Chapter
4
Application: Country Case Studies
The Conceptual Framework in Context Some common features, albeit manifested in different ways, characterize the nature of social contracts across Africa. This report does not suggest a common social contract narrative for the region. Instead, it unpacks the concept to allow for its application to different contexts. At the same time, as evidenced in the existing literature and the program’s case studies, a number of common characteristics of development in the region are fundamental to understanding the often-skewed bargaining dynamics between citizens and the state. The first of the common features is the historical legacy of colonialism and state formation. In most cases, social contracts in Africa have enabled the building of nation-states where they did not previously exist and in challenging circumstances, but often in ways that rely on elite bargains and forms of rent and patronage that compromise the public interest. These social contracts have taken different forms since independence, including centralized “developmental patrimonialism,” military coercion, and “competitive clientelism.” In certain circumstances, relatively stable settlements increasingly constrained by decreasing resources have fragmented (as in Côte d’Ivoire in the early 2000s). Conversely, the 2010 decade has seen elite settlements founded upon militaryliberation struggles translate into relatively stable pacts that have begun to deliver positive development outcomes (for example, Ethiopia and Rwanda). In a number of instances, elite bargains have not held together, or regions have been left with limited statehood, leading to fragmentation or violence (hence, the large number of states in Africa that appear on the harmonized Fragility, Conflict, and Violence list). All of the case studies carried out under this task illustrate the role of elite bargains in maintaining stability (or failing to do so) and the costs such bargains have imposed on the space for citizen-state bargaining. 45
