africa and fortress europe: threats and opportunities

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Africa and Fortress Europe: Threatsand OpportunitiesAli Bilgic aa University of Aberystwyth , UKPublished online: 21 Sep 2009.

To cite this article: Ali Bilgic (2009) Africa and Fortress Europe: Threats and Opportunities, Reviewof African Political Economy, 36:121, 469-470, DOI: 10.1080/03056240903211430

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Book Reviews

Under the Tree of Talking: Leadership forChange in Africa, edited by OnyekachiWambu; London: Counterpoint/BritishCouncil, 2007; pp. 299. £11.99 (pb). ISBN0863555861. Reviewed by Mike Powell,UK. # 2009, Mike Powell

As developmental realities, policy andresearch all stumble unproductivelyalong well worn and long contested tram-lines, any intellectual venture that tries todo things differently is to be welcomed.This collection of essays, brought togetherby Onyekachi Wambu with the title Underthe Tree of Talking: Leadership for Change inAfrica, certainly offers a fresh approach.It consists of a variety of contributionslooking at issues of leadership, and notjust political leadership, from a varietyof perspectives: the historical, from thetop down, from the bottom up, from thepresent to the future, from the outsidelooking in and from the inside lookingout. The book’s declared aim is topromote an open dialogue, located inthe personal experience of the authors,‘under the talking tree’, which aims tomove us on from the fixed positions andembedded conflicts of the past. As suchit should not be blamed for avoiding, forthe most part, the type of explicit politicalcomment that can strangle dialogue atbirth. Nor should it be blamed, from anacademic perspective, for not offering acomprehensive conceptualisation anddefinition of leadership. Given thecurrent interest in ‘leadership’ thatwould be interesting but, again, mightclose the door on the dialogue the bookaims to promote.

However, the book stands as a deliberatecollection of essays around a theme and,as such, some concerns can be expressed

about notions of leadership that are orare not addressed within its pages. Oneconcerns the conceptualisation of ‘leader-ship’ as a function in and of itself. As AliMazrui usefully explains, there are manypossible types and characteristics of lea-dership, which individual leaders maymix and match in the way they thinkmay serve them best. However, both heand the book neglect to explore the repre-sentative function of leadership. In all butthe most extreme circumstances, leadersare in fact representing some existingsocial and political forces, however unre-presentative these may be of a generalpopulation. It is surely through anexploration of the multiple facets of thisrepresentation that the relationship of thegoverning and the governed and theaccountability of leaders – both statedconcerns of the book – can be enhanced.

A second concern relates to who theleaders are to be. Several contributionstalk, without additional reflection, of‘emerging leaders’ and the book, pub-lished by a think-tank of the BritishCouncil, is related to a wider BritishCouncil project aimed at ‘networkingand supporting the next generation ofAfrican leaders’. Who are these people?Are they simply bright young thingswith lots of energy and ideas? In whichcase, fine, but surely they should be sup-ported in whatever direction they mostwant to serve the further development oftheir societies? Or are they people whodefine themselves as simply wanting tobecome leaders? If the latter, there aresurely significant political issues relatingto their selection, not least their class.Competence might also be an issue.Experience of real work in the societiesthey aimed to change was fundamental

ISSN 0305-6244 Print, 1740-1720 Online/09/0300461-13

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to the development of two great Africanleaders, Amılcar Cabral and SamoraMachel, whose stories are once again notrecognised in a collection largely emanat-ing from Anglophone Africa. Yet it wasCabral who not only railed against the‘ignorance of the historical reality whichthese movements [liberation movementsin general] aspire to transform’ (Cabral1980, p. 122), but based the strategy of hisown country’s fight for freedom on theintimate knowledge of the whole countrygained when, as an agricultural engineer,he had conducted an agricultural censusof the country.

Questions about the precise combinationof themes and contributions overall –were there no trade unionists or evenretired generals willing to reflect on theissues raised? – should in no waydetract from the individual contributions,all of which in some way shed new lightor stimulate further thought on theissues they address. Some, such as areflection on the leadership of women atthe grassroots in the fight against AIDSby Martha Chinouya, or an insider’s/out-sider’s look at the changing configur-ations of a Nigerian village by OnyeachiWambu, are essentially case studies.Others such as ‘Time for Change’ byNdidi Nwuneli, ‘Creating the BusinessLeaders of Tomorrow’ by Taddy Blecherand ‘2017: Empowering and Engenderingthe Future’ by Susan and Juliet Kigulioffer vignettes of what might or couldbe different. Eva Dadrian, Wangui waGoro and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza addressrespectively the roles of journalism, trans-lation and intellectual engagement, eachfundamentally important to the integrityof the political and social environmentin which any leadership can take place.

I am not myself sure how well all thesecontributions relate to ‘leadership’ eitheras I understand it or as the issue isframed in the many pertinent questionsraised in the introduction. However, thisprobably does not matter. They certainlyrelate to identities and personal roles in

processes of potential change in Africaand they offer many lessons and foodfor thought that might not have emergedthrough a more focused approach.Perhaps this is the difference between aconversation and a debate, and thereason the producers of the book chosethe former route.

