indigeneity : land restitution in Burundi Brief
The validity of a title deed, or whether a property owner purchased in good faith, has recently been questioned and rejected by the land commission, a body under the auspices of the office of the presidency. In 2015 for over two weeks, both residents ‘abasangwa’ and repatriates ‘abahungutse’, stood together to oppose the Burundi land commission: the Commission Nationale Terres et autres Biens (CNTB, National Commission of land and other Assets), who are revisiting land restitution cases it had previously settled. This policy brief provides an overview of the 2006 land restitution policy, and its major consequences in post-conflict Burundi. Author(s): Bangerezako, Haydee Language: English |
| MISR review, v. 1, issue 1 Study
This paper studies the challenges of land restitution in Burundi Author(s): Akech, Akoko, Bangerezako, Haydee, Omaada Esibo, Simon, Mamdani, Mahmood, Ocen, Laury L. Language: English |
Kitu kichafu sana : Daniel Arap Moi and the dirty business of dismembering Kenya’s body politic Study
Kenya’s return to multi-party politics in 1991 has been defined by campaigns Author(s): Akech, Akoko Language: English |
What is Kenya becoming : dealing with mass violence in the Rift Valley of Kenya Study
This policy brief is divided into three parts: research findings, policy analysis, and recommendations. Daily political and social processes determine what Kenya and Kenyans are becoming. The place where this becoming started was with colonial conquest and the resistance to conquest. The government needs to build institutions that nurture the direct participation in governance of the country by grass roots Kenyans, as well as by addressing the land question in order to reduce biases that reify ethnic identities and violence. Author(s): Omaada, Esibo S. Language: English |