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African Politics
Key Terms from An Introduction to African Politics by Alex Thomson
61
Political Studies
Undergraduate 3
03/15/2011

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Term
Arbitrary borders
Definition
State boundaries reflecting imperial interests, rather than local economic, social, or political realities
Term
Bureaucratic autocracy
Definition
A system of government that relies on coercion rather than legitimacy, and seeks to administer a territory avoiding public representation and accountability
Term
Cash Crop
Definition
Agricultural product grown for export
Term
Core and peripheral states
Definition
The notion that the international system consists of wealthy states, which have enhanced their economic position by exploiting and 'underdeveloping' those territories on the periphery of the international system (the Third World)
Term
Export of surplus
Definition
The export of profits, denying investment opportunities in the country of origin
Term
Indirect rule
Definition
A system of colonial administration favouring the use of intermediaries, and offering a degree of devolution, rather than full-scale central government intervention
Term
Irredentism
Definition
The desire to united under one flag a community that is currently divided
Term
Lineage and kinship lines
Definition
Social bonds based on ties of family, clan and descent
Term
Primary sector
Definition
Economic activity (such as mining and agriculture) other than secondary manufacturing industry or the service sector
Term
Scramble for Africa
Definition
Late nineteenth and early twentieth century partition of Africa among European imperial powers.  
Term
State elite
Definition
An educated and urban class which owes its privileges to its access to state institutions
Term
Stateless society
Definition
A society whose political organization does not rely on strictly defined territory and centralized political institutions
Term
Underdevelopment
Definition
The systematic holding back of a state's economic potential to serve an imperial power's interests instead
Term
African socialism
Definition
A strain of socialism built more on African 'traditional values' (village communalism and co-operation) than the class struggle of classical Marxism-Leninism
Term
Ideology
Definition
A lifeguiding system of beliefs, values and goals affecting political style and action
Term
Nation
Definition
A collection of people bound together by common values and traditions, often sharing the same language, history and an affiliation to a geographical area
Term
nationalism
Definition
The desire that the nation should be housed in its own sovereign state
Term
Nation-building
Definition
The post-independence attempts to unite peoples, and develop economies, within Africa's inherited colonial boundaries
Term
OAU inviolable borders
Definition
The agreement among most OAU members in 1963 that the inherited colonial boundaries should remain, and be respected.
Term
Populism
Definition
A political movement favoring the wishes and interests of ordinary people
Term
Scientific socialism
Definition
A strain of socialism based on the class analysis of Karl Marx, later developed by V.I. Lenin
Term
Separatism
Definition
The desire for a region within a state to secede, forming its own (or joining another) sovereign state.
Term
State capitalism
Definition
A policy that assists (local and foreign) free market activity, but still involved heavy state intervention in the economy
Term
Structural adjustment
Definition
Loan programs that require borrowing countries to liberalize both their economies and public policy.
Term
Tribalism
Definition
The charge that groups continue to hold divisive 'outdated' ethnic allegiances that counter the state's goal of national unity.
Term
Centralization of the state
Definition
The process whereby power is drained from civil society and 'peripheral' institutions of the state, and concentrated instead within the core executive.
Term
Clientelism
Definition
A largely instrumental political relationship between an individual of higher socio-economic status (the patron) who uses his own influence and resources to provide protection or benefits, or both, for a person of lower status (the client) who, for their part, reciprocates by offering general support and assistance to the patron
Term
Client-patron network
Definition
The series of vertical links that bind patron and client, where the client of one patron often commands their own patronage network lower down the chain.
Term
Legal-rational political order
Definition
political authority built on impersonal state institutions which rule respecting acknowledged patterns of rules
Term
neo-patrimonial rule
Definition
Where patrimonial rule is exercised through the remnants of legal-rational institutions.
