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Development Studies

Civil Society and Development in West Africa: Issues, Problems and Doubts

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In the wake of the Jasmine Revolution which convulsed large parts of the Arab world in the spring of 2011, questions have been asked about the feasibility of transplanting the germ of discontent into the political soil of Sub-Saharan Africa. Not unexpectedly, a focal point of such excited discussions has been the assumed agency of civil society. For instance, early analyses of the role of social media in popular mobilisations in the affected countries appear to have settled on the consensus that they are important denominators of an ebullient civil society. While not expressly articulated, it is nonetheless implied that a strong civil society was the driving social force behind the Arab spring. There are key lessons to be drawn from the foregoing as one ponders the ramifications of civil society in West Africa, particularly in relation to the subject of development - a moving target in its own right. The first is that for all its undoubted currency, civil society remains notoriously difficult to pin down. Second, even if its properties and institutional forms could be established, assumptions about what civil society can or cannot accomplish are always fraught.

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English
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978-9988-1-7779-9
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Development
Socio-economic
problems
civil society
social force
region
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Working Paper
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