Reference

Cabral, A. (1980), ‘The weapon of theory.Speech delivered to the First Solidarity Confer-ence of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and LatinAmerica, in Havana, January 1966’, Unity andstruggle. Speeches and writings, London: Heine-mann.

Inside Rebellion: The Politics of InsurgentViolence, by Jeremy M. Weinstein, Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press,2007; pp. 402. £15.99 (pb). ISBN0521677971. Reviewed by ChristopherCramer, School of Oriental and AfricanStudies, University of London, UK. #

2009, Christopher Cramer

Researchers have been going through thetangled forms of wars in developingcountries with a finer comb than that oflarge-N statistical studies. At their best,such studies combine research methods,engage in fieldwork and/or archivalresearch, and test their shapely modelswith a refreshing clarity and honesty. Ithas become easier to appreciate thatthere are varieties of violent conflict andof rationalism. Inside Rebellion is verymuch in this vein.

Why do some insurgent groups seemcommitted to abuse and atrocity, whileothers appear to pursue a kinder rebel-lion? In Peru, why was one branch of a

462 Review of African Political Economy

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rebellion so much more unrestrained inits violence than another? In answeringthe question, Weinstein shapes a hypoth-esis and a way of testing it from a hostof influences. These include organis-ational sociology, new institutionalisteconomics, the largely gloomy ‘resourcecurse’ literature, and a concern withasymmetric information. But the bookdoes not trot out the banalities of someof the sillier economics of conflict litera-ture and, while it takes the opportunityfor rebellion seriously, it does notpresume that everyone is motivatedexclusively by material gain. Rather, themain argument turns on how rebels dealwith a series of organisational challengesthat have been given too little attentionin the literature: recruitment, control, gov-ernance, the use of violence and the needto demonstrate resilience. Through ‘thickdescription’, interviews and quantitativedata, Weinstein explores the cases of theNRA in Uganda, Renamo in Mozambi-que, and the variation within Perubetween the main Sendero Luminosogroup and its regional committee in theUpper Huallaga Valley.

Any aspiring rebel management has tomobilise resources to tackle these tasks.There are, Weinstein tells us, two typesof resource endowment that help: econ-omic endowments and social endow-ments. This distinction combines withanother, between high and low commit-ment recruits, or between investors inand consumers of rebellion. Economicendowments are simpler to mobilise.Where rebels lack access to resourcerents or external aid, they have to getembroiled in the slow and awkwardbusiness of cultivating ties of solidarity,trust, and reciprocity with local popu-lations. Inconvenient as this may be, itprimes rebels to respect non-combatants:organisation will be more centralisedand disciplined, and civilian abuses areunlikely to escalate into a pattern of atro-city. If, however, rebels have access toeconomic endowments, they use them.This makes it easier to recruit sufficient

soldiers and to mount a military chal-lenge to governments. But it means rebelleaders will lead a jumble of high andlow commitment recruits – thanks toselective material benefits – withoutknowing enough about which are which.

Initial endowments affect internal organis-ation and rebel behaviour. Most dramati-cally, Weinstein argues that endowmentsdetermine atrocity. If Jack Hirshleifer, apioneer of neo-classical economic theoriesof violent conflict, suggested that thanksto low opportunity costs the poor had acomparative advantage in violence, Wein-stein provides a factor endowment theoryof atrocity: the model is Hecksher-Ohlin toHirshleifer’s Ricardo. Thus, chapter sixexplains patterns of violence across thecase study insurgencies. In rebellions withhigh economic endowments, low commit-ment rebels (consumers) go on therampage, looting, raping, slicing at andshooting civilians. Management has to putup with this to maintain the labour forceof rebellion so the abuses go unpunished.Rebels get a bad reputation and civiliansavoid them: they become more difficult tocontrol. This encourages further abuseand the pattern is set. In resource-poorinsurgencies this behaviour is both lesslikely – because of a higher share of inves-tors among recruits – and when it doeshappen more likely to be punished –because of a tighter organisation relyingmore on relations with non-combatants.

Inside Rebellion is brilliantly done – clear,tightly argued, in good command of itscases, and nicely attuned, at the end, topossibilities for further research andanalytical probing and to the relevanceof the argument for international policy.Some of the most interesting passagesare those that engage with the questionof what happens – for example, to theFARC in Colombia or to UNITA inAngola – when endowments change;and those that briefly point out the impli-cations of the book’s argument for thevalue of naming and shaming strategiesor for international criminal courts.

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Students and researchers will benefitgreatly from this book, which will enrichscholarly and policy debates. A number ofquestions are likely to be raised as a result.The explanation of violence and atrocity,like so many studies, leaps from organis-ational rationality to the observation of out-comes: it leaves the reader none the wiserabout why even low-commitment recruitsor consumer-rebels are so vicious. Becauseof anti-civilian ideologies? Or because of a‘culture of violence’? Or something else? Itis not clear how the model would illumi-nate, for example, the violence of theSpanish Civil War. Could the savagery ofGeneral Queipo de Llana, the cruelty ofFranco himself and his early mentor, thebeserk General Millan-Astray, or the vio-lence of Lorca’s killers in Granada reallybe explained by the fact that the Germansand Italians came to the Nationalists’ aidfinancially while European democraciesdithered behind a veil of non-interference?How do we explain the way these rebelleaders and followers were both investorsand consumers? How can Republican com-munist and anarchist viciousness beexplained? There are plenty of morerecent examples, in which the violence ofrebel groups is at least partly a functionnot of low-commitment rebels poorly con-trolled by central leaders but of the vio-lence of leaders, their ideologies, andtheir treatment of lowly recruits.

