SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis examines the problem of human diversity within the modem African state, and in particular the efforts of one African state, the Sudan, to maintain its territorial integrity and to come to terms with its human diversity. The work begins by tracing the development of the nation state as a form of spatial and political organization expressing the relationship between the nation, the homeland and the political state. The variety of means employed by governments to adjust the relationship, and the forces within states which can lead to disintegration are examined. A set of criteria involved in the development of secession movements is suggested, and subsequently used as guidelines in the study of the phenomenon of secession in Africa. Consideration is also given to the variety of power-sharing formulae employed by governments as solutions to such problems. The traditional African concepts of spatial organization and attitudes to human diversity are examined to form the basis for an understanding of the effects of the imposition of colonial rule, and of the resultant post-independence experience of threatened disintegration and secession in several African states. In the latter part of the work an examination of the experience of the Sudan demonstrates the degree to which a history of resentment, followed by questionable colonial and postindependence policies, resulted in threats to her territorial integrity. The solution to the problem is examined and an assessment made of the possibility of success for the current, more accommodating policy of recognizing the reality of diversity and of encouraging decentralized government.