Abstract
What will be the role of ordinary citizens in fostering changes needed for a peaceful and sustainable civil society in African countries? Civic participation and, in particular, social protest, as a means to effect pro-social and democratic change in African countries, promises to play an increasingly significant role. In this chapter, we discuss the context of social protests in Africa, present several case examples, and report views on peaceful protests expressed by 301 citizens from eight African countries. Qualitative data from surveys are presented along with percentages of responses in different categories to illustrate themes of engagement and agency. Our results revealed a very strong affirmation of the right to peaceful protest and a smaller majority of responses indicating personal agency in responding to police violence against peaceful protestors. Implications of these results and the need for research and action to advance social, economic, and democratic development are discussed, and recommendations are made for enhancing the role of citizens in advancing peace in the region.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). (2006, July). Analyzing peace agreements in Africa, Gateway, Durban, South Africa, November, 2007. Retrieved November 3, 2011, from Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research November 3, 2011 http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/UCDP/.
Akanle, O. (2009). Nigeria, 1993 political and electoral protest and conflict. Retrieved on September 19, 2011 http://www.revolutionprotestencyclopedia.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405184649_yr2011_chunk_g97814051846491105.
Alexander, P. (2010). Rebellion of the poor: South Africa’s service delivery protests—A preliminary analysis. Review of African Political Economy, 37(123), 25–40.
Andersen, K. (2011, December). The protestor: Time magazine person of the year. Time Magazine.
Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of in humanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 193–209.
Bangura, A. K., & McCandless, E. (2007). The state of peace and conflict studies and peace-building and development. In M. E. King & E. Sall (Eds.), Peace research for Africa: Critical essays on methodology (pp. 29–54). Geneva: UN University for Peace.
Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., & Mannes, M. (2003). Developmental strengths and their sources: Implications for the study and practice of community building. In R. M. Lerner, F. Jacobs, & D. Wertlieb (Eds.), Handbook of applied developmental science (pp. 369–406). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Borum, R. (2004). Psychology of terrorism. Tampa: University of South Florida.
Boulding, K. E. (1965). Towards a theory of protest. A Review of General Semantics, 24(1), 49–58.
Carpenter, L. (2011). Malawians campaign for multiparty politics, 1992–1993. http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/malawians-campaign-multiparty-politics-1992-1993.
CIA World Factbook. (2009). The world factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved July, 15, 2011, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.
Dukor, M. (1991). Resisting state violence in Nigeria. Philosophy and Social Action, 17, 63–67.
Foster, D., & Louw-Potgieter, J. (1991). Social psychology in South Africa. Johannesburg: Lexicon.
Fuller (1995). The demographic backdrop to ethnic conflict: A geographic overview. The challenge of ethnic conflict to national and international order in the 1990s. (pp. 151–154), Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency.
Gamson, W. A. (1992). Talking politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gettleman, J. (March/April 2010) Africa’s Forever Wars: Why the continent’s conflicts never end. In Foreign Policy. Report Retrieved January 3, 2011, from http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/22/africas_forever_wars.
Global Security. (2011) The World at War. Retrieved January 18, 2011, from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html.
Global Peace Index. (2010). Visions of humanity. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data.
Hart, D., Atkins, R., Markey, P., & Youniss, J. (2004). Youth bulges in communities: The effects of age structure on adolescent civic knowledge and civic participation. Psychological Science, 15, 591–597.
Head, T. (2011). Why protest events are not a waste of time. Retrieved September 18, 2011, from civilliberty.about.com/od/historgprofiles/tp/why-protest.htm.
Hogg, M.A. & Abrams, D. (1988). Social identifications: A social Psychology of intergroup relations and group processes. London: Routledge.
Horowitz, D. L. (2000). Ethnic groups in conflict (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Human Right Watch. (2012). Human Rights Watch World Report 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from www.hrw.org/world-report-2012.