There are also other ways of exploring theorganisational sociology of insurgency,including the Durkheimian ‘grid-group’matrix allowing for different combi-nations of institutional lock-in (rules) andinstitutional bonding, explored by Fithenand Richards in No Peace No War. Thebook does not help think through theway access to resource rent may helpinsurgent groups to invest in cultivatingsocial resources of local legitimacy, for inAfghanistan, Angola and elsewhere econ-omic and social resources have beencomplements rather than only substitutes.

Nor does the book really engage with theorigins of insurgency. Is it always the case

that prospective rebel entrepreneurs spotgaps in the market and then calculatewhich resources they can draw on toorganise rebellions, rather than rebellionemerging from protracted social pro-cesses, in which violent uprising may bea contested option among a number?Might rebel behaviour be linked to the pol-itical economy of areas where it emerges?This might involve complex variations inhow labour is mobilised or land allocated,and how these are regulated by insti-tutions of local power. Finally, the richestway to explore the arguments of thisbook further might be through a differentcase selection, where there might bemore intriguing combinations of economicresources and social ties, where atrocityand legitimacy have both been present,and where, perhaps as with the RUF inSierra Leone, it was perhaps not so muchthe resource curse of diamonds thatexplained atrocity as the ‘endowment’ orhistory of fiercely felt social experiencesof relational abuse and exclusion amongmany young people.

The Intestines of the State: Youth, Violenceand Belated Histories in the Cameroon Grass-fields, by Nicolas Argenti, Chicago andLondon: Chicago University Press, 2007;pp. 362, £14.50 (pb). ISBN 0226026124.Reviewed by Ben Page, UniversityCollege London, UK. # 2009, Ben Page

By the time that this review is publishedmost people with a serious interest in theCameroon Grassfields should alreadyhave a copy of Nicolas Argenti’s newand innovative monograph on theirshelves. This relatively small upland areain the West and Northwest Provinces ofCameroon has always attracted consider-able academic attention because of itsrich material culture and complex political


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history. Yet books on the Grassfields of thisquality and substance are still rare, so thistext will quickly take its place alongsidethe works by Jean-Pierre Warnier andMiriam Goheen and the edited volumeby Iain Fowler and David Zeitlyn as absol-utely compulsory reading for anyoneinterested in the area. In many ways thisbook is a much more exacting read thanthose volumes, but it repays the effort.

Although this is an ethnography thatdraws its authority from the intensity ofArgenti’s specific fieldwork in the smallpolity of Oku and his subtle interpret-ations of the origin myths (chapter 2),witchcraft beliefs (chapter 3) masks,dances and dance associations (chapters4 to 8) there, it develops a series of extre-mely bold arguments, which willprovoke a much wider audience than justthose with a concern for the Grassfieldsor Cameroon. Argenti’s canvas is ambi-tious: the book engages any reader inter-ested in questions of the social category‘youth’, of violence and its legacies, of his-toricity and memory and of the interpret-ation of dance. Indeed, given how muchof the empirical material in the book is con-cerned with an analysis of dances, masksand dance associations in Oku it was oddthat there is no mention of dance in thebook’s subtitle. Argenti’s aim is ‘toanalyze from an anthropological stand-point the ways in which the past continuesto inform social relations between youthand elites in the present’ (p. 34). Chiefamongst these is the way that the legacyof slavery remains important.

Amidst the smug self-congratulations ofthe 2007 anniversary of the abolition ofthe slave trade it is good to be remindedof the anarchic violence and genocidalbrutality in the ‘human hunting grounds’that were at the start of the slave commod-ity chain. The Grassfields were one suchplace. Central to the book’s argument isthe claim that the social consequences ofthe West African slave trade in the hinter-lands where slaves were captured remainrelevant today and govern the relationship

between youth and elites. If at times thisargument seems a little over-determinedit is forgivable given that the other expla-nations for the contemporary antagonismof this social relationship are over-familiarto the point of being hackneyed. If Argentioverstates his case it is perhaps because itis such a distinctive claim.

The book is undoubtedly a significant andsubstantial contribution to a number ofcurrent debates, but (for a number ofreasons) it is not an easy read. First, thestory it tells and the argument it developsis a profoundly depressing one. Fromslavery to colonial forced labour to venalpost-colonial state, the ‘youth’ of Okuhave endured three centuries of systema-tic exploitation and rank cruelty. Argentiis clinical in his denunciation of all ofthese forms of domination and his con-demnation of the small group of ‘elites’(who perpetually stand opposite the‘youth’ and enjoy the benefits that arethe concomitant consequence of their suf-fering) leaves little space for imagining afuture rapprochement – although someideas do emerge in the final chapter.Argenti never romanticises the reactionof ‘youth’ to oppression or talks of resist-ance, rather he draws on a vocabulary of‘ambiguity’ and ‘mimesis’ to articulatewhat the youth can do through dance inresponse to their powerlessness.

