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In 1998 a bloody war erupted in The Horn of Africa between Ethiopia and Eritrea. During the war Ethiopia arrested and expelled 70,000 of its citizens, and stripped another 50,000-plus of their citzenship on the basis of their presumed ethnicity. Nationalism, Law and Statelessness: Grand Illusions in the Horn of Africa examines the events which led up to the war, documents the expulsions and denationalisations that took place and follows the flight of these stateless Ethiopians out of the Horn into Europe.
The core issue examined is the link between sovereignty and statelessness as this plays out in The Horn of Africa and in the West. The book provides a valuable insight into how nations create and perpetuate statelessness, the failure of law, both national and international, to protect and address the plight of stateless persons, and the illusory nature of nationalism, citizenship and human rights in the modern age. The study is one of a very few which examines the problem of statelessness through the accounts of stateless persons themselves.
This book will be of great interest to students and researchers in anthropology, law, politics, African studies and refugee studies as well as professionals and all those interested in stateless persons in the West, including Eritreans, who continue to be denied basic rights.
List of contents
Introduction 1.Nationalism, the 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea war and the denationalisation of ‘Eritreans’ 2. Politics, law and the limitations of international arbitration at The Hague 3.Flight from The Horn: Transiting Africa to find refuge 4.The illusion of citizenship and of return: Politics and persecution in The Horn 5.The Illusion of refuge: The search for asylum and the failure of international law 6.‘Bare life’: The vulnerability and political significance of stateless persons 7.Conclusion
About the author
John R. Campbell is a social anthropologist who has undertaken fieldwork/development consultancies in Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Botswana and the United Kingdom. He currently teaches anthropology at The School of Oriental and African Studies, London.
