Aquiline Tarimo,Ethnicity,Citizenship,and State in Eastern Africa

In his book Ethnicity, Citizenship, and State in Eastern Africa, Aquiline Tarimo confronts the political situation in much of Eastern Africa with an alternative approach to building political society. Diverse ethnicities in the region demand a system of governance that integrates rather than segregates these multiple identities into a stable political order. This system of governance can be realized through a transformation of the social order, which ultimately will foster political transformation. That transformation entails the cultivation of a democratic mindset in the individual.

One reason that civil war and conflict has wreaked havoc in much of Eastern Africa is the politicization of ethnic identity. Much of life is organized around the ethnic identity of the individual, which itself is not problematic. The problems emerge when individual leaders use ethnic identity as a political tool.

But attempting to eliminate ethnic identity is an inappropriate response. Because ethnic groups are ‘still the essential structures of social relationships’, rather than try to erase ethnic identity, the challenge is to integrate these identities into the state structure. This must be done in a way that encourages groups and individuals to perceive overlapping loyalties to the nation-state (rather than to the more narrow ethnic group) and to identify with the larger nation-state as well (p. 21). One way to accomplish this is to identify the common good of the nation-state rather than a narrow ethnic group identity.

To that end, Tarimo argues that some transformation of traditional institutions and cultures (e.g. ethnicity as the singular narrow source of identity) must occur. Without adapting to the modern context, ethnic identities as they are currently expressed are likely to cause more problems in the political arena. Instead of arguing to do away with these identities, Tarimo argues they merely need to be transformed to include a wider range of individuals and wider acknowledgment of what is the common good. Tarimo argues that identity politics in Eastern Africa create problems for the goal of achieving the ideals of democratic governance. The practice of identity politics is partially perpetuated by the practice of corruption by politicians who use the resources of the state to support the groups they represent. Rather than base politics on imported institutions from the outside, the institutions of governance must instead be embedded in the local context, and be a product of multicultural and diverse, inclusive forms of decision-making. In this way, Tarimo argues, the product will ensure that governance institutions match the local context in which they are to be practiced and experienced.

In order for all this to occur, Africans must be educated into civil engagement and service, into consensus decision-making that embraces the particularity of local cultural tradition while also respecting and learning from groups that are different. Indeed, ethnic federalism is not an appropriate answer to the question of political integration of diverse groups into the modern state, because ethnic federalism maintains separation rather than integration. In a modern world, where urbanization, migration, and globalization are realities, ethnic separation as a way of ordering society is not appropriate. It does not confront the reality that individuals from a variety of backgrounds are less and less able to avoid interactions with individuals from other groups or backgrounds. But political integration will not be easy, and Tarimo outlines some of the challenges facing such attempts, especially those challenges related to the tensions between ethnic identity, national identity, and citizenship.

First, forced migration is a salient aspect of reality in Eastern Africa and its presence challenges any effort at political integration, because migration, immigration, and citizenship are almost necessarily exclusionary. Second, Tarimo argues that while managing cultural diversity might be difficult, it is not impossible. Evidence abounds in the reality of overlapping traditions and norms in Eastern Africa. Education for citizenship is one way to encourage tolerance and dialogue in order to identify overlapping traditions and norms among diverse groups. Third, the tension between ethnic identity and national identity is real; in order to overcome that obstacle, local communities must develop identities that meld the individual identity with that of the larger community. Related, and fourth, ethnic identity does not lead to national identity because individuals use cultural and traditional norms to establish ethnic identity, whereas they use legal rules and norms to establish national identity. This poses a set of serious challenges to political integration. Fifth, ethnicity and citizenship are constructed identities and as such, are constantly changing. But this is also an opportunity; because they are adaptable to change, they can be molded into national identities and ideas of citizenship that are inclusive rather than exclusive. Sixth and last in this list, Tarimo argues that education for citizenship is one method that will support the formation of a national identity based upon tolerance, dialogue, and multiculturalism. Educating individuals for civic engagement teaches individuals to accept and understand others and to integrate ideas by forming new cultural norms out of multiple cultural traditions. In this way, education for citizenship contributes to political integration in Eastern Africa.

Tarimo takes the opportunity to show the positive role that religion can play in achieving this transformation of society. While acknowledging the sometimes-divisive role that religion, religious leaders, and religion-as-political-tool can play in Eastern Africa, he argues that religion can and does play a unifying role as well, helping to bridge gaps between groups in a positive, accommodating way. But there exists a separation between religious organizations and civil society that Tarimo argues is detrimental to the political goals of both types of organizations. Civil society acts as point of tension against the state, as do religious organizations sometimes. When they do, religious organizations could be more effective if their work was embraced by civil society. Together, civil society and religious organizations can work to develop a public conscience and synthesize efforts to balance the power of the state.

As a first step toward this approach to political integration, Tarimo identifies four ethical foundations upon which public values reside: human dignity, freedom of conscience, human rights, and the common good. These four foundations, which Tarimo argues appeal to values that transcend cultural differences, enable diversity in the political sphere. They provide overlapping consensus upon which political society can be built in a diverse context. Two other important components for building political society are public conscience and public reason. Public conscience is built upon both religious and civic virtues, integrated with each other. Public reason is a product of exchange between individuals in a public sphere marked by transparency and freedom. In this type of context – one that values human dignity, human rights, freedom of conscience, the common good, public conscience, and public reason – individuals can exercise both creativity and imagination in confronting the problems facing society today. That includes finding a paradigm for shaping social organization in the context of contemporary Eastern Africa, marked by diverse ethnic and religious background and the international state system. In this way, Tarimo argues that governance founded upon blood relationships can be replaced with a system that integrates multiple cultural and religious backgrounds into one stable system.

Tarimo focuses on the state as the structural answer to the political disintegration problem in Eastern Africa. But throughout the book, Tarimo acknowledges that it seems to have been the very introduction of the state – a tool for organizing society imposed from the outside – that partially has caused many of the conflicts in Africa in the first place. Tarimo argues that a return to pre-colonial fiefdom is certainly not a viable solution to confront the problems facing modern Africa. But Tarimo does not acknowledge the possibility of a middle ground between totally state-centered society, on the one hand, and pre-colonial fiefdoms on the other. The story of the Republic of Somaliland, which appears to have melded traditional value systems with something like a modern state system of governance, presents itself as a case study of this possible middle ground.

This reliance upon the state as the structural solution to the political problem renders Tarimo’s solution – a focus on transforming people and culture – the only viable one. While Tarimo clearly holds a deep respect for African tradition and culture, this focus on transforming people sometimes leaves the impression that African tradition and culture do not at present embrace democratic values and ideals. This focus upon the state as problem and solution, and concomitant focus on people as problem and solution, sometimes proves difficult for Tarimo to reconcile and balance in his analysis and presentation of a viable solution.

Given those difficulties, Tarimo is determined to focus on presenting analyses and solutions that are grounded in the present reality of Eastern Africa, including the presence of the modern state system, migration and immigration, globalization and urbanization, and the presence of multiple cultures and religions within the boundaries of the states in Eastern Africa. By consistently grasping this complex reality, and by focusing unwaveringly on the import of local expression and creative blending of tradition within a modern context, Tarimo presents an argument that is both forceful and practical at the same time.