Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the roles and practices of customary authorities in solving disputes and preventing community level armed violence in South Sudan. Yet, their influence has its limits and is challenged by interference of political and military interests and prevalent gendered norms.

Paper long abstract:

In 2018, the government of South Sudan and armed opposition groups signed a peace agreement which led to a significant decrease in such fighting. However, in contrast armed conflicts increased at the same time at the community level in different parts of South Sudan. The livelihoods and social identity of agro-pastoralists in South Sudan centres around their cattle and ability to provide for and to defend large herds of livestock in a context of protracted insecurity.

In South Sudan various customary authorities are central in diverse fields including governance, resolving disputes and preventing escalation into armed violence at the community level. Yet, their influence has its limits. In agro-pastoralist communities in Aweil East county (Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state) and Yirol East county (Lakes state), such actors include chiefs, elders, clan heads, cattle camp leaders and traditional spiritual authorities. Each of these actors plays an essential yet particular role; depending on the specific cause of conflict and the involved parties, distinct actors get involved. However, this setting faces several challenges, such as an extended livelihood crisis, interference by individuals from the state and national level pursuing their own political and military interests, as well as prevalent gendered norms that contradict the prevention of armed conflict.

This paper explores the agency, roles, practices and challenges customary authorities face in solving disputes and preventing armed violence. The paper is based on long-term field research in social anthropology conducted between 2007 and 2021 in different parts of South Sudan.

Paper short abstract:

In recent years, self-defense groups (SDGs) in Burkina Faso known as koglweogo, among others, have gained increasing prominence, highlighting the challenges citizens face in contexts of conflict. This paper draws on an original dataset to analyze spatial and temporal patterns in SDG activity.

Paper long abstract:

The monopoly of violence is a defining feature of states that is regularly violated as citizens throughout the world turn to nonstate security providers, including local militias and self-defense groups (SDGs). In recent years, SDGs in Burkina Faso known as koglweogo, rouga, tin kubi u gogu, and dosso/dozo, among others, have gained increasing prominence, highlighting the challenges citizens face in contexts of state weakness and conflict. In such settings, how do citizens navigate among state and nonstate security providers and what impacts their engagement with each? Conventional wisdom suggests that demand-side factors, particularly state weakness and threat, should drive citizens to seek alternative forms of security provision. However, this paper highlights the importance of supply-side factors, including historical institutions and economic resources, which impact the likelihood that citizens engage with self-defense groups. Drawing on an original dataset of 1100 articles from the Burkinabé news media about SDG activity, ACLED conflict event reporting, and a wealth of spatial and qualitative data, I test four key hypotheses about the growth of non-state security provision, related to threat response, state weakness, collective organizing capacity, and economic opportunism connected to mineral extraction. This is the first paper in a larger project on state formation and SDGs in Burkina Faso. The findings shed light on the strategic choices citizens make, often among multiple flawed institutions, in hopes of increasing their security. In doing so, citizens and SDGs shape the nature of the state and state-society relations.

Paper short abstract:

Using the Asantehemaa's court as a case study, and space where disputes such as land access and ritual related matters such as imprecations are resolved in accordance with Akan customary law, the paper explores the roles of Queenmothers in dispute resolution in Ghana.

Paper long abstract:

The discourse on chieftaincy in Ghana has over the years been examined from the male perspective therefore silencing female voice and the place of female traditional leaders. Likewise, the conflict studies literature is saddled with triggers of violent conflict and resolution strategies on post-conflict states. Subsequently, the United Nations is noted for peace architecture and a top-down approach to resolving disputes in conflict redden nations. This means that local peacebuilding efforts are likely to go unrecognised because of the 'perceived' minute contributions that they may seem to have within the larger peace architecture.

In this paper, I interrogate the indigenous ways of dealing with conflicts from a gendered perspective. The paper highlights the role of Akan Queenmothers in dispute resolution among the Asante of Ghana. By exploring the functionality of the Asantehemaa's court in Kumasi, using prolonged observation and interviews, I argue that Queenmothers provide a bottom-up approach to resolving disputes, contribute to community peace and shape the security and governance structure of their communities, and the country at large. Among the Akan, the Queenmother's court is a space where interpersonal, resource related disputes such as land access and ritual related matters such as imprecations are resolved in accordance with Akan customary law. This paper concludes that as legal pluralistic state, the position of queenmothers and the relevance of their customary court in providing justice to a populace that prefer customary dispute resolution mechanisms should not be overlooked but seen as complementing the state judicial system in Ghana.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the relationship between peacebuilding and the recognition of traditional authorities in Côte d’Ivoire. It addresses the role of the recently established ‘Chambre des Rois et des Chefs Traditionnels de Côte d’Ivoire’ in mitigating land conflict in the Bounkani region.

Paper long abstract:

Existing scholarship on (neo)customary institutions in Africa highlights the enduring influence of ‘traditional’ authority structures on economic development, democratization and local governance. Whether viewed as ‘decentralized despots’ or ‘development brokers’, traditional authorities are formidable political actors. Beyond their contentious participation in democratic and developmental affairs, they are also deeply involved in the governance of land. Considering their history of managing – yet also fueling – conflicts over land, they clearly play a complex role in the peacebuilding arena. This paper explores the politics around the recognition of traditional authorities in a peacebuilding context. In so doing, it considers the following questions: Under what conditions are (neo)customary governance structures recognized by the state in post-conflict contexts? How might the recognition of these authorities influence peacebuilding processes, social cohesion, and the resolution of land conflicts? The paper examines these questions through the case of post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire. Specifically, it addresses the role of the recently established ‘Chambre des Rois et des Chefs Traditionnels de Côte d’Ivoire’, created in 2016 by the government of Alassane Ouattara to constitutionally formalize customary authorities as partners in governance. Importantly, this development has triggered divisive debates over authority and land use. The Bounkani region in Northeastern Côte d’Ivoire provides a case in point, where the Lobi community have recently created a centralized chieftaincy and lobbied for its recognition by the new customary body. Drawing upon insights from recent fieldwork, we thus explore the politics of this constitutional change and the wider implications for peacebuilding in Côte d’Ivoire.