Towards a Political Economy for Africa: The Dialectics of Dependence

145 Pages·1985·13.97 MB·English

by  Timothy M. Shaw (auth.)

TOWARDS A POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR AFRICA
Also by Timothy Shaw
AFRICA PROJECTED (co-editor with Olajide A/uko)
NIGERIAN FOREIGN POLICY: Alternative Perceptions and
Projections (co-editor with Olajide A/uko)
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICAN FOREIGN
POLICY: Comparative Analyses (co-editor)
AFRICA AND THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SYSTEM
(co-editor)
ALTERNATIVE FUTURES FOR AFRICA (editor)
ZAMBIA'S FOREIGN POLICY: Studies in Diplomacy and
Dependence (co-author)
CANADA, SCANDINAVIA AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
(co-editor)
CONFLICTAND CHANGEIN SOUTHERN AFRICA (co-editor)
THE POLITICS OF AFRICA: Dependence and Development
(co-editor)
TOWARDS A POLITICAL
ECONOMY FOR AFRICA
The Dialectics ofDependence
Timothy M. Shaw
Director, Center for African Studies, and Professor of Political
Science, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada
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ISBN 978-1-349-17749-3 ISBN 978-1-349-17747-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-17747-9
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Contents
ListofTables ix
Preface x
Map xii
List ofAbbreviations Xlll
INTRODUCTION:THEAFRICAN CONDITION 1
Reconceptualisation of assumptions, prescriptions
and projections 2
Towardsanco-Marxistanalysisof Africa 4
Increasinginequalitieswithin and betweenstates 7
Pressures forand prospectsofself-reliance 12
Characterof,and contradictionsin, the Africancrisis 13
From crisistoconjuncture? 16
PART I THE AFRICAN CRISIS
1 PROBLEMATIQUE: THESTATEOFTHESTATE 23
From political modernisation topolitical economy 24
Theemergenceofan African bourgeoisie 28
From 'newstates' to'peripheralsocialformations' 29
Contradictionsat the semi-periphery 31
The marginalisationofthe periphery 33
2 PROGNOSIS:CONTRADICTIONSANDCOALITIONS 37
From classcoexistencetocontradictions 38
TowardsaclassanalysisofAfrica 40
Classcoalitionsindifferentpolitical economies 43
National v.transnational bourgeoisies 45
Civilian v. military bourgeoisies 48
viii Contents
Proletariat,labouraristocracyand peasantry 50
Thestateofthestate 54
PART II THE AFRICAN CONJUNCTURE
3 PROSPECTIVE: MINIMAL GROWTH AND UNEVEN
DEVELOPMENT 59
Africa's marginalisation in a post-expansion global
economy 60
Fromanticipatedequalityto projectedinequality 65
Politicsofproduction: newforces and fractions 66
Class basesof African ideologiesand policies 71
Reform, repressionor revolution? 79
4 PRESCRIPTION: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 82
Towardsdependenceor self-reliance? 83
VarietiesofpoliticaleconomyinAfrica 84
Towardscapitalismor socialism? 89
Thediplomacyofdevelopment:IBRD v.OAU 93
Towardsanarchyorcorporatism? 99
CONCLUSION - PROSPECT: CONSTRAINTS AND
CONTRADICTIONS IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL
WORW 1m
Ideologyand reality: polemicsand professionalism 104
Class basesof politicaleconomyand foreign policy 108
Towardsan authenticAfrican future? 114
Notesand References 117
Index 129
List of Tables
1·1 Basic indicatorsfor Africa 8
1·2 Distribution of total African GDP among subgroups
ofcountries 10
1·3 Growthof GNPperperson inAfrica, 1960-90 11
1·1 Africa's share of world and developing country exports
ofselectedcommodities 34
3·1 Projections of selected commodity exports outside the
region underthe historical trendsscenario 61
3·2 Principal merchandiseexportsofsub-SaharanAfrica 62
3·3 Balanceofpaymentsof developingAfrica 63
3·4 Terms of trade and export trends, selected African
countries 64
3·5 Actualand projectedsub-Saharandebt-service ratios 64
3·6 Structureofexpenditureson GDP 1960-80 69
3·7 FAGindicesofagricultural productioninAfrica 74
3·8 Valueofcerealimports bydevelopingAfrica 74
3·9 African population factors comparedtootherregions 76
3·10 Historic trends and normative scenario for Africa's
demographicsituation 1980and 2008 78
Cvl Average annual rates of real growth in economic
indicators, 1966-76and 1981 109
C·2 Economicandsocial indicators, byregion 111
C·3 Valueofexports 112
C·4 Valueof imports 112
C·5 Balanceof trade 112
C·6 Termsoftrade 112
ix
Preface
This long essay was designed and drafted during a sabbatical safari
through Africa in the early months of 1982 and subsequent return
visits to Nigeria and Ethiopia in mid-1983; it wasrevised and retyped
during a return to my alma mater, the University of Sussex, in the
summerof 1982and duringperiodicstopoversat my'base' university
in the summer of 1983. Although its form took shape during
sabbatical and subsequent visits to universities in Africa (Abidjan,
Addis Ababa, Bayero, Botswana, Calabar, Dar es Salaam, Ghana,
Ife, Jos, Nairobi, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)
and North America (Boston, Harvard, Indiana, Toronto and
UCLA), its genesis really dates back to two radicalising experiences
on the continent: lecturingat the universitiesofZambia (1973-4)and
Ife (1979-80). Together these two encounters introduced me to the
complexitiesand contradictions, dynamicsand impactsof'capitalism'
inAfrica, insights whichtraditional'AfricanStudies'doesn't provide.
This study is intended, then, to be both revisionist and radical, a
timely enterprise, perhaps, as Africa progresses from its first twenty
years of 'independence' into the final two decades of the twentieth
century. The first half of the 1980s includes two symbolic sets of
anniversaries for Africa. First, in 1983the continent celebrated both
aquarter-centuryoftheEconomicCommissionforAfricaand the first
twenty years ofthe OrganisationofAfrican Unity, not inconsiderable
achievementsgiven the genesis of these institutions and the interven
ing series of conflicts which have continued to threaten them. And
second, in 1984- that symbolic year of Orwellian mystique - the
continent marks the centenary of the notoriousTreaty of Berlin:the
basic framework for the continent's colonisation. The survival of a
degree of independence and optimism despite 1884and subsequent
challenges is reason enough for celebration.
However, as this study suggests, Africa as a whole ishardly much
closerto eitherself-reliant or self-sustainingdevelopment than it was
twenty years ago; it is to be hoped that the next two decades will
mark an advance inthe Basic Human Needsof the mwananachi. But
x