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'Parti Nigérien Pour La Démocratie Et Le Socialisme' (PNDS)
Niger Klaas van Walraven President Mahamadou Issoufou and his ruling ‘Parti Nigérien pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme’ (PNDS) consolidated their grip on power, though not without push- ing to absurd levels the unorthodox measures by which they hoped to strengthen their position. Opposition leader Hama Amadou of the ‘Mouvement Démocratique Nigérien’ (Moden-Lumana), who had been arrested in 2015 for alleged involvement in a baby-trafficking scandal, remained in detention. He was allowed to contest the 2016 presidential elections from his cell. Issoufou emerged victorious, though not without an unexpected run-off. The parliamentary polls allowed the PNDS to boost its position in the National Assembly. Although the elections took place in an atmosphere of calm, they were marred by authoritarian interventions, including the arrest of several members of the opposition. The ‘Mouvement National pour la Société de Développement’ (MNSD) of Seini Oumarou had to cede its leader- ship of the opposition to Amadou’s Moden, which ended ahead of the MNSD in the Assembly. In August, the MNSD joined the presidential majority, which did not bode well for the possibility of political alternation in the future. National security was tested by frequent attacks by Boko Haram fighters in the south-east and raids by insurgents based in Mali. While the humanitarian situation in the south-east © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2�17 | doi 1�.1163/9789004355910_016 Niger 129 worsened, the army managed to strike back and engage in counter-insurgency oper- ations together with forces from Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon. Overall, the country held its own, despite being sandwiched between security challenges that caused some serious losses. -
Elections in Niger: Casting Ballots Or Casting Doubts?
Elections in Niger: casting ballots or casting doubts? Given its centrality to the Sahel region, the international community needs Niger to remain a bulwark of stability. While recent data collected throughout the country shows an increase in motivation to participate in this month's election, doubts about the electoral process and concerns for longstanding development issues mar the enthusiasm. Birnin Gaouré, Dosso, December 2020 By Johannes Claes and Rida Lyammouri with Navanti staff Published in collaboration with Niger could see its first democratic transition since independence as the country heads to the polls for the presidential election on 27 December.1 Current President Mahamadou Issoufou has indicated he will respect his constitutionally mandated two-term limit of 10 years, passing the flag to his protégé, Mohamed Bazoum. Political instability looms, however, as Issoufou and Bazoum’s Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) and a coalition of opposition parties fail to agree on the rules of the game. Political inclusion and enhanced trust in the institutions governing Niger’s electoral process are key if the risk of political crisis is to be avoided. Niger’s central role in Western policymakers’ security and political agendas in the Sahel — coupled with its history of four successful coups in 1976, 1994, 1999, and 2010 — serve to caution Western governments that preserving stability through political inclusion should take top priority over clinging to a political candidate that best represents foreign interests.2 During a turbulent electoral year in the region, Western governments must focus on the long-term goals of stabilizing and legitimizing Niger’s political system as a means of ensuring an ally in security and migration matters — not the other way around. -
Democracy and Reconfigured Power in Africa Richard Joseph
“The third wave of democracy did sweep across much of sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s, but has now subsided, except for ripples and eddies.” Democracy and Reconfigured Power in Africa richarD Joseph n July 2009, President Barack Obama declared This is an appropriate moment, therefore, to in Accra, Ghana, that Africa no longer needs step back from the volatility and try to under- Istrongmen—it needs strong institutions. stand the deeper dynamics of political change Almost a year later, at a meeting of the African and continuity in the region. In this exercise, Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Secretary of State the perspective of Richard L. Sklar, a longtime Hillary Clinton contended that many African lead- student of African affairs and retired professor of ers seem more concerned with staying eternally political science at the University of California, in power than with ably serving their people. In Los Angeles, is helpful. Sklar has argued for the some cases, she said, democracy “as one election, importance of studying power and the means by one time” still prevails. which it is acquired and exercised. He contends How much do these views correspond with what that all governmental systems are mixed, and is taking place in African countries? What patterns everything that is good in governance may not emerge in the configuration of political power? And necessarily be “democratic.” finally, how do we assess Africa’s democratic pros- Sklar calls attention, for example, to the sig- pects in light of global developments? nificance of oligarchic entities, such as the US As once impregnable autocracies fall in North Supreme Court or the British House of Lords, Africa, the people of sub-Saharan Africa can in capitalist democracies. -
