Figurations of Internationalized Rule in Africa

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In post-war situations, African governments, while having their own political agenda, need to accommodate contradicting expectations. International donors press towards a rationalization of state agencies and insist on political and economic liberalization. Domestic power groups try to “capture” the state in pursuing their own interest or to avoid and circumvent state policies. Furthermore, government agents, seem to pursue a classical "image of the state" in which ideas like sovereignty, territory and population are supreme.Starting with this understanding of contradictory expectations and using historical political sociology as theoretical framework, this project aims at identifying the political figurations that result from these constellations. Assuming that the quality of relationships will find its expression in guiding implicit and explicit patterns of action, our research question is: What are the practical norms that guide African government officials’ and donor staff in figurations of internationalized rule?Three cases (Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya) will be investigated based on a semi-structured, reiterative logic of comparison. Different research methods will be used: Beyond document analysis and expert interviews, it attempts to use multi-sited participant observation as an innovation for the study of internationalized politics in Africa. The envisaged project aims at contributing to an understanding of African politics that is less burdened with normative expectations (democracy, development, security) and would allow both, scholars and practitioners, to better understand what the figuration, the web of relations, of internationalized rule consists of.