Development and governance : a fragile space

2018

Partie d'ouvrage

Pérouse de Montclos Marc-Antoine, Magrin G., Chauvin E., Rangé C.

Magrin G. (ed.), Pérouse de Montclos Marc-Antoine (ed.), Seignobos Christian (ill.), Gluski Pauline (cartogr.) Crisis and development : the lake Chad region and Boko Haram

Paris : AFD, 2018, 69-114 ISBN 978-2-37902-009-4

Central government often appears to have neglected the regions in the study zone, which are all outlying areas with the exception of the city of N'Djaména. In an area already suffering from massive poverty, drought in the 1970s and then economic crisis in the 1980s dealt a fatal blow to the post-independence period development projects and left the informal sector dominant. Efforts to kick-start public policies encouraged by the upbeat macroeconomic climate of the 2000-2014 period have not been enough to really change the populations'access to public goods: the region's rentier states are weak and have little control over development. Governments have had to compromise with the local powers of traditional leaders and religious authorities in order to govern a space with largely porous borders. Despite some differences, due largely to colonial heritage, the history of these regions is beset by troubled politics, countless land conflicts, endemic banditry and corruption, and recurring tensions between and within states. The population's vulnerabilities are hence multifaceted. Considering the complexity of their long-term history, they cannot be reduced to purely ethnic or religious problems, since divides and inequalities in the region's societies are also driven by all-important age brackets, social status, and gender relations.

Milieu rural, sociologie rurale, systèmes agraires, foncier rural [098RURAL1] ; Politique sociale, problèmes sociaux [106PROSO] ; Histoire [112HISTO] ; Vie politique [114VIPOL]

Fonds IRD [F A010086274]

fdi:010086277