Revisiting Governance: Extended Statehood in Africa and Beyond

Authors

  • Olaf Bachmann Olaf Bachmann is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London
  • 'Funmi Olonisakin Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at King’s College London and Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47697/lds.3434800

Keywords:

multi-level governance, extended statehood, African state-building, Max Weber

Abstract

This article sets the theme for this issue. Weberian understanding of statehood has been valid and dominant for 100 years. However, it no longer reflects the complex dynamics of the superstructure resting on the social contract. One must acknowledge the widening frame of social and political influence and take it into account to make true sense of decades of failure in attempted state-building. Africa provides the scene for this argument as original focus of an ALC research project on the State in, and of, the Global South. Resulting from empirical evidence and analysis, this article not only offers the post-Weberian model of Extended Statehood, but also suggests its applicability within the realities of multilevel governance. Formal political order, even if remaining essential, has become a co-dependent element subject to fluctuating spheres of power. This research makes such dynamics visible.

 

Author Biographies

Olaf Bachmann , Olaf Bachmann is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London

Olaf Bachmann holds a PhD in War Studies (King’s College London), and a MA (Distinction) in War in the Modern World. He is co-founder of a consultancy in the fields of security governance, and institution building, and relevant publishing. As a visiting senior research fellow at King’s the focus of his research and writing is on the African Peace and Security Architecture, and the history and contemporary state of African military and warfare. He spent many years of field research in Central Africa, mainly in Gabon, Cameroon, Rwanda, and The DRC and the Republic of Congo. He is member of the Royal African Society, and of the War Studies Africa Research Group at King’s College London, where he teaches at the African Leadership Centre on Governance of Security and State Formation. He spent much of 2019 as visiting scholar at the German Armed Forces Social Science Research Service. War Studies is his second career after many years in publishing and the book trade.

'Funmi Olonisakin, Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at King’s College London and Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

'Funmi Olonisakin is a founding member of the African Leadership Centre, which aims to build the next generation of African scholars generating cutting edge knowledge for security and development in Africa; and was Director of the Conflict, Security and Development Group (CSDG) at King’s (2003 to 2013). Prior to this, she worked in the Office of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. In 2015, she was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, as one of seven members of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) on the Review of the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture. She was also appointed in 2016 as a member of the Advisory Group of Experts for the United Nations Progress Study on 'Youth, peace and security'. She serves on the board of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and Chairs the Africa Regional Advisory Committee of the Open Society Foundation. The University of Pretoria appointed 'Funmi as an Extra-Ordinary Professor in the Department of Political Sciences in 2016. In 2018, the Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) invited her to join the Council of the United Nations University.

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Published

2020-12-23

How to Cite

Bachmann , O., & Olonisakin, ’Funmi. (2020). Revisiting Governance: Extended Statehood in Africa and Beyond. Leadership and Developing Societies, 5(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.47697/lds.3434800

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2020): Theories of Statehood and Multi-level Governance

Section

RESEARCH ARTICLES

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