Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T17:08:52.848Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Transmission belt for transnational capital or facilitator for development? Problematising the role of the state in the Maputo Development Corridor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2002

Fredrik Söderbaum  and
Ian Taylor
Fredrik Söderbaum
Affiliation:
Doctoral candidate, Department of Peace and Development Research, Göteborg University, Sweden.
Ian Taylor
Affiliation:
Lecturer, Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Botswana, and Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Political Science, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article problematises the role of the state in what is claimed to be the ‘flagship’ of the South African Spatial Development Initiative (SDI) programme, the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC). The purpose is to assess to what extent the state is best understood as a ‘transmission belt’ for transnational capital or as a ‘facilitator’ for development. The study reveals several flaws in the MDC which reinforce the role of the state as a transmission belt for transnational capital, rather than as a facilitator for development. For instance, the neo-liberal market fundamentalism and big-bang approach inherent in the MDC spells ‘jobless growth’. Similarly, the notion that ‘good governance is less government’, implies that the state is to a large extent reduced to an ‘investment promotion agency’. Having said this, the MDC does contain several novel and positive features, and its problematic aspects can be overcome through some strategic changes in the MDC approach. These may be summarised as a heavier focus on ‘development’, a more pro-active state, and more comprehensive and inclusive governance structures.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 2001 , pp. 675 - 695
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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.)

Footnotes

This article is the result of fieldwork conducted in Mpumalanga, South Africa and Maputo, Mozambique in April 2000. The research was part of a wider project on SDIs funded by the Development Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. We are grateful for the insightful comments and suggestions given by the editor and two anonymous reviewers.