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Creation out of nothing:
debates on federalization in the Republic of Chad

Zakharov A.A.,

Russian State University for the Humanities; HSE University, Moscow, Russia, zakharov.aa@rggu.ru

elibrary_id: 774070 | ORCID: 0009-0009-2953-6849 |

Isayev L.M.,

HSE University; Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, lisaev@hse.ru

elibrary_id: 642938 | ORCID: 0000-0003-4748-1078 | RESEARCHER_ID: H-9258-2015

Article received: 2025.07.22 11:54. Accepted: 2025.12.18 11:54


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2026.04.11
EDN: GMBYTS

Rubric: Orbis terrarum

For citation:

Zakharov A.A., Isayev L.M. Creation out of nothing: debates on federalization in the Republic of Chad. – Polis. Political Studies. 2026. No. 4. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2026.04.11. EDN: GMBYTS (In Russ.)

This article is an output of a research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the HSE University (HSE-BR-2025-48) in 2026 with support from the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 24-18-00650).

Abstract

The article analyzes why the Republic of Chad, despite its predisposition to a federal structure – due to its racial, linguistic, ethnic and religious disunity – still remains a unitary state. Accordingly, the aim of the study is to identify the reasons that prevent this African country from tapping into the potential of federalism, which, at least theoretically, can pacify and harmonize complex political entities. The empirical basis of the study _{is the} evolution of Chadian statehood since the country gained independence in 1960, as described in the works of domestic and foreign African researchers, as well as the experience of field work in Chad in the first half of the 2020s. The analysis relies on the developments of modern federalist theory, applied to the features of the formation of modern statehood in the postcolonial world. The key results of the study include the substantiation of the following logical sequence of theses: a) as a complex society, the Republic of Chad initially gravitated towards federalization, but the French colonialists who left in 1960 bequeathed to it a unitary structure; b) the need for a combination of self-rule and shared rule remained unmet for decades, since the postcolonial elites of Chad, who received power from France and represented the Christianized South of the country, constructed a young nation as if it consisted entirely of Southerners; c) the authoritarian regime of the southern elites was overthrown in 1975 precisely because of the systemic marginalization of the Muslim North, which led to civil war, foreign intervention and the dictatorship of the northern elites; d) the federal idea in Chad invariably appealed to those who lost in the internal political confrontation – first it was the northerners, and then the southerners; e) nevertheless, the local elites, both northern and southern, throughout Chad’s history continued to consider the armed seizure of the entire state as the most rational strategy, rather than federalization or secession; f) the dispersal of power was also hindered by the single-industry nature of the Chadian economy, based on cotton, then oil. The analysis leads to the basic conclusion that federalism, the implementation of the principles of which could have a beneficial effect on the further development of the country, will remain an unattainable ideal in the near future. In other words, the current statehood of the Republic of Chad is based on an insurmountable paradox: it is predisposed to federalization for a number of objective reasons, but the establishment of a federation remains unattainable due to equally objective reasons revealed in the course of the study. Nevertheless, because this fundamental social problem remains unresolved, discussions of federalism will continue to be an integral part of Chad’s domestic political discourse.

Keywords

Chad, decentralization, state resilience, colonialism, state-building, federalism, Africa, internal conflicts.

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