Face of the Truth: Max Weber Visits Khartoum

Ibrahim Shaghlawi

If the German sociologist Max Weber were to visit Khartoum today, he would not pause at the آثار of war or the scarcity of resources. Rather, he would search for the state in its broader sense: its ability to transform authority into order, decisions into practice, and law into a reality that people experience in their daily lives.

A state is not measured by the policies it announces, but by the order it imposes—an order that enables citizens to trust that reality is governed by rules and institutions rather than chaos and indifference. For a city is not merely an urban landscape; it is a space where legitimacy prevails and the meaning of belonging is restored.

In this context, on Sunday, Khartoum State launched a program to distribute 3,048 residential plots in Block (8), Al-Andalus, in the “Mandela” area. The plots were allocated to eligible citizens affected by the removal of informal settlements in the southern part of the capital, as part of a broader effort to reorganize the urban fabric and provide planned housing alternatives.

Khartoum Governor Ahmed Othman affirmed that the program reflects the government’s commitment to providing adequate housing, safeguarding citizens’ rights, and restoring urban order through organized planning.

It is well known that over the past years, informal settlements have expanded across Khartoum as a result of displacement, developmental imbalances, and weak urban planning, until they became part of the city’s landscape.

The April War exposed the fragility of this reality. In some areas, these settlements ceased to be merely informal housing and instead became spaces exploited by the Rapid Support Forces militia to shelter its members and settle some of its fighters, including in neighborhoods and homes that witnessed widespread violations, including the seizure and looting of civilians’ property, taking advantage of the absence of organization and the weakening of state authority.

Hence, the significance of the current shift from the logic of removal to the logic of integration, and from superficial treatment to an attempt to rebuild the relationship between the citizen, the place, and the state through planning, land allocation, and linking housing with essential services.

From Max Weber’s perspective, the modern state is measured by its ability to transform authority into legitimate order governing the public sphere.

The strength of urban development is not defined by its physical expansion, but by the city’s ability to become an organized entity where aesthetics and security coexist, and where social life rests upon clear principles of justice and order. When urban order is lost, it is not only the physical form that deteriorates, but also the city’s ability to generate reassurance and meaning. In this sense, the replanning of Khartoum appears as an attempt to restore this balance, so that the city becomes not merely an urban but a living structure that reflects the presence of the state in everyday life.

However, the challenge extends beyond planning and providing alternatives. It also lies in the recurring pattern of reproducing informal settlements themselves. Previous experiences in Khartoum saw the state planning new residential areas and allocating organized plots and housing, yet some beneficiaries soon sold these properties and returned to unplanned settlements elsewhere. This behavior reveals that the problem is not merely urban; it is also social, economic, and cultural. Need intersects with weak adherence to regulatory rules, making marginalization a renewable condition rather than an exceptional circumstance.

Therefore, addressing the housing issue cannot be achieved through planning and distribution alone. It requires a deterrent legal framework that prevents the re-emergence of informal settlements, strengthens law enforcement, and protects urban planning regulations. The success of these policies also depends on viewing housing as an entry point to development rather than merely a plot of land. New neighborhoods can only become stable when accompanied by services and employment opportunities, transforming them into spaces of production and livelihood rather than mere sites of shelter.

At a deeper level, what is taking place is not simply a housing project but a renewed questioning of the state itself: Is it merely an authority that manages space, or does it possess the capacity to transform space into a sustainable system of life? A state that separates urban planning from economic development merely reproduces its crises in different forms. The greatest danger remains the reproduction of marginalization in a new form unless the vision is completed with services and an economic structure that guarantees stability and integration.

From a forward-looking perspective, three possible paths can be envisioned for Khartoum in the coming years. The first is a path of relative success, where the new areas are integrated into a stable urban fabric, strengthening the state’s presence and reducing vulnerability. The second is a partial path that reproduces informal settlements on new outskirts due to weak follow-up and implementation.

The third is a path of regression, in which widening governmental gaps reduce the state’s ability to regulate urban space, leading to greater urban and social fragmentation.

In conclusion, according to #Face_of_the_Truth, Khartoum faces a dual test: rebuilding the physical space and rebuilding the role of the state within it. This requires the government to complete planning efforts, provide services, and create employment opportunities that ensure stability and prevent the reproduction of vulnerability. It also requires society to promote a culture of order and protect public space, while the media fulfills its role in accountability and raising awareness, civil society organizations engage in monitoring and support, and the private sector becomes a partner in reconstruction rather than merely a beneficiary. In this context, the state, as Max Weber envisioned it, is at its strongest when it transforms order into a stable daily way of life.

Wishing you continued good health and well-being.

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

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