Political Domination in Africa (African Studies)

222 Pages·1986·6.72 MB·English

by  Patrick Chabal

POLITICAL DOMINATION IN AFRICA
AFRICAN STUDIES SERIES 50
Editorial Board
John Dunn, Reader in Politics and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge
J. M. Lonsdale, Lecturer in History and Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge
A. F. Robertson, Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge
The African studies series is a collection of monographs and general studies
which reflect the interdisciplinary interests of the African Studies Centre at
Cambridge. Volumes to date have combined historical, anthropological,
economic, political and other perspectives. Each contribution has assumed
that such broad approaches can contribute much to our understanding of
Africa, and that this may in turn be of advantage to specific disciplines.
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES
4 The Nigerian Military: A Sociological Analysis of Authority and Revolt 1960-1967
Robin Luckham
6 Labour in the South African Gold Mines, 1911-1969 Francis Wilson
9 Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo John Dunn and A. F. Robertson
11 Islam and Tribal Art in West Africa Rene A. Bravmann
14 Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel Emmanuel Obiechina
15 Saints and Politicians: Essays in the Organisation of a Senegalese Peasant Society Donal B.
Cruise O'Brien
17 Politics of Decolonisation: Kenya Europeans and the Land Issue 1960-1965 Gary
Wasserman
18 Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-century Africa B. G. Martin
19 Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate: Historical and Sociological Perspectives Joseph P.
Smaldone
20 Liberia and Sierra Leone: An Essay in Comparative Politics Christopher Clapham
23 West African States: Failure and Promise: A Study in Comparative Politics John Dunn
24 Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Minority in a Black State Margo and Martin Russell
25 A Modern History of Tanganyika John Iliffe
26 A History of African Christianity 1950-1975 Adrian Hastings
28 The Hidden Hippopotamus: Reappraisal in African History: The Early Colonial Experience
in Western Zambia Gwyn Prins
29 Families Divided: The Impact of Migrant Labour in Lesotho Colin Murray
30 Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960 Patrick Manning
31 Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: The Evolution and Dissolution of the Nineteenth-
century Swazi State Philip Bonner
32 Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayy id Mohammad Abdille Hasan Said
S. Samatar
33 The Political Economy ofPondoland 1860-1930: Production, Labour, Migrancy and Chiefs
in Rural South Africa William Beinart
34 Volkskapitalisme: Class, Capital and Ideology in the Development of Afrikaner Nationalism
1934-1948 DanO'Meara
35 The Settler Economies: Studies in the Economic History of Kenya and Rhodesia 1900-
1963 Paul Mosley
36 Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa Paul E. Love joy
37 Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership and People's War Patrick Chabal
38 Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa Robert H. Bates
39 ljeshas and Nigerians: The Incorporation of a Yoruba Kingdom, 1890-1970s J. D. Y. Peel
40 Black People and the South African War 1899-1902 Peter Warwick
41 A History of Niger 1850-1960 Finn Fuglestad
42 Industrialisation and Trade Union Organisation in South Africa 1924-55 Jon Lewis
43 The Rising of the Red Shawls: A Revolt in Madagascar 1895-1899 Stephen Ellis
44 Slavery in Dutch South Africa Nigel Worden
45 Law, Custom and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia Martin
Chanock
46 Salt of the Desert Sun: A History of Salt Production and Trade in the Central Sudan Paul
E. Love joy
47 Marrying Well: Status and Social Change among the Educated Elite in Colonial
Lagos Kristin Mann
48 Language and Colonial Power: The Appropriation ofSwahili in the Former Belgian Congo,
1880-1938 Johannes Fabian
49 The Shell Money of the Slave Trade Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson
POLITICAL DOMINATION
IN AFRICA
Reflections on the limits of power
edited by
PATRICK CHABAL
King's College London
The right of the
University of Cambridge
to print and sell
all manner of books
was granted by
Henry VIU in 1534.
The University has printed
and published continuously
since 1584.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE
LONDON NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE
MELBOURNE SYDNEY
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521322973
© Cambridge University Press 1986
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1986
Re-issued in this digitally printed version 2008
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Main entry under title:
Political domination in Africa.
(African studies series; 50)
Bibliography.
Includes index.
1. Africa - Politics and government - Addresses, essays, lectures.
I. Chabal, Patrick, 1951- II. Series.
JQ1872.P63 1986 320.96 85-29985
