IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/111582.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the impact of the occult on state legitimacy and democratization aid in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Kohnert, Dirk

Abstract

Among politicians and development experts in Africa alike there is a growing awareness of the ever decreasing importance of the belief in magic and witchcraft on political decision-making since pre-colonial times. Demonstrating control over occult forces as a means of strengthening their legitimacy had been the prerogative of traditional rulers and their marabouts for over a century. Today, it is effective for the modern political elite and the modern state as well. A growing number of African states have officially recognized the existence of witchcraft and magic, and they are adapting the colonial law imposed accordingly. In addition to magico-religious belief systems, represented by vodun or independent African churches (for example, the Kimbanguists), benefiting from controlling witchcraft, are promoted by African political leaders to strengthen the legitimacy of both the class state policy and governance. At the same time, development experts have tried to take into account the cultural dimension of socio-cultural development. They called for an “endogenization” of development aid. This call was justified, because "endogenization" should be seen as a prerequisite for sustainable aid. However, under certain conditions it can be ambiguous and dangerous too. Regarding the consideration of occult belief it can lead to the promotion of the illegitimate state and the violation of basic human rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Kohnert, Dirk, 1997. "On the impact of the occult on state legitimacy and democratization aid in Africa," MPRA Paper 111582, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Jan 2022.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:111582
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/111582/1/MPRA_paper_111582.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kohnert, Dirk & Elwert, Georg & Bierschenk, Thomas, 1993. "The long-term effects of development aid - Empirical studies in rural West Africa," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 83-111.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 1996. "Magic and witchcraft: Implications for democratization and poverty-alleviating aid in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 1347-1355, August.
    3. Kohnert, Dirk, 1988. "Socialism without liberation: Land Reclamation Projects in Guinea-Bissau," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(2/3), pages 161-175.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "Perspectives of Croatia's new Africa relations as impending member of the Eurozone," MPRA Paper 114243, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "Perspectives des relations africaines de la Croatie en tant que membre imminent de la zone euro [Perspectives of Croatia's Africa relations as impending member of the Eurozone]," MPRA Paper 114248, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kohnert, Dirk, 1997. "L’emprise de l'occulte sur la légitimité de l'état et l'aide à la démocratisation en Afrique," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 24-50.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2003. "Witchcraft and Transnational Social Spaces: Witchcraft Violence, Reconciliation and Development in South Africa's Transition Process," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 41(2), pages 217-245.
    3. Kohnert, Dirk, 2011. "Cultures of Innovation of the African Poor – Common roots, shared traits, joint prospects? On the articulation of multiple modernities in African societies and Black Diasporas in Latin America," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 241-262.
    4. Kohnert, Dirk, 1996. "Magic and witchcraft: Implications for democratization and poverty-alleviating aid in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 1347-1355, August.
    5. Kohnert, Dirk, 2015. "Donor’s double talk undermines African agency: Comparative study of civic agency in Burkina Faso and Togo," EconStor Conference Papers 120921, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Kohnert, Dirk & Preuss, Hans-Joachim, 2019. "Le démocracide furtif du Bénin - Comment la démocratie modèle de l'Afrique se tue peu à peu [Benin’s stealthy democracide - How Africa's model democracy commits suicide in stages]," MPRA Paper 96832, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Beck, Erin, 2016. "Repopulating Development: An Agent-Based Approach to Studying Development Interventions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 19-32.
    8. Kohnert, Dirk & Preuss, Hans-Joachim, 2019. "Benin's stealthy democracide: How Africa's model democracy kills itself bit by bit," EconStor Preprints 205259, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    9. Moumouni, I. & Tovignan, S. & Baco, M.N. & Nouatin, G., 2013. "Pitfalls of projects-driven institutional development in developing countries: The case of privatisation of agricultural services in Benin," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 48, March.
    10. Jean-Philippe Platteau, 2009. "Institutional Obstacles to African Economic Development: State, Ethnicity, and Custom," Post-Print hal-00726664, HAL.
    11. Kohnert, Dirk, 2009. "Democratisation via elections in an African 'narco state'? The case of Guinea-Bissau," MPRA Paper 19109, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Schumacher, Heiner & Hadnes, Myriam, 2010. "Contract Enforcement by the Gods," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Hannover 2010 11, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    13. Gershman, Boris, 2016. "Witchcraft beliefs and the erosion of social capital: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 182-208.
    14. Kohnert, Dirk, 2000. "Außenpolitische Hintergründe des gesellschaftspolitischen Umbruchs in Guinea-Bissau [The impact of foreign affairs on the political and social transition in Guinea-Bissau]," MPRA Paper 5344, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Kohnert, Dirk, 1994. "Im Netz sozialer Beziehungen: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen lokaler Experten in Afrika [In the Network of Social Relationships: Potentials and Restrictions of Local Experts in Africa]," MPRA Paper 83763, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 16 Apr 1995.
    16. Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "Des dictatures ouest-africaines « éclairées » contestées par la capture de l'État ? Perspectives du Bénin, du Togo et du Sénégal ['Enlightened’ West African dictatorship challenged by state capture," MPRA Paper 114934, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Moumouni, Ismail & Tovignan, Silvere D. & Baco, Mohamed N. & Nouatin, Guy, 2012. "Pitfalls Of Projects-Driven Institutional Development In Developing Countries: The Case Of Privatisation Of Agricultural Services In Benin," 52nd Annual Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, September 26-28, 2012 133046, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    18. Bello-Bravo, Julia, 2020. "Managing biodiversity & divinities: Case study of one twenty-year humanitarian forest restoration project in Benin," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    19. Kohnert, Dirk, 2007. "Common roots, shared traits, joint prospects? On the articulation of multiple modernities in Benin and Haiti," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 151-173.
    20. Kohnert, Dirk, 2008. "Entfremdung und Ausgrenzung: Afrikas neuer Nationalismus in Zeiten der Globalisierung," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 197-222.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    religion; development; democratization; legitimate rule; aid; Sub-Saharan Africa; African Studies; Togo; Nigeria; Zaire; DR Congo;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N97 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O29 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Other
    • O35 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Social Innovation
    • P48 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems - - - Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies
    • Q17 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agriculture in International Trade
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:111582. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.