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How Local Is Urban Governance in Fragile States? Theory and Practice of Capital City Politics in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan

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How Local Is Urban Governance in Fragile States? Theory and Practice of Capital City Politics in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan How Local is Urban Governance in Fragile States? Theory and Practice of Capital City Politics in Sierra Leone and Afghanistan Daniel Eric Esser Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Development Studies Institute London School of Economics and Political Science UMI Number: U615913 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615913 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 F b/br, Statement of original work I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research and that it contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published, written or produced by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. I give consent to copies of this thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being available for loan and photocopying. Daniel E. Esser Abstract Historically capital cities in less developed countries such as Sierra Leone and Afghanistan have served as sites of deliberate attempts to bring about change in both local and national political systems. Ranging from modernist agendas to contemporary donor-driven ‘reconstruction’ efforts, strategies to build effective state structures, including local governance institutions, have been at the core of such politics. Drawing on a multidisciplinary methodology that combines historical analysis with micro- and meso-level field research, the thesis explores the dynamics of agency and structure in an investigation of the function of capital cities as political arenas. It reviews key strands of urban political theory for their applicability to developing country contexts and situations o f state fragility. The thesis finds existing approaches to be insufficiently suited to explaining political processes operating in and on war-affected capital cities. Current theoretical treatments present cities as distinct or contained political spaces, which in these contexts they are not. They also fail to account for radical changes in the polities in which they are embedded and underestimate the degree of coercion exercised towards local stakeholders by supra-local actors, highlighting the need for a revised interpretative framework. The study juxtaposes policies and programmes targeted at urban and national level institutional change with urban political trajectories in war-affected Freetown and Kabul. The thesis examines how external resources and lines of control create political axes that intersect and transcend urban spaces. The research finds that these axes work to the detriment o f local political deliberation and explains why institutional reforms aimed at strengthening local political agency have given rise to the opposite outcome. The research thus illustrates the importance of political economy factors related to international intervention and shows how these have served to influence the nature of capital city politics in least developed countries. Empirically the study establishes why the two capital cities function as linchpins of international assistance yet fail to benefit from local political empowerment and equitable urban recovery. It is concluded that local politics in these two cities are overdetermined by national and international interests and agendas. Theoretically the thesis offers the concept of ‘tri-axial urban governance,’ which combines historically informed political economy analysis with an explicitly spatial framework for analysing politics in and on war- affected cities. This reconfigured conceptual scaffolding exposes power relations operative in city politics in fragile states and explains their impact on dynamics of structure and agency. Acknowledgements For with Thee is the fountain o f life; in Thy light do we see light. Psalm 36:9 The completion of this thesis would have been impossible without the outstanding support by many dear friends and colleagues. First and foremost, I thank my doctoral supervisor Jo Beall for her backing, openness and advice throughout the past four years. Besides being a brilliant mentor and close ally, Jo has become a true friend. Heartfelt thanks also go to Diane E. Davis and John de Monchaux who were my mentors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, USA during my one-year SPURS Fellowship in 2003-04, and to my senior colleagues at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), in particular Teddy Brett for encouraging me to embark on this PhD, Dennis Rodgers for his critique and inspiration throughout the research process, Tim Dyson for convening the weekly research seminars, Jean-Paul Faguet for his support during my Tutorial Fellowship, Tim Forsyth for good advice on strengthening my academic profile, and David Keen and Jonathan Dijohn for a helpful first year review. During the writing up phase I also benefited from inputs and feedback by Kristina Keitel, Ajmal Maiwandi and Daniel Weng. Additional support came from Stephanie Davies who excelled in keeping away all kinds of administrative trouble into which an ivory-towered PhD student might run, and from Sue Redgrave and Drucilla Daley in the Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) as well as Matthew Brack in the LSE Graduate School and Nimfa de Leon at MIT. Much appreciated logistical assistance was provided by Stuart Wales who did an admirable job scouting out affordable air fares for often complicated itineraries. Travelling to foreign lands arising from decade-long wars is not only a logistical challenge. It is also an expensive endeavour, and so is living in London. For their generous support, both financially and intellectually, I am grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number PTA- 030-2003-01217) with Zoe Grimwood, the German National Academic Foundation with Hans-Ottmar Weyand, Christine Schade, Marius Spiecker gen. Dohmann, Anja Aufenanger and examiner Heinz Welsch, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with Heike Schreitz and Lottie Bulman, the Mellon-MIT Inter-University Program on Non-governmental Organisations and Forced Migration in Cambridge, MA with Sharon Stanton Russell, Sarah Anderson and Amelia Graham, the Crisis States Research Centre at the LSE with James Putzel, Wendy Foulds and Jason Sumich, the Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust with Christine Ford, and the LSE’s Financial Support Office with Barbara Harris. While in Freetown and Kabul, I was deeply impressed by the openness and insights of over 120 respondents to my interview requests. What is more, some of the interviews conducted for this thesis would have been impossible without the skilled research assistance by Betty Foray and Arthur Pratt in Sierra Leone and Faraidoon Jawed Shariq at the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU). I also learned a lot through conversations with Adrian Mortice, Jon Lunn, Ashraf Ghani, Antonio Giustozzi, Farid Safi, Mir Ahmad Joyenda and Alexia Coke. Many wonderful friends have been there for me whenever feedback or distraction were needed: Hannes Felix Muller and Nika Svarc, Tobias Denskus, Stephie Knight, Borge Wietzke, Elliott Green, Sonya Bennett, Bob Burgoyne and Bartosz Barasinski in England; Benjamin ‘Hille’ Hemming, Andreas Rasche and Tobias Fricke in Germany; Jan Flilmer and Elisa Pierotti in Italy; Rujirapom A ew ’ Polchai, Sarika Seki-Hussey, Miguel Perez- Ludena, Michelle Kendall, Jom GeiBelmann and Christian Stoff in Thailand; Daniel Weng in Belgium; Reyna Alorro, Celina Su and Peter Muennig, Cornelia Jesse, and Ben and Liz Oppenheim in the United States of America; Bas Rozemuller and Lillian Diaz in Vietnam, Paula Giovagnoli and German Capoulat in Argentina; Nikolai Rogovsky, Irina Akimova, Barbara Claudia Godde and Roberto Mendez Miraflores in Switzerland; Michael Bear Kleinman, Brandy Bauer, Lucy Jones, Stefan Schiitte and Meredith Lewis in Afghanistan, and Chris Dunn and Radha Rajkotia in Sierra Leone. Finally, I would like to thank the many members of my patchwork family in Germany and Argentina: Heinrich Luft for his emotional wisdom and for excelling as my hack office manager’ in Liineburg, Johannes Esser in Adendorf for his experienced guidance on method and literature, Heidelinde Esser for inspiring conversations on faith and reason, and the Durini family in San Isidro, Argentina with Raquelen, Hugo, Lucia and Bemabe for their amity and hospitality. Most of all however, I thank my mother Monika. Her unfailing love has sustained me through difficult times and helped me travel my path. This thesis is dedicated to her and to her late mother, my beloved grandmother who taught me something indispensable for writing a PhD: that joy often lies in perseverance. D.E.E. New York, August 2007 Dedicated to Monika Wege-Luft and “Oma Eisebein ” Margret Wege (T2004) Table of Contents Figures .............................................................................................................................................vii
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