Johnson, L. R., Kim, E. U, Johnson-Pynn, J. S., Schulenberg, S., & Balagaye, H. (2012). Ethnic identity, self-efficacy and diversity attitudes in East African and US youth. Journal of Adolescent Research, 27, 256–289. doi 10.1177/0743558411412955
Kaldor, M. (2001). Beyond militarism, arms races and arms control. Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium, Social Science Research Council, available at: Retrieved September 18, 2011, from http://www.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/kaldor.htm.`
Kibanja, G. M., Kajumba, M. M., & Johnson, L. R. (2012). Ethno cultural conflict in Uganda: Politics based on ethnic divisions inflame tensions across the country. In R. Albert & D. Landis (Eds.), Handbook of ethno political conflict: International perspective (pp. 403–435). New York: Springer.
Kobusingye, O. (2010). The correct line? Uganda under Museveni. Boulevard: Author House.
Malley-Morrison, K., Daskalopoulos, M., & You, H. S. (2006). International perspectives on governmental aggression. International Psychology Reporter, 19–20.
McCandless, E., & Bangura, A. K. (2007). African experiences and challenges. In M. E. King & E. Sall (Eds.), Peace research for Africa: Critical essays on methodology (pp. 55–70). Geneva: UN University for Peace.
Meyer, M. (2012). Nonviolent Nigeria: The roots and routes of resistance. Retrieved February 2012, from http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/01/nonviolent-nigeria-the-roots-and-routes-of-.
Mphutlane wa Bofelo. (2011). South Africa: Police brutality and service delivery protests. Retrieved on September 19, 2011, from http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/72780.
Oliver, P. E., Cadena-Roa, J., & Strawn, K. D. (2003). Emerging trends in the study of protest and social movements. In B. A. Debratz, T. Buzzell, & L. K Waldner’s (Eds.), Research in political sociology (pp. 213–244). JAI Press.
Omobowale, A. O. (2009). Nigeria, protest and revolution, 20th century. September 19, 2011 http://www.revolutionprotestencyclopedia.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405184649_yr2011_chunk_g97814051846491105.
Ottaway, M., & Hamzawy, A. (2011). Protest movements and political change in the Arab World. CARNEGIE endowment for International Peace.
Pew Research Center. (2010). Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Report Retrieved January 3, 2011, from pewresearch.org/…/islam-christianity-in-sub-saharan-africa-survey.
Rodrigues, C. (2010). Black Boers and the evolutionary songs. Retrieved September 18, 2011, from http://www.thoughtleader.co.za.chrisrodrigues.
Schaefer, R. T. (2008). Racial and Ethnic groups (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
The African Press. (2011). Malawi protests. African press review retrieved 18th September 2011.
Tetty, W. J. (2002). United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report Office, Occasional Paper, Background Paper for HDR 2002. The Media, Accountability and Civic Engagement in Africa.
Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, Co: Westview Press.
Tyler, T. P., & Smith, H. J. (1998). Social justice and social movements. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 595–629). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Uganda Women’s Civil Society Organisations. (2011). Uganda Women protest against police brutality. From http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/20549.html.
United Nations. (2010). Assessing Africa’s progress toward the millennium developmental goals. MDG report 2010. (UNMDG report). Retrieved January 3, 2011 from http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/.
United Nations Development Program (UNDP). (2010). Assessing Africa’s Progress toward the Millennium Developmental Goals. (MDG Report 2010).
USAID. (2012). USAID Policy Framework 2011–2015, United States Aid for International Development, Washington, DC, Retrieved March 1, 2012, from www.usaid.gov.
Van Stekelenburg, J., & Klandermans, B. (2010). The social psychology of protests. Sociopedia.isa, pp. 1–13.
Walker, I., & Pettigrew, T. F. (1984). Relative deprivation theory: An overview and conceptual critique. British Journal of Social Psychology, 23, 301–311.
Zeleza, P. T. (2011). Malawi on the Brink: The July 20 Movement. http://www.zeleza.com/blogging/african-affairs/malawi-brink-July-20-movement.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kibanja, G. et al. (2013). African Perspectives on Peaceful Social Protests. In: Malley-Morrison, K., Mercurio, A., Twose, G. (eds) International Handbook of Peace and Reconciliation. Peace Psychology Book Series, vol 7. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5933-0_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5933-0_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5932-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5933-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)