States of (In)Security: Violence, Local Governance, and Institutionalized Arbitrariness in Northern Uganda
Tapscott, Rebecca.
2017
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Abstract: This dissertation theorizes uncertainty as a contemporary mode of
rule in northern Uganda, focusing on how violence is institutionalized within and beyond
the state's governing institutions. It examines the relationship between the state security
apparatus and vigilante groups in and around Gulu Town, northern Uganda. The findings are
based primarily on qualitative research, relying ... read moreon approximately 300 interviews conducted
over eight months of qualitative field research between February 2014 to February 2016. The
qualitative findings are supplemented with an analysis of a 1,551 household survey. The
research focuses on conflicts between local vigilantes and state security providers,
primarily the police. I find that in the area of security the central Ugandan state is
ever-present in citizens' imaginations. I argue that this is achieved through a strategy of
rule that I have termed institutionalized arbitrariness, in which violence is
institutionalized in the state's governing system, even though its use remains
unpredictable from the perspective of ordinary citizens. In particular, the state
unpredictably claims and denies its authority, while deploying potentially exceptional
violence to quell resistance. This unpredictability fragments citizen resistance to and
claim-making on the state. In this way, the ruling regime maintains control of this
post-conflict frontier zone without expending the resources typically associated with
direct rule, while also avoiding the principal-agent problems associated with indirect
rule. Thus, institutionalized arbitrariness is an effective and efficient mode of
governance, and contributes to our understanding of governance in post-colonial African
states with militarized and statist regimes. The dissertation illustrates how current
theory on the post-colonial sub-Saharan states relies on two faulty assumptions: that the
division between public and private can be conceived of as stable, and that a mismatch
between violence and governing institutions is a necessary feature of post-colonial
sub-Saharan African states. Instead, Uganda's ruling regime has produced an unfamiliar
match between violence and governing institutions which has allowed the regime to
efficiently and effectively extend and maintain its control to the conflict-affected
borderlands of the country. Thus, institutionalized arbitrariness argues for a dynamic
understanding of the relationship between violence and institutional form, observing that
they can be opportunistically de-coupled and re-coupled according to a wider strategy of
rule. The theory of institutionalized arbitrariness contributes to debates on state
formation and statecraft, neopatrimonialism, legal pluralism, and public authority. The
findings suggest that "fragile" states may be stronger than they appear. Indeed, these
states govern far more efficiently in terms of return on investment than a traditional
welfare state. The theory also challenges a dichotomy between liberal and illiberal
regimes, pointing out that successful governing strategies allow for spaces of liberalism
to further broader goals of illiberal governance. Finally, it shows that institutional
multiplicity cannot be viewed independently from the state, but instead must be understood
in relation to the state's capacity for violence. While ordinary citizens may compete in a
plural institutional environment, their competitions occur in relation to a larger power
game between the ruling regime and the polity at large. An increasingly fluid and labile
relationship between violence and governing institutions bodes poorly for many goals of
international development and global security, including the future of liberal democracy,
human welfare, and access to security and justice—and thus, it must not be
ignored.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2017.
Submitted to the Dept. of Diplomacy, History, and Politics.
Advisor: Alex de Waal.
Committee: Jenny Aker, Dyan Mazurana, and William Reno.
Keywords: Political science, and African studies.read less - ID:
- n296xb190
- Component ID:
- tufts:22772
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
