Frozen Borders: Ethnocultural Consequences of Uti Possidetis in the West African Context

The International Law Reading Group (ILRG) is happy to announce a session as part of its Early Career Research Exchange (ECRE) Series, hosting Ranime Djouider, who is a PhD candidate at Durham University.  Ranime will be presenting her PhD research focussing on ethnocultural consequences of the uti possidetis principle in the West African Context. She will be exploring interstate boundary issues against this background through a decolonial and anti-imperial lens. The ILRG is looking forward to discussing and exchanging ideas on this exciting topic.

 

The full abstract of Ranime's research could be found below:

My doctoral research interrogates the consequences of uti possidetis on minority ethnocultural groups in West Africa. Uti possidetis refers to the international legal principle that requires administrative boundaries created under colonial rule be promoted into international boundaries after independence. The principle has often been posited as the most rational response to post-independence settings and the most effective means of prevented (state) fragility. However, the transformation of these often arbitrary and ill-drawn boundaries has contributed to a number of consequences, both internal and interstate.

Within the academic literature and wider discourse, there remains a preoccupation with inter-state boundary and territorial disputes. While this is an important feature of boundary regulation within international law, this focus does not meaningfully expose the full range of implications of uti possidetis. In particular, it fails to adequately acknowledge that colonial boundary lines, which often divided and amalgamated ethno-cultural groups, contributed to fragmented societies and identities. Therefore, in order to more meaningfully contribute this perspective to the existing literature, the thesis is inherently interdisciplinary, centred around a decolonial, anti-imperial lens. It blends together legal, historical and anthropological analysis, using Nigeria and Ghana as case studies.

Breaking this down further, the thesis has two main aims. Firstly, the thesis aims to fill this gap by throwing a new light on uti possidetis and artificially delineated state boundaries from a more localised perspective. As the principle has had significant impacts on the negotiation of social, cultural and ethnic dynamics within Africa, extending anthropology and history into legal analysis in this way, a more multifaceted conception of inherited boundaries can be (re)constructed. Secondly, this research actively unsettles core assumptions within international law, including statehood, territory and boundaries, which are prescribed as neutral, universal and essential. It argues that traditional conceptions of boundaries as neutral lines that demarcate neat political units continues to entrench a particular colonial relationship into the postcolonial setting.

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