Who is Responsible for Corruption? Framing strategies of social movements in West Africa mobilizing against presidential term amendments

<span class="abs_content">Since 2011 youth movements have staged large protests in African countries for presidential term limits. These have been discussed as struggles against de-democratization. Looking at the movements Y'en a marre in Senegal and Balai citoyen in Burkina Fas...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Louisa Prause, Nina-Kathrin Wienkoop
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Coordinamento SIBA 2018-01-01
Series:Partecipazione e Conflitto
Subjects:
Online Access:http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/18553
Description
Summary:<span class="abs_content">Since 2011 youth movements have staged large protests in African countries for presidential term limits. These have been discussed as struggles against de-democratization. Looking at the movements Y'en a marre in Senegal and Balai citoyen in Burkina Faso we argue that these protests were just as much triggered by socio-economic grievances linked to a corrupt patronage system. Indeed, corruption has been a major issue for both campaigns. We ask how the movement leaders linked the fight against corruption with their struggle against third term amendments in a way that sparked mass mobilization. We use the framing approach as our theoretical framework and show that a framing based on the concept of citizenship enabled both movements to link the issue of corruption to the issue of presidential term amendments and at the same time create a sense of agency in the constituency. This explains at least partly why both Y'en a marre and Balai Citoyen succeeded in their mobilizing efforts.</span><br />
ISSN:1972-7623
2035-6609