TY - BOOK ID - 85293919 TI - The Eritrean National Service : servitude for 'the common good' & the youth exodus PY - 2017 SN - 1787440206 1847011608 PB - Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer, DB - UniCat KW - National service KW - Alternative military service KW - Service, Alternative military KW - Service, National KW - Public welfare KW - Recruiting and enlistment KW - Social service KW - Draft KW - Compulsory military service KW - Conscription, Military KW - Military conscription KW - Military draft KW - Military service, Compulsory KW - Military training, Universal KW - Selective service KW - Service, Compulsory military KW - Universal military training KW - Conscientious objectors KW - Youth KW - Social conditions KW - Eritrea KW - Politics and government KW - History. KW - National Service KW - Recruiting, enlistment, etc. KW - Social aspects. KW - Young people KW - Young persons KW - Youngsters KW - Youths KW - Age groups KW - Life cycle, Human KW - ʼArtrā KW - Colonia Eritrea KW - Dawlat Iritriyā KW - Država Eritreja KW - Dŭrzhava Eritrei︠a︡ KW - Eartra KW - Eiritré KW - ʼÉretrā KW - Èritrê KW - Eritrea Riik KW - Eritreako Estatua KW - Ėritreĭ KW - Eritrei︠a︡ KW - Ėritreĭmudin Orn KW - Ėritreĭy Paddzakhad KW - Eritreja KW - Eritrejský stát KW - Eritreo KW - Eritreya KW - Eritreya Dövläti KW - Ērtra KW - Erythraia KW - Érythrée KW - Ėrytrėi︠a︡ KW - Estado de Eritrea KW - État d'Érythrée KW - Government of the State of Eritrea KW - GSE (Government of the State of Eritrea) KW - Gwladwriaeth Eritrea KW - Hagärä Ertra KW - Hagere Ērtra KW - Iritīriyā KW - Iritriyā KW - Kratos tēs Erythraias KW - Provisional Government of Eritrea KW - République d'Érythrée KW - Staat Eritrea KW - Stàir Eartra KW - Stát na hEiritré KW - State of Eritrea KW - Stato dell' Eritrea KW - Staturin Eritrea KW - Steat Eritrea KW - Κράτος της Ερυθραίας KW - Ερυθραία KW - Эрытрэя KW - Эритрей KW - Эритрейы Паддзахад KW - Эритреймудин Орн KW - Държава Еритрея KW - Еритрея KW - إرتريا KW - إرتيريا KW - دولة إرتريا KW - Eritrea (Ethiopia) KW - 1962-2099 KW - analysis. KW - case study. KW - criticism. KW - draft. KW - government. KW - history. KW - international relations. KW - liberalism. KW - literature. KW - political science. KW - politics. KW - social science. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:85293919 AB - The Eritrean National Service (ENS) lies at the core of the post-independence state, not only supplying its military, but affecting every aspect of the country's economy, its social services, its public sector and its politics. Over half the workforce are forcibly enrolled into it by the government, driving the country's youth to escape national service by seeking employment and asylum elsewhere. Yet how did the ENS, which began during the 1961-91 liberation struggle as part of the idea of the "common good" - in which individual interests were sacrificed in pursuit of the grand scheme of independence and the country's development - degenerate into forced labour and a modern form of slavery? And why, when Eritrea no longer faces existential threat, does the government continue to demand such service from its citizens? This book provides for the first time an in-depth and critical scrutiny of the ENS's achievements and failures and its overarching impact on the social fabric of Eritrea. The author discusses the historical backdrop to the ENS and the rationales underlying it; its goals and objectives; its transformative effects, as well as its impact on the country's defence capability, national unity, national identity construction and nation-building. He also analyses the extent to which the national service functions as an effective mechanism of transmitting the core values of the liberation struggle to the conscripts and through them to the rest of country's population. Finally, the book assesses whether the core aims and objectives of the ENS proclaimed by various governments have been or are in the process of being accomplished and, drawing on the testimony of the hitherto voiceless conscripts themselves, its impact on their lives and livelihoods. GAIM KIBREAB is Professor of Research and Director of Refugee Studies, School of Law and Social Science, London South Bank University. He is the author of Eritrea: A Dream Deferred (James Currey, 2009) and People on the Edge in the Horn (James Currey, 1996). ER -