Second, it is not an easy read becauseArgenti’s arguments about historicity andmemory require that it must not be aneasy read. There is a theoretically justifieddetermination to resist the emergence of asimple chronological explanatory narrative.The aim (as I understand it) is to prevent hisrecord of events from becoming the recordand therefore a memorial (a bad thing inArgenti’s terms because it would suit theelite by providing an end to history) ratherthan an articulation of the meaning ofmemory (a good thing because it constantlyreminds the elite of their history/culpabil-ity). The essence of dance is that it saysthis without words so it is important (fromArgenti’s theoretical-political perspective)


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that the subject of the book remainsunspoken – which is obviously a challengefor a writer. The beauty of dance fromArgenti’s point of view is that it speaksthe unspoken (which is why it holdssuch fascination for advocates of non-representational theory). People in Oku donot talk about the legacy of slavery soresearch methods that rely on talk-data areof no use in supporting his claim. Interpret-ations of dance fill the gap. But the danger ofbuilding an argument on the absence ofspoken evidence is that it is very difficultfor Argenti to be wrong or rather to beshown to be wrong. In many cases of ethno-graphy readers rely on the interpretation ofthe ethnographer, but in this instance itbecomes more than usually clear thatthere is little scope for challenging theinterpretation.

Third, this is a densely conceptual workthat draws on a very wide range of socialtheory (Freud, Bhabha, Derrida, Lyotardetc.), and despite Argenti’s lyrical and pas-sionate prose style, the conceptual subtle-ties and virtuoso vocabulary make it aread that requires plenty of time, sustainedconcentration and a good dictionary. Theprotestant missionaries from Basel, thefirst missionaries to reach the Grassfields,would no doubt reassure us that thelabour of tackling this text is integral toreaping the many rich rewards it offers.For those of us with less theological incli-nations it is the combination of originalinsights, theoretical ambition and empiri-cal detail that make this such an enthral-ling, if demanding, text.

Corruption and Development: The Anti-Corruption Campaigns, edited by SarahBracking, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,2007 pp. 310, £60.00 (hb). ISBN 0230525504.Reviewed by Laura Routley, University ofAberystwyth, UK. # 2009, Laura Routley

This book interrogates the current ortho-doxy ‘that corruption is an anathema todevelopment’, which is the central tenetof the recent anti-corruption campaignsof the International Financial Institutions(IFIs) and other unilateral donors (pp. 7–8).The edited volume is an assemblage ofcritical examinations of the anti-corruptioncampaigns, in various locales and sectors.It is enriched by contributions fromacademic fields including geography,development studies, political science,economics, international relations andlaw – with yet other contributions frompractitioners. This breadth is also echoedin the spread of geographical locationsexamined, which range from Nigeria, thePhilippines, Georgia to Nicaragua andothers. Given this wide scope it is not sur-prising that the book emphasises the plur-ality of anti-corruption experiences, andargues that the effects of the anti-corrup-tion campaigns need to be understoodwithin the political and cultural contextin which they are implemented (p. 17).The book highlights inconsistenciesbetween the local experience of the anti-corruption campaigns and the IFIs’ techno-cratic universalised interpretation of theissue and criticises the application of thesame brand of prescriptions ‘fromNigeria to Bulgaria’ (p. 28).

However, the argument is not one for local-ism. The importance of the internationalcontext in which the anti-corruption cam-paigns arose – even as their effects arefelt variously – emerges throughout thevolume. Ivanov argues that the origins ofthe anti-corruption campaigns lie ‘in theinterests of the US government, multina-tional companies and multilateral donors’(p. 29). In a similar vein, the geo-politicswhich govern the IFIs’ unequal applicationof anti-corruption policies is central toBrown, Cloke and Rocha’s analysis ofanti-corruption in Nicaragua (pp. 182–201). Moreover, in her chapter on corrup-tion in the Philippines, Co argues that thelegacy of colonisation and internationalinequalities are key to the production ofPilipino corruption (p. 123). Bracking’s


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own chapter offers the most in-depthanalysis of the international in the book.Her chapter situates the anti-corruptioncampaigns within international powerrelations and explores the contradictionsthat these relations produce in develop-ment finance. She highlights how dis-courses of corruption ‘fix its meaningsspatially, with coordinates within relatedideas of race, space and nationality’ andso act to structure the international (p. 252).

Central to all the arguments in the book,both those that explore global powerrelations and local politics, is the relationsbetween corruption and development.Hall-Mathews’ examination of PresidentMutharika of Malawi’s anti-corruptioncampaign, for example, reveals that theequation of anti-corruption measures anddevelopment allowed him to ‘claim to bepro-development by the fact of makingarrests per se’ (p. 82). Moreover, many oftheactivitiesofMutharika’santi-corruptiondrive were arguably only targeted at under-mining his political opponents. Anti-corruption measures in Malawi thusdistractedand detracted from developmentpriorities, rather than furthering them.Hall-Mathew’s conclusion is that corrup-tion is only one issue for development andnot necessarily the most significant one(p. 98). The role of the anti-corruption cam-paign in Malawi in obscuring Mutharika’spolitical goals is comprehended within thevolume as only one example of how theforegrounding of corruption acts to obfus-cate. This conceals not only political machi-nations, but also global inequalities andeven the failures of the IMF and WorldBank policies (p. 31). This chimericalnature of the anti-corruption campaigns,the book contends, also acts to obscure thegaps between the global and local dis-courses and Northern states’ culpabilityfor corruption (pp. 28, 303).

