By Dr. Binneh S Minteh
Nationalism and Sovereignty have been two widely contentious concepts throughout various historical periods of human evolution. In both traditional and contemporary times, Nationalism is generally conceptualized as the individual or collective form of identity with a country or nation. Shiraev and Zubok (2020) put it as the individual and collective identification with a country or a nation. Sovereignty in traditional terms refers to the supremacy of authority exercised by a state over its population and territory for purposes of non-interference in domestic affairs – it is also about the allegiance of the people living within the state (Shiraev and Zubok, 2020). In contemporary terms conceptions of sovereignty refer or translate to responsibility.
Responsibility in this context means collective responsibility, ensuring that states work in the framework of multilateral or bilateral arrangements (agreements) to protect citizens and strengthen the collective common good, which includes and not limited to holding leadership and governments accountable when they fail or omit to protect citizens or emerge to be the perpetrators of abuse and neglect of citizens they are responsible for protecting. The military interventions by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the establishment of an ECOMIG Peace Enforcement force in The Gambia falls under such contemporary multilateral regional governance framework.
Similarly, collective responsibility can emerge in the form of a bilateral arrangement (agreement) between two states. For example, in March 2017, The Gambia and Senegal established a Senegal-Gambian Presidential Council that signed a bilateral agreement covering six core developmental areas including, Defense and security; Justice; Consular matters; Free movements of people and goods; Tourism; Energy; and, the Environment. The details of the Defense and Security agreement focused on intensifying joint border patrols to fight cross border criminals. The Justice agreement focus on judicial cooperation on extradition and mutual legal assistance. Consular matters focus on implementation of the agreement. The agreement on free movement of people and goods focus on discussing challenges encountered in the movement of goods and people. The Tourism agreement focuses on developing a plan of action for both countries to develop common tourism strategies. And the energy agreement focuses on connecting Northern Bank of The Gambia (Amdalai and Barra area) to the Senegalese power grid.
In the wake of intermittent Senegalese military incursions in pursuit of criminals with a record of using The Gambia as a haven guaranteed by the deposed government, the maiden calls by some Gambian citizens characterizing such legitimate incursions as violations of sovereignty is unfortunate and irresponsible. Arguably such bilateral agreements between The Gambia and Senegal are very much in line with contemporary conceptions of sovereignty in the context of collective security responsibility.
Historically, national identity has coexisted peacefully with other beliefs. However, since human political interaction is defined by power, interest and institutions, the evolution of these concepts made some forms of nationalism to become divisive and polarizing. Such forms of nationalism include chauvinism, tribalism and xenophobia – chauvinism refers to exaggeration of belief in national superiority; tribalism is the identification of oneself with a religious or ethnic group, and xenophobia refers to the fear and contempt of foreign countries and foreigners.
By the dawn of the 21st century these pervasive cultures of national, ethnic and territorial identity emerged as the most powerful factors of political mobilization during political transitions and conflict. It causes people to put aside their political differences and stand together against foreign forces. Similarly, it can bring political parties together to work together against threats considered to be foreign. In actionable terms nationalism can be a participatory political culture under authoritarian regimes.
To put The Gambian situation into context, two decades of authoritarianism under the APRC government sowed virulent forms of pseudo -nationalism that intermittently sparked dangerous internal tribal political machinations that led to xenophobic actions against neighboring Senegal and her citizens. Thanks to the narrow-minded views and political immaturity of the former President, that virulent forms of pseudo-nationalism against our Sister Republic of Senegal was rooted across Gambian Political Landscape through various APRC popular mouth pieces. The manifestations of their polarized political actions render the Senegalo-Gambian cooperation nonexistence, the lack of constructive engagement between the two-sister nations, and intermittent economic disruptions as a result of long periods of border closures.
Most troubling of it all is the use of sovereignty and territorial integrity by some actors across various walks of life as justification in their tirades against Senegal. For example, in the most recent sightings of a Senegalese military column along Gambian border villages in pursuit of suspected cross-border criminals, some citizens mobilized to protest the presence of the troops on Gambian territory. Similarly, social media engagements across Gambian online spaces sparked debates and sometimes dangerous political rhetoric against the Senegalese for interference and violations of sovereignty. Such dissensions of discord raise some legitimate concerns about the level of political and intellectual maturity across some interactive spaces in the new political dispensation. Evidently, such levels of political and intellectual immaturity are true of prominent former regime supporters struggling to come to terms with the new dispensation.
Arguably, Gambians and Senegalese are one people in two separate states –the people share the same history, culture, religion, ethnic groupings and language. The creation of the two states was the result of irregular territorial boundaries imposed by the scheme of colonial machinations. In both geopolitical and geostrategic terms integration of the two states in socio-economic, socio-political and socio-cultural terms would only make the people more competitive in the changing complex world of our times. From clearly defined political economy perspectives, The Gambia and Senegal need to strengthen the following core areas to realize the fullest potentials of their geopolitical and geostrategic advantage:
- To build up on the already reform efforts and capacity building provided by the Senegalese, the people must continue to see joint border patrols, and Joint training exercises between various armed and security units in the territories of both states.
- Both long- and short-term efforts must be undertaken to consider linking major Gambian cities and towns to the new Senegalese railway network – Koina, Fatoto, Basse, Jarra Soma, Brikama in the South Bank, and Kuntaur, Kaur, Kerewan and Barra in the Northbank.
- It’s important that both countries work on modalities of adopting common custom policies and practices to facilitate the cross-border movement of people and goods.
- To build up on the foundations laid by the Senegalo-Gambian Presidential Committee, it is important to expedite actionable approaches in promoting cooperation in higher education, science, technology and research through the various higher education, science and technology institutions.
- It is imperative that both countries work to develop an action plan in sports, culture and civic education to strengthen our bonds as Senegambians.
- Efforts must also be expedited to connect Southern Border towns and villages of The Gambia to the Senegalese power grid to help curb the problems of electricity.
While traditional conceptions of sovereignty laid emphasis on non-interference into the internal affairs of states, contemporary notions of sovereignty mean responsibility through modern governance arrangements. Perhaps Gambian pseudo-nationalist must be schooled to understand that contemporary conceptions of security have redefined sovereignty as responsibility.
The author is a Professor of Criminal Justice and Public Policy at Rutgers University, Newark Campus. He is a Former Gambian Armed Forces First Lieutenant