Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T17:53:00.672Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Nature of Class Domination in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Extract

In the newly developing countries, major aspects of economic organisation are subject to foreign control. The citizens and governments of such countries learn to live with the effects of pervasive economic dependence upon the industrial powers. Foreign governments and businessmen often determine the rate and scope of local capital investment, the development and use of economic resources, the composition and direction of external trade.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 531 note 1 For an exposition of this thesis, see Amin, Samir, Unequal Development, translated by Pearce, Brian (New York, 1976).Google Scholar

page 532 note 1 See the seminal article, documenting this process from a Marxist perspective, by Warren, Bill, ‘Imperialism and Capitalist Industrialization’, in New Left Review (London), 81, 0910 1973, pp. 344.Google Scholar

page 532 note 2 Miliband, Ralph, Marxism and Politics (Oxford, 1977), ch. v.Google Scholar

page 532 note 3 Ossowski, Stanislaw, Class Structure in the Social Consciousness, translated by Patterson, Sheila (New York, 1963), pp. 33 and 157.Google Scholar

page 532 note 4 Ibid. pp. 185–6.

page 533 note 1 For a similar view, see Bill, James A., ‘Class Analysis and the Dialectics of Modernization in the Middle East’, in International Journal of Middle East Studies (New York), III, 10 1972, pp. 417–34, at p. 420.Google Scholar

page 533 note 2 Kilson, Martin L., ‘Nationalism and Social Classes in British West Africa’, in The Journal of Politics (Gainesville, Fla.), xx, 2, 05 1958, pp. 368–87.Google Scholar A symposium sponsored by the International Institute of Differing Civilizations reached this conclusion: ‘the driving force in nearly all the nationalist movements has come from the middle class’; Development of a Middle Class in Tropical and Sub-Tropical Countries (Brussels, 1956), p. 453.Google Scholar See also Hodgkin, Thomas, African Political Parties (Harmondsworth, 1961), pp. 27–9;Google Scholar and the survey by Wallerstein, Immanuel, ‘Class, Tribe, and Party in West African Politics’, in Lipset, Seymour M. and Rokkan, Stein (eds.), Party Systems and Voter Alignments (New York, 1967), pp. 497518.Google Scholar

page 533 note 3 Sklar, Richard L., Nigerian Political Parties (Princeton, 1963), pp. 480–1.Google Scholar

page 534 note 1 Ibid. pp. 481–2 and 501–2.

page 534 note 2 Sklar, Richard L. and Whitaker, C. S. Jr, ‘Nigeria’, in Coleman, James S. and Rosberg, Carl G. Jr (eds.), Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1964), pp. 612–19.Google Scholar

page 534 note 3 The indispensable study of these processes in colonial Nigeria is Coleman, James S., Nigeria: background to nationalism (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1958).Google Scholar

page 534 note 4 The classic study of political change in northern Nigeria is Whitaker, C. S. Jr, The Politics of Tradition (Princeton, 1970).Google Scholar

page 534 note 5 Markakis, John, Ethiopia: anatomy of a traditional polity (Oxford, 1974).Google Scholar

page 534 note 6 Ibid. p. 182.

page 535 note 1 Republic of Kenya, African Socialism and Its Application to Planning in Kenya (Nairobi, 1965), Sessional Paper No. 10.Google Scholar

page 535 note 2 The evidence adduced in numerous studies has been summarised by Aly, KipkorirRana, Azad, ‘Class Formation and Social Conflict: a case study of Kenya’, in Ufahamu (Los Angeles), VII, 3, 1977, pp. 1772.Google Scholar

page 536 note 1 Kaunda, Kenneth D., Humanism in Zambia and a Guide to Its Implementation, Part II (Lusaka, 1974), pp. 110–11;Google Scholar see also Tordoff, William (ed.), Politics in Zambia (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1974), pp. 385401.Google Scholar

page 536 note 2 Muntemba, Maud Shimwaayi, ‘Rural Underdevelopment in Zambia: Kabwe Rural District, 1850–1970’, Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1977, p. 338.Google Scholar

page 536 note 3 This idea differs from the traditional Marxist conception of class formation as an outcome of relationships to the means of production primarily. Cf.Chodak, Szymon, ‘Social Stratification in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in Canadian Journal of African Studies (Montreal), VII, 3, 1973, pp. 401–17.Google Scholar Chodak's thoughtful discussion of class formation from a Marxist perspective barely conceptualises the formation of a dominant class in Africa.

page 537 note 1 Markovitz, Irving Leonard, Power and Class in Africa: an introduction to change and conflict in African politics (Englewood Cliffs, 1977). On class formation, see especially pp. 153–72 and 280–1,Google Scholar where Markovitz cites the ‘path-breaking’ work of Polly Hill on ‘rural capitalism’ in West Africa.

page 537 note 2 Ibid. p. 158.

page 537 note 3 Ibid. p. 171.

page 537 note 4 Sklar, op. cit. p. 482.

