VII-2. Post-Conflict Reconstruction Crises: What Long-Term Future for Africa’s Dysfunctional States?; The Occurrence of Failed States in Africa after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and Its Relation to the Increase in the Number of Refugees from Africa Today

Conveners: Pierre Englebert (Pomona College, Claremont, USA); e-mail: penglebert@pomona.edu, Anselmo de Oliveira Rodrigues (School of Command and General Staff of the Army, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); e-mail: Capanselmo98@ig.com.br

Post-Conflict Reconstruction Crises: What Long-Term Future for Africa’s Dysfunctional States? (proposed by Pierre Englebert)
Countries like the DRC, Central African Republic, Somalia or Mali have been dealing for several years with attempts to rebuild their states in the wake of destructive conflict. Each, as some others, has benefited from significant UN or African Union peacekeeping efforts and large inflows of reconstruction assistance. Yet, in each case, things might be getting worse rather than better. In Congo, the incumbent regime has reverted to authoritarianism while letting conflict pester; In Mali, insurgency has continued while the new regime has been unable to improve governance. In CAR or Somalia, statelessness endures. This panel invites papers who discuss or compare the problems of reconstruction in African states, focusing particularly on what kind of model of statehood and what kind of division of labor between domestic and international institutions might be appropriate for these countries in the long run.

The Occurrence of Failed States in Africa after the Fall of the Berlin Wall and Its Relation to the Increase in the Number of Refugees from Africa Today (proposed by Anselmo de Oliveira Rodrigues)
The panel’s goal is to show the relationship between the increase in the number of refugees and the incidence of Failed States in Africa after the fall of the Berlin Wall. To scientifically prove this relationship, this scientific article was structured as follows: 1) Introduction; 2) Methodological Considerations; 3) The Emergence of Failed States in Africa after 1989; 4) The refugees from African countries as of 1989; 5) Final Considerations. In this context, this study addressed themes that guide the current International System, such as the emergence of non-state actors, the protagonism of some issues that are now on the international agenda and the contextualization of them on the African Continent. The methodology presented the objective and the research problem, presenting in general terms, the path of this study to reach the proposed objective and, thus, to solve the presented research problem. Next, this study promoted a debate on the term “Failed States” in the academic world with the presentation of some indexes of state bankruptcy currently in the world and through these tables, it was sought to verify common aspects, as well as draw conclusions about the positioning of African countries in these indexes. In addition to this theme, this article held an academic debate on refugees in the 21st century, prioritizing the concepts that govern this definition and the common causes for this phenomenon in Africa. In addition, the numbers of refugees from the African Continent from 1989 to the present date were shown, inferring some observations based on these data. In an attempt to prove the relationship between the Failed States in Africa and the origins of African refugees, this study compared and cross-referenced data on African refugees with rates of state bankruptcy in the world in the world, again conducting a qualitative analysis of this relationship. At the end of this study, some observations and suggestions were made based on the theoretical currents adopted in this article and the intersection of information contained in the various tables and indexes presented throughout this research. It is noteworthy that the proposed comments aimed to obtain the following relation: Actual Instability – African Failed States – Refugees. With this, this research sought to prove this relationship by relying on scientific methodology based on consecrated world literature. Finally, some suggestions have been inserted to reduce the incidence of Failed States in Africa, because was in these countries that the largest number of African refugees having been concentrated today.