Book Review: John L. Comaroff and Jean Comaroff (eds.), Civil Society and the Political Imagination in Africa: Critical Perspectives (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999, 318 pp., no price given hbk.)
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Author | Mathurin C. Houngnikpo |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030910 |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Book Reviews
943
Commission, Council and the Parliament’ (p. 82). Combined with the
characteristic s of commi ttee governance, the politi cal impact is clear: th e process
tends towards consensus and negotiation with no critical, or public, evaluation.
Any attempt by the publi c to follow the lo gic of comitology, as Dogan illus trates in
a quantit ative assess ment of comitology usage, would be fu tile. His statistical
analysis is an impressive em pirical standard for future committee research, but it
also conjures up the unpleasant image o f elite concertation as a n expla nation of
committee growth. Wh ile this vo lume does n ot fully a bandon normative
considerati ons, Weale ’s c onclusion offers a set of output-orient ed criteria,
functional effectiveness, transpare ncy, and deliberat ive rationali ty, which avoids
the discussion of whether committee policy-maki ng needs to be democraticall y
legitimated.
The avowed wish of t he editors is to help ‘place the study of committee
governance firmly o n the research agen da of European in tegration’ (p. 22). Ind eed,
if European integratio n in practical terms is process-b ased, then committe e
governance , crucial part of the political process, must be ful ly explored. By
capturing the most theo retically signific ant subtleties an d complexi ties of
committee gover nance, t his v olume provides an excellent foundation for future
research.
MARK RHINARD
Mark Rhinard is a Research Stu dent at Queens’ College,
Cambridge University
John L. Comaroff and Jean Comar off (eds.), Civil Society and the Political
Imaginati on in Africa: Critic al Perspectives (Chicago: Universi ty of Chicago Press,
1999, 318 pp. , no price given hb k.).
While notions of civil society originate in classical political theory, the
contempora ry distinction between t he state and civi l society stems from the mid-
eighteent h and late nineteenth cen turies. In resp onse to the processes of European
state-build ing, the develo pment of const itutional government, and the spread of
industrial capitalism, scho lars sought to clarify the distinct ion between p ublic and
private interests. They concei ved of civil societ y as a priva te arena, separate an d
autonomo us from the state . However, exte nsive debates failed to clari fy this elusive
concept.
Civil Society and the Political Imagination in Africa is the result of a 199 6
conference, convened by the Committee on African and Afric an-American Studies
at t he University of Chic ago. In a ddition to examining the ‘salience for Africa of
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