page 538 note 1 Marx used this phrase in The Poverty of Philosophy (1847). His theory of class is succinctly presented with relevant quotations in Bendix, Reinhard and Lipset, Seymour Martin, ‘Karl Marx's Theory of Social Class’, in Bendix, and Lipset, (eds.), Class, Statics, and Power: a reader in social stratification (New York, 1966, 2nd edn.), pp. 611.Google Scholar

page 538 note 2 The tensions created by conservative economic policies in the Ivory Coast that perpetuate foreign ownership and control of most industrial enterprises are discussed by Campbell, Bonnie, ‘Ivory Coast’, in Dunn, John (ed.), West African States: failure and promise (Cambridge, 1978), pp. 98100 and 105–16.Google Scholar

page 539 note 1 Schatz, Sayre P., Nigerian Capitalism (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1977), p. 58.Google Scholar

page 539 note 2 Ibid. p. 60.

page 539 note 3 Ibid. p. 55.

page 539 note 4 See Joseph, Richard A., ‘Affluence and Underdevelopment: the Nigerian experience’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), XVI, 2, 06 1978, pp. 227–33.Google Scholar

page 540 note 1 Schatz, op. cit. p. 46.

page 540 note 2 See Kilson, Martin, ‘Authoritarian and Single-Party Tendencies in African Politics’, in World Politics (Princeton), xv, 1963, PP. 262–94;Google Scholar also Christopher Allen, ‘Sierra Leone’, in Dunn (ed.), op.cit. pp. 196–200, where authoritarianism is identified as the political strategy of a ‘dependent bourgeoisie’.

page 540 note 3 Nun, José, ‘The Middle-Class Military Coup’, in Veliz, Claudio (ed.), The Politics of Conformity in Latin America (London, 1967), p. 112.Google Scholar

page 541 note 1 Lofchie, Michael F., ‘The Political Origins of the Uganda Coup’, in Journal of African Studies (Los Angeles), I, 4, Winter pp. 1974 pp. 489–92.Google Scholar

page 542 note 1 Federal Republic of Nigeria, Report of the Constitution Drafting Committee, Vols I and II (Lagos, 1976).Google Scholar

page 543 note 1 Barkan, Joel D., An African Dilemma: university students, development and politics in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda (Nairobi and London, 1975), pp. 187–9.Google Scholar A similar finding, derived from a sample survey of university students in Nigeria, is reported by Beckett, Paul and O'Connell, James, Education and Power in Nigeria (London, 1977), pp. 168–9.Google Scholar

page 544 note 1 See Ossowski, op.cit. pp. 185–6. For a similar enumeration of ‘objective class concepts’, including power, defined ‘as the ability to affect the life chances of others, or conversely as the amount of freedom from control by others’, see Lipset, Seymour Martin, ‘Issues in Social Class Analysis’, in Revolution and Counterrevolution (Garden City, 1970, revised edn.), pp. 191–2.Google Scholar

page 544 note 2 Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich, Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), English edn. edited by Engels (1888).Google Scholar

page 544 note 3 Clegg, Ian, Workers' Self-Management in Algeria (New York and London, 1971);Google Scholar and Shivji, Issa G., Class Struggles in Tanzania (New York and London, 1976).Google Scholar

page 544 note 4 Dumont, René, False Start in Africa, translated by Ott, Phyllis Nauts (New York, 1969, and revised edn.), p. 81;Google Scholar and Fanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth, translated by Farrington, Constance (New York, 1968 edn.), p. 179.Google Scholar

page 545 note 1 Shivji's identification of the ‘bureaucratic bourgeoisie’ as a class is guarded but unmistakable; op.cit. pp. 85–94. Defining the bourgeoisie as a class in functional terms, he writes of a ‘class struggle’ between the ‘bureaucratic bourgeoisie’ (originally a section of the ‘petty bourgeoisie’) and the ‘commercial bourgeoisie’; ibid. pp. 67–77 and 94.

page 545 note 2 Amin, Samir, Accumulation on a World Scale, Vols. I and II, translated by Pearce, Brian (New York, 1974), pp. 374–5 and 384.Google Scholar

page 545 note 3 Peemans, J. Ph., ‘The Social and Economic Development of Zaire since Independence: an historical outline’, in African Affairs (London), LXXIV, 295, 04 1975, p. 163.Google Scholar

page 545 note 4 Leys, Colin, Underdevelopment in Kenya: the political economy of neo-colonialism, 1964–1971 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1974), pp. 193–8.Google Scholar

page 546 note 1 Ibid. pp. 119, 147, 169, 196, and 257.

page 546 note 2 Sklar, Richard L., Corporate Power in an African State: the political impact of multinational mining companies in Zambia (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1975), pp. 198–9.Google Scholar For an earlier use of the term ‘managerial bourgeoisie’ as a synonym for the dominant ‘managerial élite’, see Tuden, Arthur and Plotnicov, Leonard, ‘Introduction’, in Tuden, and Plotnicov, (eds.), Social Straification in Africa (New York, 1970), p. 21.Google Scholar

page 547 note 1 Markovitz, op.cit. pp. 208–9.

