Doctoral Dissertation Research: Regionally-Led Processes and the Building of Civil Society

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

What role do regional bodies have in the building and maintenance of civil society? This project, which trains a graduate student in methods of rigorous, empirical data collection and analysis, explores how notions of political belonging are formed and sustained between nation and region. In particular, it will explore new forms of political belonging and governance that exceed national borders, asking what can be learned from supra-national regional dynamics, processes, and imaginations that are becoming increasingly significant in contemporary global politics. In an era when regional alliances and strategies, from the European Union to the North American Free Trade Agreement, are increasingly the subject of intense debate, the significance of region-building more broadly will enhance our understanding of the comparative geopolitics of regional bodies and their role in conflict prevention and resolution. In addition, the project would promote scientific understanding by broadly disseminating its findings to organizations invested in formulating effective practices for the building of civil society. The research will be carried out by University of California, Los Angeles doctoral student, Zachary Mondesire, under the supervision of Dr. Hannah Appel. Through a 12-month multi-sited ethnographic study with South Sudanese political and intellectual figures living and working in Khartoum and Nairobi, the project will closely examine the complex ways that individuals understand the political, racial, and geographic communities of which they are a part. To better understand how regional ideas of belonging take shape, he will investigate South Sudan's decision to join the East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental organization that includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda. He will also trace the ways the South Sudan's ongoing relationship with Sudan continues to shape conflict resolution and mediation in local politics. The participants of this study will include South Sudanese journalists, students, professors, and political figures. Data will be collected through interviews, participant observation, media content analysis, and the analysis of memoirs of South Sudanese political leaders. The findings of this study will lead to more robust understandings of the political, economic, and cultural dimensions of regionally-led processes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.