Seminar: Sociale kontrakter og sikkerhed i afrikanske konfliktstater syd for Sahara

TIME: Thursday, 27 October, 13.00-14.30

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

TIME: Thursday, 27 October, 13.00-14.30

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

The seminar will have professor David K. Leonard presenting work in progress from fieldwork in the DR Congo, Sierra Leone and Somalia to show that assumptions derived from the classical social contract theorists frequently lead the international community astray as it attempts to rebuild these African states

Those contemplating the reconstruction of order in conflict states frequently cite the social contract.

First, the historical and foundational social contract for most Africans is not between the state and individuals but is instead with communities.

Second, when it comes to security, there are two contracts and two bargains to consider instead of the one of classical presumptions.

The contracts are:
(1) community governance structures with local families; and
(2) the state with community governance systems, with supplemental ties to individuals.

The bargains are:
(3) the regime with the military; and
(4) the state with the international community.

Third, the military is frequently a source of predation on communities rather than of protection. And fourth, the dynamics of these contracts can be in conflict with one another.

Speaker:
David K. Leonard, formerly Dean of International and Area Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and now Professorial Fellow at Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex, David K. Leonard has spent his career, dating back to 1963, working on governance issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has lived for over a dozen years in four African countries and done short-term work in another 17.

His graduate teaching and supervision of doctoral candidates have covered governance issues in the whole of the developing world.

The theme underlying most of his work has been methods of improving the delivery of public services in the rural areas of Africa, both directly through managerial and policy reform and indirectly through partnerships with private actors. He has contributed to organization theory, the New Institutional Economics, and comparative politics and administration.

PROGRAMME:

13.00-13.05: Introduction; Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Senior Researcher, DIIS

13.05-13.45: Social Contracts and Security in Sub-Saharan African Conflict States; David K. Leonard, Professorial Fellow, IDS

13.45-14.30: Open Discussion

Chair: Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Senior Researcher, DIIS

The seminar will be held in English.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use the online registration form from the website no later than Wednesday, 26 October 2010 at 12.00 noon.

Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation.