Sovereignty as Generator of Inconsistent State Desire in Northeastern Central African Republic

Abstract

This chapter examines sovereignty as generator of inconsistent state desire in northeastern Central African Republic. Northeastern CAR occupies a limbo position: formally part of a state, but effectively mostly ignored by centralized administration. In northeastern CAR, people express a strong desire for an end to their “abandonment” by the state and an associated desire for a Leviathan-like power that can regulate and evict threats. At the same time, when state officials or others acting in the name of the state attempt to control and regulate the actions of people in the area, those targeted often protest vigorously. Indeed, the desire for stateness coexists with a value of liberty, or freedom from molestation in one's projects, which is a local manifestation of a project for sovereign agency. The chapter then considers how sovereign agency can generate or exacerbate states of inconsistency.