Download - Socialism and African Development PIA 2574
Socialism in Africa
At Issue: new look at development strategy?
the role that ideology has played in effecting performance of state
(Anti-Socialism a self-ascribed ideology)
The Socialist Framework
Dependency as an alternative form of analysis to Modernization
Socialist Assumptions (Redistribution, autarky and collective ownership)
Influence of socialist ideas since 1965
in Africa
The first assumption is that it is the duty of the community to insure its individual members against individual misfortune.
The second is that, just as the carrying capacity of a bridge is measured by the strength of its weakest support, so the quality of a society should be measured by the quality of life of its weakest members
Tanzania’s Ujamaa Policy
President Julius Nyerere
Arusha Declaration: 1967: Socialist Declaration- Control Commanding Heights
Collectivism and Self-Reliance
An approach to agricultural class formation
The 1960s-Voluntary Collective Farms Goal: create villages from small family
households
Self-sustaining economic units of 20-30 families
Primary target- the subsistence farmer
1968- official policy but voluntary
Issue: Forced Settlements
1970s
Goal: Prevention of a rural proletariat
1970- Few villages established
Government Spending only on “ujamaa villages”
Popular Response- poorest areas of the country marginal farming/pastoral areas
Problems with Ujamaa
Tanzaphilia- “Socialism and the Field Administrator”
Shift from voluntary to compulsory: “Burning Houses”
Shift from goal of local level decision-making and village autonomy to centralized decision-making and standardized policies
“What is Tanzaphilia? It is neither a disease nor an exotic flower. It is a political romantic spell: the kind experienced by Western Marxists”
Ali Mazrui
Problems: Collectivization Forced, use of state violence
Villages became very large: 3000-5000 people or more (Resembled State Farms)
Target: Universal villagization by the end of 1976
Resistance from Wealthy Farmers
Result: Food Shortages
Government Reaction
Withdrawal from World System
Drought, Agricultural Mismanagement
Agricultural Collapse
1983- Tanzania Moves Towards Policy Reform
Membership in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Group
Regime Types in Africa (Crawford Young)
1. African (Socialist) and mixed Economy regimes: pragmatism or African capitalism (Kenya and Senegal in 1960s)
2. Socialist- Populist
(Tanzania, Zambia,
Mozambique in 1970s)
African Regimes
3. Afro-Marxist or Leninist Vanguard regimes (Angola, Benin 1980s)
4. Marxist-Leninist- (Ethiopia under Dergue)
5.Post-Structural Adjustment Regimes Mozambique, Uganda and Ghana (1990s)
Attractiveness of an ideology
Impact of Policy on development in the 1980s
Will effect rule making and resource allocation
Ideology does make a difference
Attractiveness of an ideology
There is a measure of internal slack or decision-making authority
A choice that can be made (in terms of dependency) that can be made internally
Thus Socialist Policies can be tested
Growth
1. Growth is still important- though downplays mineral induced growth and tourism
2. Focus is on peasant based subsistence agriculture rather than export commercial agriculture
Equity or distribution: Effects
1. Effect of taxation- especially indirect tax mechanisms (extractive)
2. Pricing policies deflate income for agricultural commodities
3. Relocation of rural resources to urban areas
4. Wage control policies (no strike clauses)
Autonomy and self-reliance-
1. Delinkage from the international economy (Autarky)
2. Increased debt burden, continued use of expatriate personnel as planners (often sympathetic)
3. Exploitation of natural resources and foreign exchange outflow
Exploitation of Human Rights
1. Goal- human dignity
2. Reality of repression- movement of peoples
3. Economic and political refugees
4. Increased size of security forces
Development capacity: Goals and Results
1. Ability to plan and manage state resources and stimulate economic behavior change
2. Expansion of the social capacity of the state
3. The African disaster- Tyrants, corruption and Skimmed public resources?
Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former Reagan U.N. Ambassador
She is said to have stated, Mobutu “may be a Son of a Bitch but he is our Son of a Bitch”