Rights, citizenship and good governance in African states

Considering rights, citizenship and good governance in African states, Mususa and Lanzano argue for establishing a social contract, which reconciles particularistic identities (such as ethnicity) with citizenship and governance under the rule of law as an investment into enhanced trust in a citizen-state interaction.

A policy promoting and embracing a positive notion of citizenship could be an opportunity for states and governments as well as citizens. This could be seen as an investment in social stability and a shared identification with the common good.

Elisabeth Olivius, SweDev Executive Committee member and Associate Professor at Umeå University, will give welcome remarks. Eleanor Fisher, Head of Research at the Nordic Africa Institute, will moderate the dialogue together with Ylva Rylander, Lead Communications Officer for SweDev at SEI. Alice Tunfjord, SweDev secretariat and SEI Associate will host the dialogue.

Join the dialogue

Agenda 29 November

12:00 Welcome remarks

• Elisabeth Olivius, SweDev Executive Committee member and Associate Professor at Umeå University

12:05 Introduction

• Eleanor Fisher, Head of Research, Nordic Africa Institute

12:10 Keynote: Rights, citizenship and good governance in African states

• Cristiano Lanzano, Senior Researcher, Nordic Africa Institute
• Patience Mususa, Senior Researcher, Nordic Africa Institute

12:45 Audience questions to the keynote speaker, moderated by

• Eleanor Fisher, Head of Research, Nordic Africa Institute
• Ylva Rylander, Lead Communications Officer for SweDev at SEI

13:05 Concluding remarks

• Elisabeth Olivius, SweDev Executive Committee member and Associate Professor at Umeå University

13:15 Closing

About the keynote speakers

Patience Mususa is a Senior Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute and an environmental anthropologist specialising on mining and human settlement, copper mining towns, planning and urbanization, and community welfare. She is working at the intersections of research, policy and practice.

Mususa is a member of the Editorial Board of the Urban Forum scientific journal, a co-convenor within the Collaborative Research Group African Urban Dynamics, and member of the Institute for Humanities in Africa policy working group at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Cristiano Lanzano is a Senior Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute and a social anthropologist with a background in political science and development studies. He is an expert on the extractive sector and mining, natural resources and conservation, rural-urban continuum, anthropology of development and youth and urban culture. Lanzano is a Subject Editor for the Nordic Journal of African Studies.

Dialogues on development research

The dialogue series on development research is organized by the Swedish Development Research Network (SweDev) and SEI’s Development and Aid Policy Team.

The aim of the dialogues on development research is to spread findings of development research by creating a learning space where researchers can share their work in an informal and easily accessed setting. The dialogue series are targeting researchers, practitioners and policymakers within the development research area.