ISBN 978-0-521-32297-3 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-31148-9 paperback
To the memory of Jean and Helene Mondain
Ne creda mai alcuno stato potere sempre pigliare partiti securi, anzi pensi di avere a
prenderli tutti dubii: perche si truova questo nell'ordine delle cose, che mai no si
cerca fuggire uno inconveniente che non si incorra in uno altro; ma la prudenzia
consiste in sapere conoscere la qualita delli inconvenienti, e pigliare el meno tristo
per buono ... Concludo adunque che variando la fortuna e stando li uomini ne' loro
modi ostinati, sono felici mentre concordano insieme, e come discordano infelici. Io
iudico bene questo, che sia meglio essere impetuoso che respettivo...
Niccolo Machiavelli, // Principe e Discorsi sopra la Prima Deca di Tito
Livio (Milan: Istituto Editoriale Italiano, 1970), pp. 106, 114
Let no state think that it can always adopt a safe course; rather should it be understood that all
choices involve risks, for the order of things is such that one never escapes one danger without
incurring another; prudence lies in weighing the disadvantages of each choice and taking the
least bad as good ... My conclusion is, then, that, as fortune is variable and men fixed in their
ways, men will prosper so long as they are in tune with the times and will fail when they are not.
However, I will say that in my opinion it is better to be bold than cautious...
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and edited by T. G. Bergin (New York:
Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1947), pp.67, 75
II politico in atto e un creatore, un suscitatore, ma ne crea dal nulla, ne si muove nel
vuoto torbido dei suoi desideri e sogni. Si funda sulla realta effetuale ... un rapporto
di forze in continuo movimento e mutamento di equilibrio. Applicare la volonta all
creazione di un nuovo equilibrio delle forze realmente esistenti ed operanti, fondan-
dosi su quella determinata forza che si ritiene progressiva, e potenziandola per farla
trionfare e sempre muoversi nel terreno della realta effetuale ma per dominarla e
superarla. II 'dover essere' e quindi concretezza, anzi e la sola interpretazione
realistica e storicistica della realta, e sola storia in atto e filosofia in atto, sola politica.
Antonio Gramsci, Quaderni del Carcere, vol. Ill (Turin: Giulio Einaudi
editore, 1975), p. 1578
The active politician is a creator, an initiator; but he neither creates from nothing nor does he
move in the turbid void of his own desires and dreams. He bases himself on effective reality...
a relation of forces in continuous motion and shift of equilibrium. If one applies one's will to
the creation of a new equilibrium among the forces which really exist and are operative -
basing oneself on the particular force which one believes to be progressive and strengthening it
to help it to victory - one still moves on the terrain of effective reality, but does so in order to
dominate and transcend it. What 'ought to be' is therefore concrete; indeed it is the only
realistic and historicist interpretation of reality, it alone is history in the making and philosophy
in the making, it alone is politics.
Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, edited and translated by
Ouintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (New York: International Publishers,
1971), p. 172
Contents
Acknowledgements page ix
Introduction: Thinking about politics in Africa 1
PATRICK CHABAL
Democracy in Africa 17
RICHARD L. SKLAR
Politics and vision in Africa: the interplay of domination,
equality and liberty 30
THOMAS M. CALLAGHY
Democracy and ethnocentrism 52
MARTIN STANILAND
Wails and whispers: the people's voice in West African
Muslim politics 71
DONAL B. CRUISE O'BRIEN
Revolutionary democracy in Africa: the case of Guinea-Bissau 84
PATRICK CHABAL
Civil society in Africa 109
JEAN-FRAN£OIS BAYART
Political accountability in African history 126
JOHN LONSDALE
The politics of representation and good government in
post-colonial Africa 158
JOHN DUNN
Notes 175
Index 207
vn

Acknowledgements
This book was conceived during my participation in a panel on Richard
Sklar's 'Democracy in Africa', at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the
African Studies Association, held in Boston in December 1983. I am
grateful to Richard Joseph for having invited me to join the panel and to the
other members of the panel for their thoughts and comments. I am equally
grateful to Richard Sklar for agreeing on the spot to publish his Presidential
Address in the present volume. I also want to record my debt to Michael
Schatzberg.
I wish to thank the editors of the African Studies Series for their
assistance during the gestation of this book. John Lonsdale generously
helped me in the translation of Jean-Frangois Bayart's chapter and John
Dunn provided much appreciated encouragement and intellectual support.
Farzana commented usefully on several of the chapters and, as usual, gave
much of her time to my project. Helder Macedo also offered support and
encouragement in the final stages.
IX