Reclaiming the Nation: The Return of the National Question in Africa, Asia and Latin America PDF
Preview Reclaiming the Nation: The Return of the National Question in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Reclaiming the Nation Moyo T02227 00 pre 1 24/01/2011 16:26 Moyo T02227 00 pre 2 24/01/2011 16:26 ReclaimiNg the NatioN the Return of the National Question in africa, asia and latin america Edited by Sam Moyo and Paris Yeros Moyo T02227 00 pre 3 24/01/2011 16:26 First published 2011 by Pluto Press 345 archway Road, london N6 5aa and 175 Fifth avenue, New York, NY 10010 www.plutobooks.com Distributed in the United States of america exclusively by Palgrave macmillan, a division of St. martin’s Press llc, 175 Fifth avenue, New York, NY 10010 copyright © Sam moyo and Paris Yeros 2011 the right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988. British library cataloguing in Publication Data a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library iSBN 978 0 7453 3083 9 hardback iSBN 978 0 7453 3082 2 Paperback library of congress cataloging in Publication Data applied for this book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Designed and produced for Pluto Press by chase Publishing Services ltd, 33 livonia Road, Sidmouth, eX10 9JB, england typeset from disk by Stanford DtP Services, Northampton, england Simultaneously printed digitally by cPi antony Rowe, chippenham, UK and edwards Bros in the USa Moyo T02227 00 pre 4 24/01/2011 16:26 contents Preface vii IntroductIon 1 the Fall and rise of the national Question 3 Sam Moyo and Paris Yeros Part I: aFrIca 2 rethinking Pan-africanism, nationalism and the new regionalism 31 Thandika Mkandawire 3 nation-Building and State Fracture in Sudan 54 Mahmood Mamdani 4 after Zimbabwe: State, nation and region in africa 78 Sam Moyo and Paris Yeros Part II: aSIa 5 Peripheral States in asia under neoliberalism and after 105 Korkut Boratav 6 the national Question in India 127 Sandeep Chachra 7 the Palestinian national Question: Settler-colonialism and the International Power regime 151 Jamil Hilal 8 the national Question and the unfinished revolution in nepal 172 Hari Roka 9 neoliberalism in turkey 191 Cem Somel Part III: LatIn aMErIca 10 Latin american thinking on the State and development: From Statelessness to Statelessness 215 Atilio A. Boron Moyo T02227 00 pre 5 24/01/2011 16:26 vi ReclaimiNg the NatioN 11 the national Question and the autonomy of the State in Bolivia 235 Lorgio Orellana Aillón 12 Kirchner’s argentina: In Search of a new International Presence 255 Javier A. Vadell 13. State and nation in Brazil: old Questions, new challenges 275 Sebastião C. Velasco e Cruz and Reginaldo C. Moraes 14 South american cleavages and Venezuela’s role 299 Rafael DuarteVilla concLuSIon 15 national States: Which Way Forward? 325 Samir Amin Notes on Contributors 345 Index 347 Moyo T02227 00 pre 6 24/01/2011 16:26 Preface this book is the second in a series of tri-continental research initiatives undertaken by the african Institute of agrarian Studies (aIaS) in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is the result of a partnership with the department of International relations at the catholic university of Minas Gerais (Puc Minas) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and the centre for Policy Studies in Johannesburg, South africa. the three institutions have supported this project in its different stages, including its initial conceptualisation and network-building, the organisation of a conference, hosted by Puc Minas in May 2007, the subsequent translation of chapters, and the publication of the book. Generous support has also been extended by official sources in Brazil, namely cnPq (national council of technological and Scientific development) and FaPEMIG (Foundation for research Support of the State of Minas Gerais). this second tri-continental project has aimed to address issues that arose from the first, which focused on the agrarian question and the rise of rural movements under neoliberalism – see our Reclaiming the Land: The Resurgence of Rural Movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America (London and cape town: Zed Books and david Philip, 2005). Specifically, the character of the state under neoliberalism, and the rise of new (or revived) nationalisms against neoliberalism, were discussed in relation to agrarian change, but were not investigated in a holistic and systematic manner. thus, another comparative study dedicated to these issues became necessary and urgent. We hope that this second volume will begin to fill the gap. It is important to say a few words, as editors, on the nature of the book. our insistence on addressing properly the national question has been driven by our profound disquiet with its fate over the last 30 years. clearly, this fundamental political and economic question of the modern world suffered severe setbacks, just two decades after decolonisation and the end of empire. the neoliberal assault, together with its newly-found allies – on the one hand, the post-modernist trend; on the other, a much older false cos- mopolitanism practiced by dominant sections of the Marxist left – succeeded in submerging the national question under a flood of vii Moyo T02227 00 pre 7 24/01/2011 16:26 viii ReclaimiNg the NatioN illusions regarding the ‘globalised’ nature of the world economy ‘beyond’ states and nations, centres and peripheries. It is