The book achieves the objective stated byBracking, namely to ‘critically reviewpolicy and practice in the field of corrup-tion and anti-corruption’ (p. 17). The plur-ality of the chapters, all of which stand

alone, is a great strength of the book andindividual chapters may be of great inter-est to area specialists or, as in the case ofAlolo’s work on gender and corruptionin Ghana, to scholars with particularresearch foci. The conclusions of thebook and a number of the chapters buildon this critical review to problematisethe orthodox conception of the relationsbetween corruption and development.The pervasiveness of this orthodoxy indevelopment thinking makes this book asignificant critical contribution.

The World Bank: Development, Poverty,Hegemony, edited by David Moore, Scotts-ville: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press,2007; pp. 581, $49.50/R225.00 (pb). ISBN1869141008. Reviewed by DavidP. Thomas, Mount Allison University,Canada. # 2009, David P. Thomas

This collection is undoubtedly a valuablecontribution to the ongoing critical analy-sis of the World Bank’s activities duringthe past 15 years. David Moore presents athoughtful and accessible edited volumethat covers a broad range of topicsrelated to the Bank’s neoliberal hegemonicproject. Following the Bank’s discursivetwists and turns throughout the 1990sand early 2000s, the various chapters chal-lenge the organisation’s attempts to per-suade the outside world that a kinder,gentler approach to development hasbeen adopted after the failure of StructuralAdjustment.

The book begins by Moore establishingthe theoretical framework guiding thevolume. His Gramscian understandingof hegemony and counter-hegemonyprovide the inspiration for compiling thechapters, and Moore claims that the book‘. . . is about how the World Bank attempts


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to perform what Robert Wade (1997) hascalled the “Gramsci effect”’(p. 27). Thus,central to the analysis are questions suchas: how does the World Bank convinceothers to accept, and at times enthusiasti-cally embrace, its policies and practices?How does the Bank respond to major chal-lenges to its orthodoxy? How does it man-ufacture moral and intellectual leadershipwithin the development industry? (p. 27).While not all contributors adhere to theGramscian tradition, there is certainly astrong current throughout the book thataims to deconstruct and challenge theBank’s hegemonic notions of develop-ment. The Gramscian conception of hege-mony provides a crucial lens throughwhich to view the Bank’s discourse andpractice, and adds theoretical rigour tothe volume.

Moore has re-published several classictexts on the World Bank for this volume(e.g. Robert Wade’s 1996 article in NewLeft Review on the ‘East Asian miracle’),some in their original form, others moder-ately or substantially revised for thisbook. These influential pieces are com-bined with several original chapters forthe book addressing more contemporaryissues, and written by ‘new entrantstaking the field of what could be labelled“World Bank studies” into uncharted terri-tory’ (p. viii). The book covers an impress-ive range of topics, including the Bank’sdiscourses around social capital, sustain-able development, participation/owner-ship, good governance and post-conflictreconstruction. In addition, Moore endswith a provocative chapter written byPatrick Bond calling for the abolition ofthe Bank, which is based on various pos-itions and perspectives from radical ‘civilsociety’ formations. The book’s 16 chaptersprovide an excellent source of information– in one place – for those interested inaccessing critical approaches to studyingthe Bank.

Despite the successful project accom-plished by Moore, at least two criticalpoints need to be mentioned regarding

the volume. First, and most importantly,the book lacks feminist analysis of theWorld Bank. In light of the devastating,and disproportionate, consequences ofStructural Adjustment for women in the‘developing’ world, at least one or twochapters written from a feminist perspec-tive would have helped to provide amore complete critique. Feminist critiquesof the Bank have constituted some of themost articulate, sophisticated and consist-ent attempts by scholars and activists tochallenge its neoliberal orthodoxy. More-over, based on the editor’s statement that‘. . .it is time to gather together the lastdecade and a half’s radical analyticalassessments of the world’s most visibledevelopment institution’ (p. viii), theabsence of a feminist critique appears tobe a glaring, and potentially debilitating,omission.

Secondly, Moore is highly dismissive inhis own chapters of the post-structuraltheoretical position on several of theissues under question. Although dis-agreeing on a theoretical and practicallevel with others is healthy and pro-ductive in many ways, Moore does so ina manner that does not truly engagewith this perspective. He mentions post-structuralism very briefly, painting acrude caricature of its approach, only totear down the straw man in due course.If a critique of post-structuralism is to bepresented, then it is only appropriatethat a more substantial and rigorousengagement with this perspective beelaborated.

Notwithstanding the criticisms raisedabove, this volume serves as a valuableresource for students, scholars, and acti-vists who are interested in understandingthe rhetorical shifts of the Bank during thepast 15 years, and potential strategies forstruggling against the current hegemonyof the Bank.


