State Legitimacy in West Africa

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Niklas Hultin, University of Virginia, in collaboration with the Isaac Newton Trust at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), will undertake research on the changing authority and legitimacy of the modern state through the lens of small arms use, trade, and regulation in West Africa. Small arms trade is an appropriate focus for such an investigation because attempts to control the proliferation of small arms reveal the nature and limits of state institutions. To stop proliferation, support sustainable development, maintain good governance, and control transnational terrorist activity, states must have robust and effective state institutions. But previous research has found that some states lack the necessary legitimacy and have outsourced many functions to non-governmental institutions. The researcher will investigate the relationship between state legitimacy and its ability to control illegal trade in small arms. The research will be carried out in the Gambia. Situated in a region which, over the last several decades, has seen several civil conflicts and a rise in transnational crime, the Gambia offers a salient case for the examination of the capabilities of African governments in the small arms arena. The researcher will collect data on how people differently positioned in relation to government and weaponry view the legitimacy of government activities, the arms themselves, and the various efforts to take back control. He will employ a mix of social science data collection methods including interviews, focus groups, research in archives, and participant observation. His information sources will include multiple stakeholders: hunters, law enforcement officials, medical professionals, arms dealers, blacksmiths (who traditionally made guns), black marketers, civil servants, journalists, anti-arms activists, and members of the law profession. He also will attend gun-destruction ceremonies, trials, national legislative debates, hunting festivals, a pan-African human rights commission, and gun related workshops. The research will contribute to theorizing the modern state. In addition, findings will allow for a broad-based assessment of current small arms control initiatives in Africa and, in doing so, will provide for greater understanding of the political and legal solutions to an emerging security issue for West Africa and elsewhere. The project also includes a mentoring and training component for Gambian university students.