Neoliberalism and Democracy in Niger and West Bengal
Africa Development, Volume XLIII, No. 3, 2018, pp. 25-52 © Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 2019 (ISSN: 0850 3907) Weakened States and Market Giants: Neoliberalism and Democracy in Niger and West Bengal Rahmane Idrissa* Abstract This article argues that the contemporaneous phenomana of the ‘third wave of democratisations’ and the ‘second wave of liberalisations’ – or neoliberalism as it were – has disrupted the promise of democracy in the Global South. While the mainstream literature considers that democracy and the promotion of open market economies are mutually reinforcing, I claim that they in fact clash around the roles of the state, which both democracy and neoliberalism seek to reform, but in opposite directions. Democracy requires a broadened and responsive state system, mediating between social classes, while neoliberal reform typically shrinks the state system and shapes it to the preferences of elite classes. In this article, this thesis is explored in historical and comparative ways. I build an analytical framework through a comparison between the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952 and the democratic reforms undertaken under Evo Morales. Using this tool, I compare the fraught relations of Niger with French nuclear giant Areva and those of West Bengal with Indian industrial giant Tata. These comparisons, developed following descriptions of historical backgrounds, show why the vexed issue of the reform of the state should constitute a central research agenda if we are to grasp the fundamental conditions of the prospects of democracy in the Global South today. Résumé Cet article affirme que la coïncidence de la « troisième vague de démocratisations » avec la « deuxième vague de libéralisations » – néolibéralisme – a bouleversé les promesses de démocratie dans les pays du Sud. -
Niger in 2016
Niger in 2016 President Mahamadou Issoufou and his ruling ‘Parti Nigérien pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme’ (PNDS) consolidated their grip on power, though not without pushing to absurd levels the unortho- dox measures by which they hoped to strengthen their position. Opposition leader Hama Amadou of the ‘Mouvement Démocratique Nigérien’ (Moden-Lumana), who had been arrested in 2015 for al- leged involvement in a baby-trafficking scandal, remained in deten- tion. He was allowed to contest the 2016 presidential elections from his cell. Issoufou emerged victorious, though not without an unex- pected run-off. The parliamentary polls allowed the PNDS to boost its position in the National Assembly. Although the elections took place in an atmosphere of calm, they were marred by authoritarian interventions, including the arrest of several members of the oppo- sition. The ‘Mouvement National pour la Société de Développement’ (MNSD) of Seini Oumarou had to cede its leadership of the opposi- tion to Amadou’s Moden, which ended ahead of the MNSD in the Assembly. In August, the MNSD joined the presidential majority, which did not bode well for the possibility of political alternation in the future. National security was tested by frequent attacks by Boko Haram fighters in the south-east and raids by insurgents based in Mali. While the humanitarian situation in the south-east worsened, the army managed to strike back and engage in counter-insurgency operations together with forces from Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon. Overall, the country held its own, despite being sandwiched be- tween security challenges that caused some serious losses. -
Niger - Minority Rights Group
Niger - Minority Rights Group https://minorityrights.org/country/niger/ Minorities and indigenous peoples Current issues Background Contacts Main religions: Islam, traditional religions. Main languages: French (official), Hausa, Arabic, Tamashek (Tuareg Berber) Djerma (Songhai), Fulani. The results of the 2012 Census have yet to be finalized; the previous Census was conducted in 2001. Estimates by the US government for 2006 suggest a population made up of a majority of Hausa 53.1 per cent), followed by Zarma (Djerma/Songhai) (21.2 per cent), Tuareg (11 per cent), Fulani/Peulh (6.5 per cent), Kanuri (5.9 per cent), Gurma (0.8 per cent), Arab (0.4 per cent) and Toubou (0.4 per cent). However, in the absence of universally accepted figures, estimates vary. IWGIA, for example, in its 2011 figures for Niger’s indigenous population puts Peulh at 8.5 per cent, Tuareg at 8.3 per cent and Toubou at 1.5 per cent. In any case, over half of Niger’s population is Hausa, settled agriculturists who live in the south. Second to them, comprising a fifth of the population, are Songhai cultivators whose homeland is located west of the Hausa territory. Songhai are a broad constellation of ethnic clans including the Dendi, Djerma, Gube, Kurtey, Sorko and Woga. Dendi who live on the Niger-Benin border are essentially descendants of the Songhai who resisted the Moroccan conquest of central Songhai and Gao. Djerma are found east of the River Niger between Niamey and the Hausa belt, and along the River Niger. They are believed to be descended from Malinké and the Sarakolé and to have migrated southward from Mali before the rise of the Songhai empire and to have adopted Islam in the tenth century. -
Niger: Another Weak Link in the Sahel?
