Ethnicity, Class, and the State

Bibliographic Data

ID20082003
AuthorsNaomi Chazan, Robert Mortimer (0000-0001-9578-1310), John Ravenhill, Donald Rothchild
Year1992
Pages105-130
Publication date1992-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenuePolitics and Society in Contemporary Africa (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherMacmillan Education UK (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/978-1-349-12976-8_5
OpenAlexW2469279678
ISBN9781349129768
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited30

Our political interaction approach emphasizes the complexity of the group demands that the African state faces. It assumes a constant engagement of rival interests in the contemporary political arena, an interaction among various groups mobilized to secure public resources from those in authority. These groups—based on ethnicity, region, race, religion, generation, class, and so forth—may be distinct in terms of origins and appeals, but they share common features in the way they organize to engage in a dynamic interplay of conflict and collaboration. In some instances cultural communities succeed in uniting people for some of the primary purposes of existence—cultural fulfillment, belongingness, psychological security, and social intercourse; where this occurs, such communities can play an important role in gathering group members around an intermediary for the purpose of making collective demands on state decisionmakers. The range of these demands varies considerably. Not only do group representatives lay claim to a full share of public political power, protections, economic resources, administrative positions, contracts, awards, and scholarships but they make appeals, sometimes more conflict-laden in their effects, for broad grants of political autonomy and independence

Autonomy · Belongingness · Ethnic group · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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