Consolidated or undermined statehood? The transnationalisation of state legitimacy

1st session of the Eucor cross-border workshop series "The trouble with the state. Boundaries and Networks in Africa"

The state is a central concept for the study of power, domination, and socio-political change across the social sciences. Its usefulness is however contested, especially in African contexts where the Eurocentric ideal-type of the state stands in marked contrast to political realities on the ground. This raises a number of crucial questions: Through what concepts can one grasp the prominent role of trans- and international connections, networks, and NGOs that influence what statehood stands for?

To address these timely questions among young researchers working on Africa, an international consortium of research institutes in Basel, Freiburg im Breisgau, and Strasbourg is organising three consecutive half-day online workshops dealing with particular topics in this debate. The workshops will provide doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers, as well as advanced MA students, with an opportunity for a thematically focused exchange across the fields of political science, sociology, history, African studies, anthropology, international relations, and peace and conflict studies.

Keynote: Amber Murrey (University of Oxford)

Research presentations:

• John Githigaro: An Assessment of Claim making on Kenya-Somalia Maritime Dispute
• Barbara Müller:  NGOs, political parties and the student movement in Zimbabwe
• Federico Carducci: Religious networks and political legitimation in post-war Angola
• Paula Sophia Branco de Lima: What is national in transnational feminist activism? Perceptions on the World March of Women’s action in Brazil and Mozambique

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