clear to us that the enhanced integration of the South into the commercial and financial centres of the world economy, rather than superseding states and nations, could only be effected by mobilising state apparatuses against nations, and by reinforcing tendencies towards national disintegration and international dif- ferentiation. Social, racial, ethnic and regional cleavages; state violence, rural conflict, urban crime and communal strife; serial economic crises and institutional ruptures – these have all been intrinsic to globalisation, as have the rise of the semi-peripheries, new monopolies, new middle classes and, of late, new South-South relations. the re-militarisation of uS/Western foreign policies against the South, the proliferation of sanctions regimes and the scramble all around for energy resources, minerals and irrigated land – these, too, have been intrinsic to globalisation. until recently, the task of bringing the national question back to life, as a specifically economic question, was left almost entirely to the radicalising social forces in the peripheries of the system; perhaps unsurprisingly, they were based mainly, though not exclusively, in the countryside (see our Reclaiming the Land). Even the World Social Forum (WSF), the main global network of social movements of recent years, did not manage to grasp the national question fully: the radicalisation of social forces ran ahead, even away, from the WSF. Such social forces are now recuperating lost ground and going far beyond abstract ‘identity’ politics and ‘plural’ democracy to reclaim natural resources, namely land, energy and mineral deposits, and even to restructure the apparatus of the state in the name of the oppressed – most often the racially oppressed – with all the con- tradictions that such a process entails. the recent phenomenon of ‘radicalised states’ – a term that remains contested – is most evident in South america (see Venezuela and Bolivia in this volume), but it has its parallels in africa (Zimbabwe) and asia (nepal). the emerging semi-peripheries have also been broaching the economic dimension of the national question, but in an entirely different manner: by re-connecting the South through trade, finance and investment. this is an aspect which we do not fully explore in this book – it awaits another tri-continental research project – although it is increasingly evident that, as a process led by newly-aspiring business interests, its political orientation remains ambiguous: there is new space for manoeuvre, but also limits to solidarity. the questions which we explore have more to do with Moyo T02227 00 pre 8 24/01/2011 16:26 PReFace ix the internal dynamics of these states and less with their external relations. By contrast to the radicalised states, these emerging semi- peripheries (Brazil, argentina, India, turkey) seem to be ‘stabilising’, by co-opting or disorganising radicalisation, even after serial bouts with crisis, and seeking control over their regional neighbourhoods as well. But beyond the economic dimension of the national question, there are states and peoples still struggling to maintain their territorial integrity or obtain political independence, long after the formal end of empire. these struggles are not only inseparable from the others, they are of a higher global priority, requiring unalloyed, principled solidarity. they are the ‘fractured’ states – not exactly ‘failed’, as the pundits would have it – those that succumb to the disintegrating forces of peripheral capitalism and external interference (Sudan), as well as the unresolved cases of colonised/occupied peoples (Palestine), who have now been joined by the newly invaded and re-colonised, for whom imperialist strategy has found no other way, once again, but to extinguish their sovereignty altogether. We ought to be asking: why do some states radicalise, while others stabilise, fracture or come under occupation? of course, fracture may lead to occupation, and vice versa, just as radicalisation may give way to all of the above, or stabilisation to radicalisation. But these are not a matter of chance, or historical stages, or detours, or discursive flurries. are there deeper structural tendencies, deriving from the economic and social disarticulation that holds within the periphery, or perhaps the constitution of the business classes, or the organisation of the popular classes, which make certain countries more propitious to inclining one way or another? are certain semi- peripheral countries, with their more established business classes, which have even entered the monopoly phase, and now boasting a ‘shining’ populism, more capable of evading radicalisation? are there specific ideological conditions, such as those deriving from racial or caste consciousness, which play a special role in unifying social forces across the rural-urban divide, and tilting the balance? What are the potentialities and limits of the new international relation of forces – regional and north-South – in determining the direction of change? and if change is to be progressive, what is to be made of the state as a conservative bureaucratic apparatus? For whom and for what purpose should its relative autonomy be exercised? these are just some of the questions that need now to be taken seriously, as the ‘globalisation’ floodwaters retreat. Moyo T02227 00 pre 9 24/01/2011 16:26
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