The Politics of Africa's Economic Stagnation (African Society Today) - Softcover

Sandbrook, Richard; Barker, Judith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521319617 ISBN 13: 9780521319614

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1985

Synopsis

African states are not, in any real sense, capitalist states. Elsewhere, the state has played a crucial role in facilitating capitalist expansion, but in postcolonial Africa one finds a form of neopatrimonialism - personal rule - that introduces a variety of economic irrationalities. Productive economic activities are impeded by the political instability, systemic corruption and maladminstration associated with personal rule. In extreme cases, a downward spiral of political-economic decline is set in motion that is difficult to halt and reverse. Is personal rule simply a euphemism for ineptitude and mismanagement? The authors argue that it is not; it operates according to a particular political rationality that shapes a ruler's actions when, in the absence of legitimate authority, he is confronted with the challenge of governing an unintegrated peasant society. Neopatrimonialism is essentially an adaptation of colonial-inspired political institutions to peculiar historical and social conditions. This book focuses on the political factor as an important cause of Africa's economic ills. It analyses the social conditions impelling political adaptation and the consequences of personal rule for economic life, and surveys creative responses to the predicament African people now face.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Sandbrook is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Since 1968 he has focused his research on the Left's experience in the Global South, the relevance of social-democratic thinking to the reshaping of neoliberal globalization, the political economy of the basic-needs and market-oriented development strategies, the relationship of democratization to development, and the political role of workers and the urban poor in Africa. He has published over 50 articles and ten books, including Social Democracy in the Global Periphery: Origins, Challenges, Prospects (with Marc Edelman, Patrick Heller and Judith Teichman, Cambridge University Press, 2007).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0521319617
• ISBN 13: 9780521319614
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200