African Anarchy: Is it the States, Regimes, or Societies That are Collapsing?
| Author | Bruce Baker |
| Published date | 01 September 1999 |
| Date | 01 September 1999 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9256.00096 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
African Anarchy: Is itAfrican Anarchy: Is it
the States, Regimes, orthe States, Regimes, or
Societies that areSocieties that are
Collapsing?Collapsing?
Bruce Baker
African states have had their functions so
weakened that some speak of collapse and
anarchy; hence they con¯ate the collapse of
state services with the collapse of a regime
and with the collapse of social order. In fact
the three are not synonymous. Though the
state, de®ned in institutional terms, may col-
lapse, there are examples that regimes can
live on through their retention of juridical
status and through the establishment of an
informal and parallel state system. Even
when all central control evaporates, militia-
run structures or more traditional kinship
organisations have been found in some cir-
cumstances, preventing total social disorder.
Surprise that communal organisation exists
beyond the state only reveals deep-rooted
normative assumptions.
The `weak' state with its low penetration and
low capacity to regulate social relationships,
or to extract and allocate resources, is a
familiar concept (e.g. Migdal, 1988). Policies
are not adequately designed or implemented,
taxes are collected haphazardly, medical and
educational services are reduced to a mini-
mum, roads deteriorate, civil servants are paid
irregularly and large portions of the popula-
tion ignore legislation or even set up parallel
political authorities and service provision.
Since the 1980s the resources available to
African states, in particular, have deteriorated
rapidly, due to a combination of ineective
economic performance, poor government
and violent con¯ict. Weakness has increas-
ingly looked more like in®rmity, as public ser-
vices, law enforcement, or even the visible
presence of the state in rural areas, have
crumbled (e.g. Bierschenk and de Sardan,
1997). The World Bank recalls the report
commissioned by some of Africa's ®nance
ministers, which concluded that `the majority
of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa now have
lower capability (including state capability)
than they did at independence' and adds:
`Typically, the reach and eectiveness of
the state have withered away, and perforce
the state has in eect withdrawn . . . even
from areas that are its legitimate function.
An institutional vacuum of signi®cant pro-
portions has emerged in many parts of
Sub-Saharan Africa. . .'(World Bank, 1997, p.
162).
Given that states hardly ventured beyond their
Politics (1999) 19(3) pp. 131±138
#Political Studies Association 1999. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK
and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 131
Bruce Baker, Coventry University
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