CITIZENSHIP AND PASSPORT RIGHTS Edefe Ojomo The strength of African states has been expressed to lie in its unity. Dr. Nkrumah’s dream of one Africa with one leadership still haunts every discussion on African development. However, a drastic movement towards unity is not the way forward, so the continent has made small steps towards this great reality. The AU is the prime institution for facilitating this unity, albeit with small strides.

The establishment of regional institutions like ECOWAS has set an example for building the path towards complete unity. ECOWAS has as one of its objectives the relaxation of international boundaries between member states. This would make for free movement within the West African region, a step that led to the establishment of the ECOWAS passport. The purpose and entire scope of the passport will be the focus of my research. What rights does the ECOWAS passport bestow upon its holder? What are the distinctions between an ECOWAS passport holder within a country and a national passport holder? What does the “idea” of an ECOWAS citizenship entail? My research will seek to answer these questions, and where there are no clearly defined answers, to make suggestions. I will further discuss what the removal of trade barriers and the introduction of a regional passport means for citizenship rights within the different states of the region, as well as the rights of the people who are entitled to, and indeed have ECOWAS “citizenship”.

In our hope for a move towards an African state with an African citizenship, this research will help understand what this might entail.

Biography: Edefe Ojomo is a graduate fellow in the LL.M program at the American University in Cairo, Law Department. She obtained an LL.B from the University of Lagos in Lagos, Nigeria in 2005, and a qualifying certificate (B.L) from the Nigerian Law School, Abuja, Nigeria in 2006. Her research interests are in post-conflict development, with particular reference to African States.

MULTI-ETHNICITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC PRACTICES. Foluke Omosuyi

One of the most important pillars of the democratic process in any nation state is upholding the rights of the citizen within the society. Firstly the definition of who a citizen is must be clearly defined before the State becomes responsible for upholding the rights that accrue to such citizen as part of the social contract.

Most African nation states are multiethnic and multicultural in nature. Many have opined that this has effected the development of the democratic process in most African Nation States. However with the incidence of globalisation, the Multiethnicity issue ought to be addressed and constructive solutions proffered to avoid crisis and create stability in governments. Without a stable government, most of the African Nation States are unable to properly participate in global activities.

The point of the discussion is to show how multiethnicity is posing such a problem on the issue of citizenship in Africa where other countries around the world are trying to develop multicultural societies. This will be approached from the historical point of view, looking at how the modern concept of “citizenship” came into being in African nation states. This would include looking at the possibility that “citizenship” may have acquired the status of being a foreign concept and therefore easily used as a tool for manipulation.

Secondly to show that multiethnicity can be used as a tool for enhancing citizenship rights rather than hinder it where residency rather than genealogy is taken into account. Multiethnicity has been a breeding ground for the debate on who should be considered a citizen and the accompanying rights. As long as Ethic sentiments are allowed to dominate African politics, the effectiveness of the nation state to protect its citizens and their interests will be seriously minimized.

Biography: Foluke Omosuyi is presently a graduate student at the law dept. of the American University in Cairo. She finished her secondary education at Beacon house Public school, Islamabad Pakistan in 1997 after which she went on to do her A’ levels at the Islamabad School of Law, Islamabad Pakistan in 1998. She obtained her bachelor in Law-LLB from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria in 2004. She proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Abuja, Nigeria where she received her professional certificate as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2005. GENDER AND RIGHTS Nadia Illahi

Africa is a continent rich in history, people and culture. We are witnessing an era of which everything is in flux. Forced migration, transnationalism, war and human rights are a web of interconnected categories demanding more specific attention. Cairo, Egypt as it is situated in both North Africa and the Middle East holds my passion to be a part of an on-going dialogue on promoting gender, equality and empowerment to women. Events shaping my interests that took place recently involved a high degree of harassment against women in the streets during the start of the holiday known as Eid Al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of fasting otherwise known as Ramadan. As a student of social anthropology, I have been studying the discourse on violence against women along with the many issues of contestation regarding women in the streets re-negotiating status, identity and public space. My research focuses on the narratives and surveys of a representative sample of foreign and Egyptian women in Cairo, veiled and non-veiled to measure the volume and effects of street harassment. I will discuss and compare the forms of harassment women face as obstacles to converging equally in a highly masculine public space. Furthermore, I aim to explore the possibilities for women in taking a stand against violence by highlighting the various organizations in Cairo whom are pivotal in the role of shaping legislature and proposing new ways of reaching the public sphere on these issues. I feel the topic of gender is so necessary to discuss as it is situated at the forefront of a country vying to secure itself in the global economy, democratic ideals, and betterment for the people.

Biography: Nadia Illahi is a Master's student of Anthropology/Sociology at the American University in Cairo. She obtained a B.A in Anthropology from Arizona State University in 2005 and an A.A Liberal Arts from Grand Rapids Community College in 2001. Her research interests revolve around urban anthropology juxtaposed against the gender dynamics within public space in Cairo. Coming from the United States, she chose Egypt as her area of study because of her continued passion for the Middle East and Egypt's wide diversity of research opportunities. She is an advocate for equal opportunity for all women and seeks to further understand the various forms of feminism and how they are constructed within an Islamic society. CITIZENSHIP AND STATE-BUILDING IN AFRICA Reem Fuad Abu Zahra

A strong state is a prerequisite for any country, not to develop, but to function. Therefore, it is vital to study the state itself and the one most important and most necessary feature of a ‘state’, the ability of state institutions to enforce rules. This research attempts to study the case of the Republic of Sudan, a country that international scholarly circles label it as one of the most failed states mainly because of the inability of the state to have an effective control over its territories because of the civil war in Southern Sudan and Darfur. However, this domestic disturbance is only a manifestation of state failure that needs to be explained. The problem that this research attempts to answer is why the Sudanese state lacks the capacity to limit public defection of its rules. Therefore, the basic approach that the paper adopts is historically analyzing the change in the institutional configuration of the Sudanese society and the interplay between formal and informal institutions in the pre and postcolonial eras with a focus on the way of economic governance or the economic institution, with a special concentration on the change of the property rights system in the country. The post-colonial era in the Sudan marked a severe challenge to the informal economic institutions or traditional ways of economic governance and resource allocation that have been embedded in the society. The change was not legitimized in the sense that it was a change in the rules not accompanied by a parallel change in the way people, from the different tribes scattered all over the Sudanese big land mass, see these rules. Putting aside all arguments whether these top- bottom or state- sponsored polices aim at reform or serving certain political interests at the expense of others, policy change in Sudan did not target generating public incentive to obey. This argument implies that state coercion does not build capacity. Legitimacy of state institutions is a necessary requirement for a state to be strong.

Biography: Reem Fuad Abu Zahra is a graduate student in the Political Science Department with specialization in Comparative Politics. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the American University in Cairo.