Abstract
The notion of civil society, like that of the state, is not new to political theory.2 It is now being introduced into the political analysis of Africa largely because the (over)emphasis on the role of the state has led to a definition of the political sphere as being virtually coterminous with the politics of the state. As the interpretative capacity of state-centred conceptual frameworks has decreased over time, it has become quite evident that political scientists have been led astray by the mirage of high politics: constitutions, parties, governments, parliaments, ideology, etc.
In this chapter I am inspired by Bayart’s work: Bayart, 1979 and 1989; ‘La politique par le bas en Afrique noire’, Politique africaine, 1 (1981); ‘La revanche des sociétés africaines’, Politique africaine, 11 (1983); ‘Les sociétés africaines face à l’État’, Pouvoirs, 25 (1983); ‘La société politique camerounaise (1982–1986)’, Politique africaine, 22 (1986); ‘L’hypothése totalitaire dans le Tiers Monde’, in G. Hermet (ed.), Totalitarismes (Paris: Economica, 1984); and, of course, ‘Civil Society in Africa’, in Chabal 1986.
In this chapter I am inspired by Bayart’s work: Bayart, 1979 and 1989; ‘La politique par le bas en Afrique noire’, Politique africaine, 1 (1981); ‘La revanche des sociétés africaines’, Politique africaine, 11 (1983); ‘Les sociétés africaines face à l’État’, Pouvoirs, 25 (1983); ‘La société politique camerounaise (1982– 1986)’, Politique africaine, 22 (1986); ‘L’hypothése totalitaire dans le Tiers Monde’, in G. Hermet (ed.), Totalitarismes (Paris: Economica, 1984)
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In this chapter I am inspired by Bayart’s work: Bayart, 1979 and 1989; ‘La politique par le bas en Afrique noire’, Politique africaine, 1 (1981); ‘La revanche des sociétés africaines’, Politique africaine, 11 (1983); ‘Les sociétés africaines face à l’État’, Pouvoirs, 25 (1983); ‘La société politique camerounaise (1982–1986)’, Politique africaine, 22 (1986); ‘L’hypothése totalitaire dans le Tiers Monde’, in G. Hermet (ed.), Totalitarismes (Paris: Economica, 1984)
On civil society: P. Clastres, La société contre l’État (Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1974)
C. Lefort, L’invention démocratique (Paris: Fayard, 1981)
M. Foucault, La volonté de savoir (Paris: Gallimard, 1976)
M. de Certeau, L’invention du quotidien (Paris: UGE, 1980)
G. Althabe, Oppression et libération dans l’imaginaire (Paris: Maspéro, 1969)
M. Augé, Théorie des pouvoirs et idéologie (Paris: Hermann, 1975)
There is some similarity here with the situation in Eastern Europe before 1990: on how Solidarity became the voice of civil society, see Lech Walesa, Un chemin d’espoir (Paris: Fayard, 1987).
On students’ political role: W. Hanna, University Students and African Politics (New York: Africans, 1975)
I. Kopytoff (ed.), The African Frontier (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987).
Mau-Mau is a clear example: R. Buijtenhuijs, Le mouvement ‘Mau-Mau’: une révolte paysanne et anticoloniale en Afrique noire (The Hague: Mouton, 1971)
D.L. Barnett and K. Njama, Mau Mau from Within (New York: Modern Reader, 1970)
C. Rosberg and J. Nottingham, The Myth of Mau Mau: Nationalism in Kenya (New York: Praeger, 1966)
D. Throup, Economic and Social Origins of Mau-Mau, 1945–1953 (London: Currey, 1 987)
T. Kanogo, Squatters and the Roots of Mau-Mau, 1905–1963 (London: Currey, 1987).
See here Cabral’s comments in ‘Resistência Cultural’, in Analise de Alguns Tipos de Resistência (Lisbon: Seara Nova, 1974).
On India: L. and S. Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967)
E. Shils, The Indian Intellectual between Tradition and Modernity (The Hague: Mouton, 1961)
M. Singer, When a Great Tradition Modernizes (London: Pall Mall, 1972).
See J. Lonsdale (ed.), South Africa in Question (London: Currey, 1988).
See M. Watts, Silent Violence (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983).
Iliffe, 1987; Polly Hill, Dry Grain Farming Families (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
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© 1992 Patrick Chabal
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Chabal, P. (1992). Civil Society. In: Power in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12468-8_5
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