Niger: Another Weak Link in the Sahel? Africa Report N°208 | 19 September 2013 Translation from French International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. The Scramble for Power: Between Civilian and Military Rule (1960-2010) ................... 3 A. Old Imbalances: The Colonial State’s Weaknesses and Violence ............................. 3 B. The Failure of the First Republic (1960-1974) .......................................................... 4 C. The “Military Politicians” (1974-1990) ...................................................................... 6 D. A Fragile and Uncertain Democratisation (1990-2000) ........................................... 8 1. Short-lived regimes: The Second, Third and Fourth Republics .......................... 8 2. The armed rebellions of the 1990s ....................................................................... 9 E. The Tandja Decade (1999-2010) ............................................................................... 11 1. The “second Tuareg rebellion” ............................................................................. 11 2. The abuses of tazartché ....................................................................................... -
Democratic Revolutionaries Or Pocketbook Protestors? the Comparative Salience of Personal Rule and Famine in the Nigerien Uprisings of 2009-2010
Democratic Revolutionaries or Pocketbook Protestors? The Comparative Salience of Personal Rule and Famine in the Nigerien Uprisings of 2009-2010 Lisa Mueller1 Ph.D Candidate UCLA Department of Political Science [email protected] DRAFT: 28 November 2011 Abstract Are supposed “pro-democracy” protests really about democracy? This paper compares the salience of political and economic grievances in Niger, a country that recently experienced mass demonstrations amidst a famine and President Mamadou Tandja’s attempt to defy the constitution and seek a third term in office. Using original survey data from a random sample of Niamey residents, I find that having low prospects of upward mobility is associated with a higher likelihood of protest participation, whereas opposition to Tandja’s anti-constitutional politics is not. Hence, the Nigerien uprisings of 2009-2010 seem to have been driven mainly by economic, rather than political, grievances. Membership in civic organizations is also associated with higher protest participation, confirming earlier findings. I explore the mechanism behind this relationship and show that group membership facilitates protesting via mobilization and not framing effects. 1 Many thanks to my colleagues at the LASDEL research institute in Niger for their generous assistance collecting surveys and hosting me during my fieldwork. Thanks also to my assistants Thierno Mamadou Sow and Susana Figueroa. Although the 2011 protests in North Africa and the Middle East had varied outcomes, most pundits and scholars agree that the citizens who took to the streets in Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere in the Arab world wanted democracy. Dissent against authoritarian governments was overt and dramatic: a young Tunisian merchant set himself ablaze in front of a government building to protest mistreatment from municipal authorities (Howard et al. -
Situation Analysis: Niger February 2016
Situation Analysis: Niger February 2016 Situation Analysis: Niger February 2016 Idayat Hassan International IDEA regional resources © International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance 2016 International IDEA Strömsborg, SE-103 34, Stockholm, Sweden Email: [email protected], website: www.idea.int The electronic version of this publication is available under a Creative Commons Attribute-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 licence. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the publication as well as to remix and adapt it provided it is only for non-commercial purposes, that you appropriately attribute the publication, and that you distribute it under an identical licence. For more information on this licence see: <http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/>. International IDEA publications are independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members. Graphic design: International IDEA ISBN: 978-91-7671-040-1 Contents Introduction .......................................................................................5 Electoral context ...............................................................................5 Presidential candidates and election management ................................... 5 Voters’ register .......................................................................................... 6 Voter apathy ............................................................................................ -
4 Pages Areva in Africa.Pub
