Conference Program

The modern state exhibits a distinct conceptual economy (Grovogui 1998). Territorialization, centralization of authority, bureaucratization, citizenship and franchise commonly signify modalities of politics that delimit subjectivities and horizons for action. Studying the globalization of the state-from and transition into formal independence through a Eurocentrist epistemology, one would assume a homogenization of political cultures as well as perceptions of legitimate authority on a world scale. Such a stance occludes the global context of institutional and intellectual entanglements that mediated the experiences of political transition in postcolonial societies. The state was always a contested entity and rarely the only conceivable arrangement in the independence era, yet it became a plausible solution to a specific problem-space. Following Ndlovu Gatsheni (2013), to what extend can this be considered a “crisis of agency and imagination”?

A sensibility for African political thought would allow insights into how social and political change were conceptualized in a locally specific vernacular of the state-form. This paper therefore studies the experiences of Tanganyika/ Tanzania in the decades around its independence. By investigating the potentialities and limits of Nyerere’s attempts of translating ideas of African socialism into politics within the discursive and institutional context of a post-colonial nation-state, I sketch out the epistemic and international hierarchies that shaped the renegotiation of politics around independence. Emphasis will be put on categories and concepts introduced by the colonial administrative setup as well as protracted histories of social formations and sociabilities which influenced the reconstitution of sociopolitical activity and political subjectivity in the postcolony.

Scholars of IR have identified environmental problems as one of the fundamental global fluxes of the past few decades, and they have called for changes in academic and policy perspectives to address these problems. Often, the EU is viewed in these conversations as a “normative” and “transformative” actor. In this paper, we challenge such representations through unpacking the gendered and (neo)colonial aspects of the EU’s policymaking, particularly with reference to the European Green Deal (EGD). Using the insights of postcolonial feminist approaches, we argue that the EGD has been a policy initiative based on masculinist and (neo)colonial logics. Examining the discursive strategies used in the official EU documents and statements from EU officials, our analysis uncovers three types of (neo)colonial masculinities. The first adopts a “I lead, you follow” logic, portraying the EU as a neoliberal normative global model setting standards for environmental policies in the Global South. The second depicts the EU as “the man on the moon,” relying on material or coercive means to compel the Global South to conform. The third justifies and facilitates the former two, presenting the EU as the “protector of the European family.” We conclude by arguing that revealing these logics is significant, as they prevent envisioning radical solutions for the global environmental problems. That is because, these logics reproduce the already existing and prevalent hierarchical conceptions of world politics and the neoliberal economic model.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a group of largely non-nuclear states, is a major actor in the nuclear disarmament discussion despite its underrepresentation. Although the NAM and its main ideas were developed during the Cold War, the organization continues to participate in UN nuclear disarmament initiatives today. Postcolonial scholars have questioned the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime and its classification of nuclear and non-nuclear states, underlining the nuclear international order's racialized and hierarchical structure. Furthermore, recent research has focused primarily on the moral and political implications of NAM's efforts to undermine this hierarchy in the international nuclear order. The diverse experiences of NAM in the nuclear international system have significantly affected the (colonial) understanding and practice of security, which has not been adequately examined. This study contends that the colonial logic of security is built upon the abstraction of the excessive insecurity in the Global South by the North, and the former’s experience of this abstraction. This paper investigates whether the NAM has formed an (alternative) understanding of security in relation to the international nuclear regime. It does this by analyzing the nuclear disarmament statements in the final documents of the 18 NAM summits held since 1961. This research uses content and discourse analysis. The study will show the NAM's ‘security’ narrative on nuclear disarmament, as well as how it has been involved in disputes within the Global South, such as concerns about Iran's nuclear status.

The rise in the polarization of the majority population and the Muslim minorities in some countries of the Global North and South is a flagrant phenomenon of the last few decades. The tension between the two sides have triggered violent outbursts and engendered the creation of enclaves where the minority Muslim population resides. Two such cities are Mumbai and Paris, from the Global South and Global North, respectively.

The Muslim enclaves in these cities lack decent housing amenities, sanitation and transport connectivity among other infrastructural facilities. The enclaves are also associated with high crime rates, lawlessness and juvenile delinquency. The image of the enclaves is a highly negative one. This has had a major impact on employment opportunities for people who reside in these areas and often, employers prefer to overlook candidatures that come from here. These biases have caused a high incidence of unemployment among youth who reside in these Muslim minority enclaves. The environment of the enclaves is fraught with insecurity, fear and frustration but also a deep mistrust of the law enforcement authorities.

Using Bourdieu's socio-spatial and symbolic power theory, this paper will attempt to analyze how Muslims in the enclaves of the cities of Mumbai and Paris negotiate and deal with the negative identity and the social injustice that stems from it; the constructed negative image is often used by the State to legitimize strong action further distancing an already beleaguered minority population.