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Africa and Fortress Europe: Threats andOpportunities, edited by Belachew Gebre-wold, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007; pp. 208,£50.00 (hb). ISBN 0754672042. Reviewedby Ali Bilgic, University of Aberystwyth,UK. # 2009, Ali Bilgic

Immigration from Africa to Europe is ahistorical phenomenon with importantsocio-economic and political implicationsfor both continents. Although during thecolonial period some level of humanmovement from the colonies to Europewas allowed, decolonisation brought thistype of immigration to an end. Since then,any type of migration has been increas-ingly politicised in the European politicalarena. The politicisation of migration wasalso reflected in the international relationsof the EU, particularly with Africa. As canbe seen in both the Cotonou Agreement(2000) and the European NeighbourhoodPolicy with North African countries(2003), the management of immigrationconstitutes the hot spot of the politics ofEuro-African relations. Africa and FortressEurope aims to study this relationship incontext of immigration, thus contributingto the Euro-African literature on relationsby bringing the immigration dynamicinto the discussion.

This engaging collection includes signifi-cantly diverse perspectives from scholarsof economics, political science and inter-national relations to practitioners who arecurrently working for EU-level agencies,including Frontex. The book is structuredin two parts, with the first focusing on thecontemporary political and economic situ-ations in different regions of Africa andhow these have become push factors forindividuals. The second part focuses onEU-level responses from the Eurocrats tothe legal and illegal immigration fromAfrica to Europe. In this sense, Africa andFortress Europe is a subtle collection whichanalyses the Euro-African relations inthe context of immigration from bothAfrican and European perspectives. Thegeneral argument of the book is that the

immigration problem should be tackledby African and European actors by focus-ing on an infamous dictum, “Africansolutions to African problems”.

The book discusses important issues. Theanalysis by Kohnert is the most compre-hensive chapter, examining the dynamicsof migration from Africa to Europe. Itfocuses on both socio-political andeconomic reasons for migration by ques-tioning the rising xenophobia in theMaghreb countries towards immigrantsfrom sub-Saharan Africa (p. 42) and Euro-pean attempts to convert North Africainto a buffer zone with ‘reception centres’(p. 45). Both are attention-grabbingpoints that highlight how much Europeanpolicies have determining and constitu-tive effects on Africa in the context ofimmigration. Unfortunately, not all contri-butors’ analyses are conducted in thisparticular context, as some studies onlybriefly mention immigration towards theend of their investigations.

Another criticism of the book is that it doesnot take the opportunity to connect a politi-cal-security analysis to the economic analy-sis. This separation results in a type ofanalysis, exemplified by Exenberger’schapter, that examines the issue from aneconomic perspective which assumes theexistence of ‘rational’ and ‘profit-maximis-ing’ immigrants. This examination disre-gards the economic conditions underwhich individuals are forced to migrate.It is questionable to what extent migrationin and from Africa is about a rationaleconomic choice, if it is about ‘a choice’at all. In addition, this type of analysisrisks legitimising the rhetoric in Europethat African immigrants are coming to‘take our jobs away’. Unfortunately, theHendricks’ chapter on human security inAfrica does not adequately address thisissue and fails to fully illustrate the econ-omic dimension of political crises.

While the chapters are well constructed, theexplanatory framework is not sufficiently


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grounded theoretically. Two points arestriking. First, the concept of ‘FortressEurope’ is not evaluated. None of thecontributors, except the Frontex Director,Laitinen, questions the concept. The his-torically constructed nature of politicsshould have been brought into the discus-sion to explain why Europe has become a‘fortress’ to African immigrants, and whyit is not a fortress to, say, Eastern Europeanor North American immigrants. Thismight be also related to the concept of‘Islamophobia’, which is repeatedly men-tioned, but never developed. No chapterattempts to analyse or problematise thispotentially important concept.

These underdeveloped issues leave ques-tion marks, one of which concerns theconcept of ‘threat’. In the concludingchapter, Gebrewold suggests that readersdifferentiate between ‘perceived’ and‘real’ threats (p. 173). This approach isunderstandable in a literature where immi-gration cannot be thought of without‘securitisation’, which is the ‘commonsense’ theory of immigration at present.However, if the name of the first part ofthe book is ‘Threats from Africa’ and if,throughout the chapters, the authorsanalyse different ‘threats’, it is essentialfor an editor to give a coherent account of‘threat’. Many questions might have beenasked: Are the threats ‘real’ or ‘perceived’?Perceived by whom? Real for whom? Are‘perceived’ threats not ‘real’?

The last weak point of the book is its state-centrism. In almost all of the chapters,civil society movements in Africa are neg-lected in favour of inter-governmentalorganisations. It is another question whyNGOs do not appear as alternative politi-cal agencies in Africa where both govern-mental and inter-governmental structureshave suffered from various deficiencies.Therefore, the general argument of thebook, ‘African solutions to African pro-blems’, should be strengthened.

To conclude, Africa and Fortress Europe isa significant starting point, albeit with

shortcomings, for understanding Euro-African relations in the context of immi-gration. Given the fact that both thecrises in Africa and European responsesto immigration, such as Frontex, havebecome ‘real’ security threats for thoseAfricans who are caught in betweenhuman traffickers and European borderpatrols, this is a pressing political issue.