Term
One party state
Definition
Where formal political mobilisation is channelled through a single state-sponsored party
Term
Patrimonial rule
Definition
Political authority based on an individual, where the state iself, and the affairs of state, are the personal interests of the ruler.  All within this political system owe their position and loyalty to the one leader
Term
Personal rule
Definition
A system of government where one individual, commanding the heights of state institutions and patron-client networks, enjoys a virtual monopoly on all formal political activity within a territory.
Term
Consolidation of democracy
Definition
Ensuring that the democratic process endures beyond the first multi-party election.  This will be assisted by a favourable political culture, a strong civil society and a supportive economy
Term
Double turnover criteria
Definition
The view that the democratic process has not been proven until elections have removed two regimes fairly and peacefully from office
Term
Military veto
Definition
Where the military instigates a coup d'etat in order the block the civilian political process
Term
Political culture
Definition
The shared political ideas, attitudes and beliefs that underlie a society
Term
Rejuvenation of civil society
Definition
A reference to the revitalisation of African associational life in the 1980s and 1990s caused by organizations de-linking themselves from government co-option and by civil society moving into political space vacated by the state
Term
re-legitimising the state
Definition
State efforts to forge new links with civil society in the wake of the crises of legitimacy and governance
Term
Vanity party
Definition
A political party acting more as a vehicle for the personal interests of its leader, rather genuinely aggregating demands emanating from society
Term
Breakthrough coup
Definition
Where the military acts in the vanguard of a revolution, replacing tradition political institutions with more radical structures of government
Term
Coercive power
Definition
The use or threat of violence to achieve a political or social purpose
Term
guardian coup
Definition
Where the military ousts a failing government, allegedly in the national interest
Term
Political authority
Definition
A psychological relationship, between the governed and their governors, which engenders a belief that state personnel and institutions should be obeyed
Term
Political culture
Definition
Commonly held political ideas, attitudes and behaviour that permeate a society
Term
Professional ethic
Definition
The acceptance that the military should remain under political control, and not use its capacity to inflict violence in an effort to influence the political process
Term
veto coup
Definition
Where the military intervenes to arrest political transition, protecting its corporate interests
Term
Animist beliefs
Definition
Those traditional beliefs that the physical world is controlled by many kinds of spirits, of the earth, rivers, rain, etc.  May also involve ancestor worship
Term
distributive politics
Definition
A style of politics where state resources are distributed according to demand, rather than to need.  Political calculations override social or economic considerations
Term
Ethnic arithmetic
Definition
Calculations required to ensure that all ethnic groups within a society receive an appropriate share of state resources
Term
Ethnic brokers
Definition
Intermediaries or members of the state elite who represent the interests of, and seek resources for, their ethnic group
Term
Ethnic group
Definition
A community of people who have the conviction that they have a common identity and common fate based on issues of origin, kinship ties, traditions, cultural uniqueness, a shared history and possibly a shared language
Term
Hegemonial exchange
Definition
Where the state, unable to completely assert its hegemony over ethnic groups, exchanges resources and patronage in return for political compliance
Term
Instrumental ethnicity
Definition
Where members seek to become part of an ethnic group because it is in their interests to do so
Term
Islamic republic
Definition
A state where government is based on the laws of shari'a
Term
Islamist politics
Definition
Those groups and individuals seeking to establish and Islamic republic
Term
Jihad
Definition
The spiritual struggle to adhere to Islam's teachings.  This may be simply an individual's daily struggle with faith or warfare to protect or expand the Islamic community
Term
Primordial ethnicity
Definition
The idea that ethnic affiliations are relatively static and loyalties pre-destined, 'tribes' having been formed in the mists of time
Term
Shari'a
Definition
A series of laws interpreted from the Koran regulation both public policy and personal conduct
Term
'Tribalism'
Definition
A derogatory accusation used by nationalists, which considers ethnic identities to be retrogressive and harmful to the development of modern nation-states
Term
Winning coalitions
Definition
A coalition 'large enough to secure benefits in the competition for spoils but also small enought to maximise the per-capita value of these benefits
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