The man is a social creature, and cannot even think of having a nonpartisan continuation. Aristotle said centuries ago was the same: "the man lives in a family, village, and cities. Not as an isolated being." in this paper we will examine the social life of the Africans and the main reason of the internal conflicts in the East African country’s South Sudan in our opinion it is the weak national integration in these countries.
Before the decolonization, particularly in East African countries, the societies were wanderers communities and didn't able to brought them in the organization. But the colonists achieved to united these societies in one state and formed their identities. And there is no cohesive society in these countries.
What is the mean of the national integration?
Many writers defined the national integration. Some of them say " it is a political idea and an ideal, It implies a national state where citizens have the full right without any form of segregation"[1]. And others try to define the mean of the integration and they define it’ is the bringing of people of different racial or ethnic groups into an unrestricted and equal association, as in society or an organization’’If we select the above meanings of the term integration, then ‘’ National integration’’ in South Sudan will exactly mean bringing of the different ethnic ( more than forty ethnic groups living in it) and cultural and political groups into unrestricted and similar association on a national issue. [2]
The History of Nation State in Africa
After the French Revolution, the modern State was born based on the nationalism in Europea, then nationalism movements spread all over the world promptly, And it ended the era of the multi-ethnic and nations Ottoman Empire. But the idea of a nation-state is associated with the rise of the modern system of states, usually dated to the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). The balance of power, which characterizes that system, depends for its effectiveness on clearly defined, centrally controlled, independent powers, whether empires or nation-states. " [3] In Africa the nation state was born with emancipation movements in the mid- the mid-20th century.
In concise, we can define the nation ‘ is a group of people living in a particular territory develop a political form with a sense of unity and determine their political future’’. When to look at the African countries notes that the mean of a nation in Africa is the tribe of the African people. There no top identities such as Sudanism or Somalism or...etc. We can confirm that the tribe is the territory in African communities, and the chieftain is the leader of this territory, on top of that chieftain, has absolute loyalty from the members. As we mentioned before, the tribe is a main political unit, and in some countries, it is pressure groups and they played significant roles in the election period and the political process. beside that gained the citizenship by the membership of one tribe in most African countries. Ultimately we can say that there no The concept of state citizenship in most of the African Countries as well. Therefore, these countries are suffering from the problems in national identity and it became to the main reason of continuity of internal wars in African countries such as South Sudan. There no nation state, there tribal state we can talking about in Africa.
The political role of the tribes in South Sudan
By Westphalia peace treaty, the modern state was founded in Europe, by accepted the borders of it. İn the period of the colonization in Africa the modern state was formed. In my opinion, the modern state didn't suit to African Societies because the extended Family or the tribe is the smallest and the most basic group of man. the South Sudan as nation is an aggregation of several nationalities and therefore, from time immemorial, even before it gained it independence, ethnic identity have defined the scope of political intercourse in heteroge
تاريخ النشر
22/02/2016
الناشر
Strategic Outlook
الكلمات المفتاحية
Tags : South SudanAristotleNational integrationOttoman EmpireAfricaSudanism
إبراهيم محمد الحاج ناصر | Ibrahim Mohamed Elhag Nassir | 1679