page 547 note 2 Markovitz suggests that my conception of the ‘managerial bourgeoisie’ underestimates the entrepreneurial capacity of ‘ascending’ classes in Africa; ibid. p. 210. I do not think that he has correctly interpreted the passage in my book quoted above. Since I do not see any significant substantive difference between his ‘organisational’ and my ‘managerial’ bourgeoisie (although I would question the inclusion of ‘traditional rulers and their descendants’ in all but a relatively few carefully selected instances), it matters little to me which term is used. I like the term ‘managerial’ because it is specifically reminiscent of the business tradition. For a similar conceptualisation of the dominant class in Middle Eastern societies, see Bill, loc. cit. pp. 427–34, although he does not adopt the term ‘bourgeoisie’.

page 547 note 3 For an example of this occupational-functional bind, see rebuttal, Bonnie Campbell's of Cohen's, Michael A. Contention in Urban Policy and Political Conflict in Africa (Chicago and London, 1974), p. 41,Google Scholar that a ‘politico-administrative class’ has become dominant in the Ivory Coast. Following Samir Amin, Campbell identifies the ‘planter bourgeoisie’ as the dominant class; loc cit. pp. 73, 89, and 229, fn. 6.

page 548 note 1 Sklar, Richard L., ‘Nigerian Politics in Perspective’, in Melson, Robert and Wolpe, Howard (eds.), Nigeria: modernization and the politics of communalism (East Lansing, 1971), p. 46,Google Scholar and also ‘Contradictions in the Nigerian Political System’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, III, 2, 08 1965, pp. 201–13.Google Scholar

page 548 note 2 See First, Ruth, The Barrel of a Gun: political power in Africa and the coup d'état (London, 1970), pp. 255–7.Google Scholar

page 548 note 3 Lofchie, Michael F., ‘The Uganda Coup – Class Action by the Military’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, x, 1, 05 1972, pp. 1935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For an interesting debate on this question, See the comments by John D. Chick and Irving Gershenberg, in ibid. X, 4, December 1972, pp. 634–9; and Lofchie's response, ‘The Political Origins of the Uganda Coup’, loc. cit.

page 549 note 1 Tamarkin, M., ‘The Roots of Political Stability in Kenya’, in African Affairs, LXXVII, 308, 07 1978, pp. 297320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 549 note 2 Leca, Jean, ‘Algerian Socialism: nationalism, industrialization, and state-building’, in Desfosses, Helen and Levesque, Jacques (eds.), Socialism in the Third World (New York, 1975), p. 141.Google Scholar

page 549 note 3 Sklar, op. cit. pp. 211–12.

page 550 note 1 Ibid. pp. 201, 207, and 209.

page 550 note 2 Sklar, Richard L., ‘Postimperialism: a class analysis of multinational corporate expansion’, in Comparative Politics (New York), IX, 1, 10 1976, pp. 7592.Google Scholar

page 550 note 3 The political basis of class formation in Africa has been emphasised by Cohen, Robin, ‘Class in Africa: analytical problems and perspectives’, in Miliband, Ralph and Saville, John (eds.), The Socialist Register, 1972 (London, 1972), pp. 231–55.Google Scholar However, Cohen appears to underestimate the resourcefulness and potential strength of emerging dominant classes, which could be a consequence of the distinction that he draws between the ruling ‘political class’ and the ‘intendant class’ of ‘state functionaries, middle-level bureaucrats and supervisory personnel’; ibid. pp. 247–50.

page 551 note 1 Samir Amin may deserve pride of place for his exposition of this viewpoint; see his Unequal Development and Accumulation on a World Scale. The influence of André Gunder Frank should also be noted; see, for example, his Lumpenbourgeoisie, Lumpendevelopment: dependence, class, and politics in Latin America, translated by Marion Davis Berdecio (New York and London, 1972).Google Scholar

page 552 note 1 For a socialist analysis of bourgeois tendencies in non-industrial countries under avowedly revolutionary leadership, see Chaliand, Gérard, Revolution in the Third World: myths and prospects, translated by Johnstone, Diana (Harmondsworth, 1978 edn.).Google Scholar The degradation of socialist thought and practice under a tyrannical dictatorship in Guinea has been described with brilliant clarity by Kaba, Lansiné, ‘The Cultural Revolution, Artistic Creativity, and Freedom of Expression in Guinea’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, XVI, 2, 06 1976, pp. 201–18,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and ‘Guincan Politics: a critical overview’, in ibid. xv, 1, March 1977, pp. 25–45. See also Rivière, Claude, Guinea: the mobilization of a people (Ithaca, 1977),Google Scholar and R. W.Johnson, ‘Guinea’, in Dunn (ed.), op.cit. pp. 36–65.