Fearless Fighter: An Autobiography, by VeraChirwa. London: Zed Books, 2007;pp. 208, £12.99 (pb). ISBN9781842779668. Reviewed by Dean Kam-panje Phiri, University of Bergen andJessica Mzamu Kampanje, University ofBergen/Christian Michelsen Institute,Norway. # 2009, Dean Kampanje Phiriand Jessica Mzamu Kampanje

Vera Chirwa’s remarkable book takes thereader to deep insights into politicalstruggles and the meaning of freedom inMalawi. While it is a personal accountdemonstrating her selflessness, persever-ance and hope in bringing freedom andjustice to Malawi, the story reveals animportant political history of thecountry. The story brings to light thestruggles that Malawian political fightersencountered in their quest to bringfreedom and justice to the country, fromthe fight against colonialism, federationand racism during the colonial adminis-tration to the fight against the dictatorialone party regime, under which many pol-itical opponents were subjected to inhu-mane treatment through unfair trials,long periods of detention without trialand in some cases unexplained deaths.The story also highlights the harsh reali-ties and sacrifices that Vera, as a woman,a mother and a wife, had to go throughin order to achieve her ambitions and


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accomplish what she and her husband,Orton Chirwa, believed in.

In the first four sections Vera brings tolight how the transition from colonialgovernment to independence created thedictatorial regime through the leadershipof Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Malawi’sfirst President. Through power strugglesand in an effort to legitimise his position,Banda is shown to have developed a men-tality of viewing himself as unquestion-able, tolerating no critique. This attitudeled to the cabinet crisis of 1964, due topolicy differences between the leader,some of the ministers, as well as promi-nent figures such as Vera and OrtonChirwa. Through these political persecu-tions, the self-rule that many fought forbecame their worst nightmare. The threesections that follow narrate a story ofher family in exile and how she estab-lished her career and became the firstwoman lawyer in southern Africa. Italso highlights their passion in politicsas a couple wherever they went andhow their children suffered and facedmany challenges during these strugglesof political power. After almost twodecades in exile, the couple wereabducted back to Malawi, convicted onthe grounds of planning to toppleBanda’s Government, and sentenced todeath through a traditional court.Despite the death sentence, torture,unjust treatment and long period of sep-aration from her husband and children,Vera maintained her will to live.

Back in society in 1993, after over a decadeof imprisonment and unfortunately notwith her husband who died in 1992, sheactively dedicated herself to the promotionand safeguarding of human rights inMalawi. Her account shows how, throughleading the transition to a democratic gov-ernment, Bakili Muluzi fell into the sametrap of the desire to cling to power byseeking to extend his terms of presidencyand thereby threatening to take Malawiback into the political system that he andnumerous others fought so hard to

abolish. Vera’s book highlights the impor-tant challenges that face young democra-cies like Malawi. She notes the negativeeffects of a weak economy and poorlydesigned and implemented economic andsocial programmes on the advancementof democracy, and how the worsening con-ditions turned people to review the olddays of the one party regime as better inmeeting their needs. The argument is thatthe masses are still sceptical that democ-racy has managed to meet their needs asmany had hoped for and were promisedat the dawn of the era. As such, the tempta-tion to view the old days as glorious is realfor some people. In the new democratic eraled by Muluzi, corruption has increasedconsiderably while levels of disciplineand people’s personal security hasdeclined, making some Malawiansuneasy about the new political set up.Vera concludes by highlighting how thepolitical system in Malawi is democratic,but the leaders are not and how this threa-tens the full development of democracy inthe country.

The core of the story is the life of Veraherself. It shows the two sides of Vera: afamily person who cares deeply for herfamily, and a tough and resilient personwho suffered and persevered despite pol-itical persecutions in all three politicaleras of Malawi. This remarkable storyshows the inhumane treatment that shehas suffered, while revealing her strengthto stand up and fight for what shebelieved was right for Malawi and Mala-wians. Most startling is her ability toforgive those that made her suffer whenshe could seek justice. Furthermore, after12 years in prison, Vera refused lucrativeoffers both abroad and at home as shestill wanted to see her dreams come trueby working to improve human rights,and making sure that she was in a pos-ition to be able to criticize leaders if theywere not doing a good job.

However, in 2004 she expressed her inter-ests to stand for the presidency. Here,unfortunately, there are not many details


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regarding her change of ambitions from afreedom fighter to a presidential candi-date. We are left with no clues as to howshe planned to run the country and atthe same time provide the much-neededcritique to keep the presidency in check.In addition, we do not have much detailon how she cooperated with other opposi-tion leaders in the period leading to thegeneral elections of 2004 and the role sheplayed after she dropped out of thecontest for the top seat. It would havebeen good to have these details in orderto appreciate how she envisioned her pol-itical future as a presidential figure andhow different she would have been fromthe other leaders. The story being a per-sonal one, it is perhaps understandablethat the concepts of human rights anddemocracy are discussed as taken forgranted concepts. For an academic audi-ence, a more critical evaluation of theseconcepts could have opened up somefruitful discussions. Nevertheless, this isindeed an insightful account of the lifeof a fearless fighter, as well as of the politi-cal transformation and history of Malawi,the warm heart of Africa.

