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The Symbolic Power of the State: Inheritance Disputes and Litigants’ Judicial Trajectories in Cotonou
Author(s) -
Andreetta Sophie
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
polar: political and legal anthropology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.529
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1555-2934
pISSN - 1081-6976
DOI - 10.1111/plar.12341
Subject(s) - ethos , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , state (computer science) , bureaucracy , power (physics) , political science , focus (optics) , sociology , perspective (graphical) , law , public administration , politics , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , gene , biochemistry , chemistry , optics , algorithm , artificial intelligence
Over the last 10 years, scholars have started to focus on African states’ bureaucracies by investigating public servants’ relationships with the state, their professional ethos, how they appropriate reforms, and the way they interact with citizens. With inheritance disputes as a focal point, this article highlights the users’ perspective—which is often overlooked—and asks how litigants in Cotonou ( Benin) see the state, appropriate legal reforms, and use the courts. It shows that citizens, despite a general sense that the court system is corrupt and ineffective, continue to use it because state institutions convey a form of authority that allows them either to legitimize or challenge family decisions in inheritance matters .