What our organisations demand from Areva: In view of Areva being a majority state-owned corporation, we put forward the following demands: AREVA in Africa ♦ an immediate suspension of all mining projects until an independent environmental and health assessment, 107, Bd de Magenta 9 rue Dumenge responsible to both the host state and the population affected, is made of all of Areva's operations; we should expect that 75 010 PARIS 69317 LYON Cedex 04 survie.org sortirdunucleaire.org Areva would conform to French regulations on the impacts of mining. 01 44 61 03 25 04 78 28 29 22 [email protected] The hidden face of [email protected] ♦ payment of taxes or contributions by Areva to host states, entrusted to an independent management structure that will ensure rehabilitation of sites after extraction, and cleanup of operating sites and their surroundings (this should include containment of tailings and radioactive waste, collection of waste and contaminated scrap metal, securing of safe French nuclear power water for local population, etc.) ♦ respect the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People , particularly on the need for the close involvement of local people in decisions related to management of water resources and use of land. "In France, we don’t have oil, but we do have nuclear power." ♦ set up a fund for all ex-miners and people living close to the mines, in addition to provision of a complete medical For 40 years, France has justified its nuclear This logic underpins the French policy of uranium examination, a retrospective assessment of radioactive doses incurred, a long-term health monitoring system conducted power industry by claiming it brings the country “energy extraction, and the behaviour of Areva, the major French by independent medical organizations, and the compensation for damage suffered. -
IFES Faqs Elections in the Republic of Niger: 2020 General Elections
Elections in the Republic of Niger 2020 General Elections Frequently Asked Questions Africa International Foundation for Electoral Systems 2011 Crystal Drive | Floor 10 | Arlington, VA 22202 | www.IFES.org December 22, 2020 Frequently Asked Questions When is Election Day? ................................................................................................................................... 1 When does campaigning start and end? ...................................................................................................... 1 Why are these elections important? ............................................................................................................ 1 What will security be like on Election Day? .................................................................................................. 2 Will internally displaced persons be able to vote? ....................................................................................... 2 What is the legal framework governing these elections? ............................................................................ 2 What is the electoral system? ....................................................................................................................... 3 How will the new biometric voter roll and identification of voters work? ................................................... 4 What is the gender balance within the candidate list? ................................................................................ 4 What is the structure of the -
Coup D'état in Africa
African Studies Quarterly | Volume 12, Issue 2 | Winter 2011 Debunking the Myth of the “Good” Coup d’État in Africa ANDREW C. MILLER Abstract: In response to the recent coup in Niger, which ousted the country’s president- turned-strongman Mamadou Tandja, the capital erupted in pro-coup demonstrations. Many commentators and foreign governments also showed tacit support for the junta. What is the likelihood that this coup and the other coup regimes in Africa will lead to the institutionalization of durable and stable democracies? Based on historical analysis of past African coups that brought brief democratic transitions, this article argues that it is unlikely. For the four African coups that briefly put in place democratic institutions— Sierra Leone (1968), Ghana (1978), Sudan (1985), and Niger (1999)—the juntas and proceeding civilian governments failed to address core political and economic issues, lacked durability, and did not engender long-term political stability. To further debunk the myth of the so-called ‚good‛ coup d’état in Africa, this article also demonstrates that coup regimes, which consolidate governing authority in failed states, attempt to institutionalize autocracies. Introduction The story of deposed Nigerien President Mamadou Tandja is an all too familiar one in Africa. Although elected in generally free and fair elections, Tandja attempted to tighten his grip on the presidency in a blatant violation of Niger’s constitution.1 In August 2009, after ten years in power, he pushed through a new constitution by referendum