Post-Liberation Politics and Political Space in Eritrea: Interrogating Aspirations among Educated Youth

Abstract

This article discusses post-liberation politics in Eritrea through the lens of political space, making use of empirical data collected between 1996 and 2006 among youth in higher education. Political space is defined as a relational space whose boundaries are being created in constant balancing acts between enforced citizenship obligations and personal aspirations. This definition allows for an analysis of the contradictions between national development objectives and personal aspirations in the lives of research-protagonists, and through this provides important insights into the nature of the Eritrean state. Main findings demonstrate how closures of political space ultimately undermine important state objectives.

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I wish to thank all Eritreans who have shared their stories and experiences with me over many years. An initial version of this paper was presented at an event in Oxford entitled ‘Eritrea and Rwanda: Post-liberation trajectories in comparative perspective’ in December 2014, and I thank all participants for constructive comments and engagement, in particular the organiser Jason Mosley. I also thank the reviewers for useful suggestions to improve the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For full details of methodology and data analysis procedures see Müller, 2005.

2. The lump-sum payment of 800 Nakfa on offer would have translated into 26 Nakfa per day whereas the official rate for such kind of work was 50 Nakfa per day at the time.

3. All names have been changed for reasons of confidentiality and other markers that could easily identify informants have been removed. The following is based on various personal encounters with ‘Elmi’ during the academic year 2000/2001 and each year after until 2006 in Eritrea. I subsequently met ‘Elmi’ in a European city in 2011.

4. The following is based on various personal encounters with ‘Mehret’ during the academic year 2000/2001 and each year after until 2006, and again in 2011, 2015 and 2016 in Eritrea, plus various exchanges via Facebook.

5. All those from the batch of students who took part in my original research that I am aware of are indeed abroad, mostly in the United States, and went there by legal means after having completed national service and received release papers. This is not unusual for this cohort but has become almost impossible in subsequent years and the vast majority who have fled since then did so by illegal means.

6. The following is based on various personal encounters with ‘Esther’ during the academic year 2000/2001 and each year after until 2006, and via email and Facebook since.

7. There is a pattern in periodic government crackdowns when any business sector or individual business becomes too economically successful. These either face difficulties in gaining import licences and/or are forced to close temporarily (interview, male, business owner, Asmara, Eritrea, 28 October 2015; interview, male, manager, Asmara, 23 October 2015).

8. For those working outside the higher education sector this payment amounts to 1650–1800 Nakfa per months, for those inside to 3800 Nakfa. The official exchange rate at the time of writing is 1US$ = 10 Nakfa.

9. Eritrean students are currently studying in a number of foreign countries, including China, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, Russia, Kenya and Sudan.

10. The following is based on conversations and observations in Asmara in October 2015. Names have been changed.

11. The three students, two women and one man, were in their early twenties. The conversation took place on 22 October 2015. Names have been changed.

12. A number of archaeology graduates work for the National Museum in Asmara that has a number of collaboration programmes with Italy. A team of committed Youth work at the Asmara Heritage Project that prepares a bid to have Asmara’s modernist architecture recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by 2017 (Boness, 2016).