Death and the King’s Horseman, by WoleSoyinka (1975). Dir. Rufus Norris,National Theatre (Olivier Theatre),London, April–June 2009. Reviewed byEkua Ekumah, Goldsmiths, UK. # 2009,Ekua Ekumah

Rufus Norris’s production of Wole Soyin-ka’s Death and the King’s Horseman at theNational Theatre was an arresting piece oftheatre that demanded a second viewingsimply because there was so much to feedthe eye. The statue-filled stage that meetsyou on your entry into the Olivier Theatreimmediately sets the tone for this journeyinto Yoruba existence and philosophy

where the spirit world is an integral partof a very active belief system.

The setting is Oyo, Nigeria, 1943. Iyaloja,the leader of the market women’s statelyentrance to ‘ignite’ the opening of thisproduction, played with so much powerand grace by Claire Benedict, situatesour story in Abeokuta Market, the arenathat serves as the ‘playground’ for theprotagonist of this story. Elesin Oba,played by the imposing Nonso Anozie,is the King’s Horseman, who has a dutyto accompany his dead Lord, the Alafinof Oyo, into the afterlife by committingritual suicide. It is a duty that demandsthe ultimate sacrifice from the individualfor the benefit of the community, a com-munity that comes alive and inhabits thestage with song and dance, led by thePraise Singer (Giles Terera). The relation-ship between Elesin and his PraiseSinger, articulated through highly poeticand proverbial language and supportedby the women’s adoration of their ‘Horse-man’ through flirtatious singing anddancing through the market place, keepsthe audience engaged throughout thefirst half. This preparation for thejourney into the world of the ancestorstakes on a more earthly reality, quiteremoved from the ritual, when Elesinspots a maiden in whom he wants toplant his seed on this his last day on thisearth. Act One closes with the arrange-ment of both a wedding and a funeral.

Act Two opens in the colonialist quarter,where Simon Pilkings, the British colonialofficer, hears of the ritual suicide anddecides to intervene by holding Elesin incustody, causing him to fail to performthis ritual which can only be done at a‘specific time ordained by the cycle of themoon, so there is one night that he cando it and one night alone’. MeanwhileOlunde (Kobna Holbrook Smith), the sonof Elesin who has returned from hisstudies in Britain to bury his fatherbecause he is aware of the implications ofthe traditional custom, is confoundedwhen he becomes aware of the catastrophe


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about to occur and sacrifices himself in abid to secure the spiritual well being ofhis people.

Norris’s bold choice to use an all black castwhich resulted in the ‘whiting up’ of blackactors to play the white colonialistsreleased the humour within this text, forwhich utmost credit must go to JennyJules and Lucian Msamati, for their por-trayal of these catalytic characters.Drawing from a Caribbean, African andBritish experience of white colonialists,these performers displayed the integrityof the colonialists, without caricaturingthem, which would have reduced thework to a clash of cultures, which thewriter warns against. Rather, this choiceallows the production to complicate thereading of these characters, because ofthe glaring fact the words are beingspoken by a black person with a whitepainted face. The multi-layered impli-cations of this choice served as a constantreminder of whose story was being pre-sented. This controversial choice offers adifferent perspective to this story, whichis told, in effect, by the people it actuallyhappened to. Norris’s subtle introductionof this idea came in the form of thewhole cast of 31 taking the stage, in prep-aration of a story, where members of the‘community’ are ‘made up’ to play specificcharacters within the tale. Essentially, sign-posts were provided which resulted in abig payoff when the Pilkings are revealedin Act Two. But ultimately, what Norrishas done with this production is toprovide a rare opportunity for the hostculture of the West to see themselves asviewed by the ‘other’.

Visually, this production was a feast for theeyes. The first half was an unapologeticthrust into the ‘exotic’, particularly for astandard white National Theatre audience.The many songs and dances and thelyrical nature of the heightened conversa-tion between Elesin and his Praise Singerwith its expected pomp and pageantryexceeded my stereotypical expectations.Norris’s execution of this act was for mevery measured and served the storyrather than playing to the gallery, whichcould have been an easy choice.

What I have described as ‘the eye of theoutsider’ was what stood out in this pro-duction. Coming to this production as anoutsider in terms of heritage was perhapsa blessing in disguise, as it afforded thedirector the opportunity to learn and trans-fer that knowledge to an audience who arelargely ignorant of Yoruba culture. The bigtree in the centre of the market which thentransforms into a skyline of bundles, theingenious inhabited furniture, the constantcycle of movement on stage, sometimesbarely noticeable, were manifestations ofthe essence of the spirit life of the Yoruba,not consciously written into the script.With the help of his designer KatrinaLindsay and choreographer Javier DeFrutos, the gap was bridged between thetwo cultures, with Peter Badejo, the associ-ate director/consultant as a much-valuedguide. The storytelling form was anatural choice, which aided in the createdworld of the ensemble telling their storyand evolving the environment themselves,literally. A thought-provoking, energisedand daring production, which left mewanting more.


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africa and fortress europe: threats and opportunities

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