TOWARDS A POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR AFRICA

Transcription

1 TOWARDS A POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR AFRICA

2 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) CONFLICT AND CHANGE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA (co-editor) THE POLITICS (co-editor) OF AFRICA: Dependence and Development

3 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 M MACMILLAN

4 Timothy M. Shaw 1985 Softcover reprint ofthe thehardcover 1st 1st edition edition All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be bc reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,, without permission First published 1985 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTDL London and Basingstoke Basingstokc Companies Companics and representatives rcprcsentativcs throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Shaw, Timothy M. Towards a political polilical economy cconomy for Africa I. 1. Africa-Economic conditions-196(}"" condilions Africa-Politics and government-i96(}"" govcrnmcnl I. Title Tille '0328 HC800 ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Reprinted 1993 by AntonyRoweLtd Chippenham, Chippenham. Wiltshire

5 For Jane, for being

6 Contents List oftables Preface Map List ofabbreviations ix x xii Xlll INTRODUCTION: TH E AFRICAN CONDITION 1 Reconceptualisation of assumptions, prescriptions and projections 2 Towards a nco-marxist analysis of Africa 4 Increasing inequ alities within and between states 7 Pressures for and prospects of self-reliance 12 Character of, and contradictions in, the African crisis 13 From crisis to conjuncture? 16 PART I THE AFRICAN CRISIS 1 PROBLEMATIQUE: THE STATE OFTHE STATE 23 From political modernisation to political economy 24 The emergence of an African bourgeoisie 28 From 'new states' to ' peripheral social formati ons' 29 Contradictions at the semi-periphery 31 The marginalisation of the periphery 33 2 PROGNOSIS: CONTRADICTIONS AND COALITIONS 37 From class coexistenceto contradictions 38 Towards a class analysis of Africa 40 Class coalitions in different political economies 43 National v. transnational bourgeoisies 45 Civilian v. military bourgeoisies 48

7 viii Contents Proletariat, labour aristocracy and peasantry The state of the state PART II THE AFRICAN CONJUNCTURE 3 PROSPECTIVE: MINIMAL GROWTH AND UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT 59 Africa's marginalisation in a post-expansion global economy 60 From anticipated equality to projected inequality 65 Politics of production: new forces and fractions 66 Class bases of African ideologies and policies 71 Reform, repression or revolution? 79 4 PRESCRIPTION: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 82 Towards dependence or self-reliance? 83 Varieties of political economy in Africa 84 Towards capitalism or socialism? 89 The diplomacy of development: IBRD v. OAU 93 Towards anarchy or corporatism? 99 CONCLUSION - PROSPECT: CONSTRAINTS AND CONTRADICTIONS IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL WORW Ideology and reality: polemics and professionalism 104 Class bases of political economy and foreign policy 108 Towards an authentic African future? 114 Notes and References 117 Index 129 1m

8 List of Tables 1 1 Basic indicators for Africa Distribution of total African GDP among subgroups of countries Growth of GNP per person in Africa, Africa's share of world and developing country exports of selected commodities Projections of selected commodity exports outside the region under the historical trends scenario Principal merchandise exports ofsub-saharan Africa Balance of payments of developing Africa Terms of trade and export trends, selected African countries Actual and projected sub-saharan debt-service ratios Structure of expenditures on GDP FAG indices of agricultural production in Africa Value of cereal imports by developing Africa African population factors compared to other regions Historic trends and normative scenario for Africa's demographic situation 1980and Cvl Average annual rates of real growth in economic indicators, and C 2 Economic and social indicators, by region 111 C 3 Value of exports 112 C 4 Value of imports 112 C 5 Balance of trade 112 C 6 Terms of trade 112 ix

9 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 was revised and retyped during a return to my alma mater, the University of Sussex, in the summer of 1982 and during periodic stopovers at my 'base' university in the summer of 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: lecturing at the universities of Zambia (1973-4) and Ife ( ). Together these two encounters introduced me to the complexities and contradictions, dynamics and impacts of 'capitalism' in Africa, insights which traditional 'African Studies' 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 1983 the continent celebrated both a quarter-centuryof the Economic Commission for Africa and the first twenty years of the Organisation of African Unity, not inconsiderable achievements given the genesis of these institutions and the intervening series of conflicts which have continued to threaten them. And second, in that symbolic year of Orwellian mystique - the continent marks the centenary of the notorious Treaty of Berlin : the basic framework for the continent's colonisation. The survival of a degree of independence and optimism despite 1884 and subsequent challenges is reason enough for celebration. However, as this study suggests, Africa as a whole is hardly much closer to either self-reliant or self-sustaining development than it was twenty years ago; it is to be hoped that the next two decades will mark an advance in the Basic Human Needs of the mwananachi. But x

10 Preface xi for this to occur - for autonomous and meaningful development to be realised at personal, national and continental levels - substantial shifts will have to take place in the class character of Africa's political economies. A luta continua! Lusaka and Addis Ababa TIMOTHY M. SHAW

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12 List of Abbreviations BHN Basic Human Needs EAC East African Community ECA Economic Commission for Africa ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EEC European Economic Community FLS Front Line States IBRD World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) IMF International Monetary Fund NICs Newly Industrialising Countries NIEO New International Economic Order OAU Organisation of African Unity OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development SADCC Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference UN United Nations xiii