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.

中文翻译：

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国家的象征力量：科托努的继承权争议和诉讼人的司法轨迹

在过去的十年中，学者们开始研究非洲国家的官僚机构，方法是调查公务员与国家的关系，他们的职业风气，他们如何进行改革以及与公民互动的方式。本文以继承权纠纷为重点，强调了用户的观点（通常被忽视），并询问科托努（贝宁）的诉讼人如何看待国家，进行适当的法律改革并使用法院。它表明，尽管人们普遍认为法院系统是腐败和无效的，但公民仍继续使用它，因为国家机构传达了一种授权形式，使他们可以在继承事务中使家庭决定合法化或挑战家庭决定。