The Spirits of Neoliberal Reforms and Everyday Politics of the State in Africa

Composed of articles first published in the journal Politique africaine, this book proposes an original interpretation of neoliberalism in Africa. Instead of seeing neoliberal reforms as intrinsically destructive of the post-colonial state, the authors, who include some of Africa's best-known social scientists, focus on the resilience and adaptability of African state structures, economic systems, and social survival mechanisms. They examine the diversity of responses to neoliberalism in what the editors call the "everyday politics of the state." In essays that range from diverse theoretical or historical discussions to close studies of the dynamics of specific reforms in particular places, they argue against univocal interpretations of the effects of neoliberalism. They show that the African state, far from disappearing, is adapting and reconfiguring itself in fascinating new social realities "co-constructed" by state action, as well as by the improvisations of communities and other private actors. These fascinating studies reveal processes far more complex and ambivalent than what entrenched ideas of the distinction between "public" and "private" actors or between the "state," the "market," and "society" allow for. Whether discussing neoliberal theories of sovereignty and property in the context of centuries of African political development or revealing the intricacies of people's adjustments to the restructuring of an urban transport system, these essays show that conventional readings of governance in Africa underestimate the dynamics of reappropriation and adaptation, and the conflicts between differing conceptions of power that are profoundly reshaping the state in contemporary Africa. [Subject: Politics, African Studies]

Béatrice Hibou is CNRS Senior Research Fellow at the Centre d'Études et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) in Paris, France. She holds a PhD in political economy from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, 1995) and has been accredited to supervise PhD research from Sciences Po, Paris since 2005. She is the author of many books on her comparative research in political economy, from a Weberian perspective, on the political significance of economic reform, on state trajectories, and on the exercise of domination in Africa and Europe. Since 2015, she is co-director of the Centre de Recherche, Économie, Société, et Culture (CRESC), Mohamed VI Polytechnic, University of Rabat (Morocco).

Boris Samuel is a researcher at the Chaire d'études africaines comparées, Ecole de Gouvernance et d'Economie de Rabat, Morocco. He holds à masters degree in economics and statistics from the École nationale de la statistique et de l'administration économique (ENSAE) and a doctorate in political science from Sciences Po Paris, France. He has over a decade experience as an expert in statistics, public finance and macroeconomics for various international organizations and governments in Africa. Samuel's research and publications examine technocratic practices across Africa and the Caribbean, to provide a historicized analysis of modes of government, power relations, and the politics of pricing and planning practices in Africa. He has taught at the Université Paris 1, Sorbonne and Sciences Po, Paris.

Laurent Fourchard is Senior Research Fellow at the National Foundation for Political Science at the Centre d'Études et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) at Sciences Po Paris, France. He holds a PhD in history from Université Paris 7 and has been accredited to supervise PhD research from Sciences Po Paris from 2014. His research is located at the crossroads of African history and African politics. His interests focus on the regulation of violence, citizenship and belonging, everyday working of the state and urban comparative research. He has published twenty articles and edited five books on these issues, the last one on Governing Cities in Africa: Politics and Policies (with Simon Bekker) (HSRC Press, 2013). He has taught at Sciences Po Paris, Sciences Po Bordeaux, Université Paris 7 and the University of Cape Town. He is currently the director of publication of the journal Politique africaine and editorial board member of Africa, The Journal of African History and International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.