Tag: post-liberation state
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The Extraction of Heroic Capital in Eritrea
Abstract: This essay examines how the Eritrean state converted the moral authority of the armed struggle into a durable political resource. It argues that the category of tegadalay (fighter) flattened unequal wartime experiences into a single claim of equal sacrifice, allowing ruling elites to extract legitimacy from the suffering of ordinary fighters. By separating fighters,…
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The Forgotten Blueprint: How Eritrea’s 2001 Party Proclamation Could Rebuild a Nation
Eritrea’s political crisis did not emerge from a vacuum. It is the cumulative product of abandoned institutions, unimplemented laws, and a governing elite that systematically dismantled even the limited frameworks it once claimed to uphold. I use the term elite loosely here, for in the Eritrean context it connotes power without the accompanying attributes of…