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Paradigms Lost

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Power in Africa

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Abstract

Development theory sought to analyse post-colonial African politics from the perspective of a general theory of the political development of ‘underdeveloped’ countries. Aimed in part at providing an alternative to Marxism, it rested on the assumption that African polities would follow a relatively well-defined unilinear path of economic, social and political development — i.e., Westernisation — which, in due course, would bring them closer to the Western European and North American ‘models’. The task of development theorists was to identify the processes which advanced or retarded the movement forward of African polities.1

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Notes

Development theory

  1. Karl Deutsch, The Nerves of Government (London: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1963)

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  2. See David Easton, The Political System (New York: Knopf, 1953).

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  3. Robert Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1957)

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  4. E. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: a non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960).

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  5. See Ted Robert Gurr, Why Men Rebel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970).

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  6. On the concept of political culture, see: Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba, The Civic Culture (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1965)

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  7. Lucian Pye and Sydney Verba (eds), Political Culture and Political Development (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965).

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Class theory

  1. For a summary of some of the key issues, see: Stephen Katz, Marxism, Africa and Social Class: a Critique of Relevant Theories (Montreal: McGill University, 1980)

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  2. Peter Gutkind and Peter Waterman (eds), African Social Studies: a Radical Reader (London: Heinemann, 1977).

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  3. See David Seddon (ed.), Relations of Production: Marxist Approaches to Economic Anthropology (London: Cass 1978).

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  4. See here, for example: Claude Meillassoux, Anthropologie économique des Gouro de Côte d’;Ivoire (Paris: Mouton, 1964)

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  5. Maurice Bloch (ed.), Marxist Analysis and Social Anthropology (London: Malaby, 1975).

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  6. See, for example, Emmanuel Terray (ed.), L’esclavage en Afrique précoloniale (Paris: Maspéro, 1975).

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  7. For one example of a fairly orthodox treatment, see Jean Suret-Canale, French Colonialism in Tropical Africa (London: C. Hurst, 1971).

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  8. See here, inter alia: Sandbrook and Cohen, 1975; R. Cohen, ‘Classes in Africa: Analytical Problems and Perspectives’, The Socialist Register 1972 (London: Merlin Press, 1972)

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  9. John Saul and R. Woods, ‘African Peasantries’, in T. Shanin (ed.), Peasants and Peasant Societies (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971)

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Underdevelopment theory

  1. Some of the classic works would include: Frank, 1967; Theotonio dos Santos, ‘The Structure of Dependence’ in Charles Wilbert (ed.), The Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment (New York: Random House, 1973)

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  2. Here, see for example, Harry Johnson, Economic Policies Toward Less Developed Countries (New York: Praeger, 1967).

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  3. See here Celso Furtado, Development and Stagnation in Latin America: a Structural Approach (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965).

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  4. See, among others: F.H. Cardoso and E. Faletto, Dependencia y Desarrollo en America Latina (Santiago: ILPES, 1967)

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  5. For a review of the literature, see Ian Roxborough, Theories of Underdevelopment (London: Macmillan, 1979).

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  6. See here Christian Palloix, Problémes de la croissance en économie ouverte (Paris: Maspéro, 1969).

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  7. For Africa, see here Ruth First, The Barrel of a Gun (New York: Pantheon Books, 1970)

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  8. Samir Amin, L’Accumulation à l’échelle mondiale (Paris: Anthropos, 1971)

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  9. See here, inter alia: Rey, 1971; R. Cohen, ‘Classes in Africa: Analytical Problems and Perspectives’, The Socialist Register 1972 (London: Merlin Press, 1972).

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  10. Emmanuel Arghiri, L’Echange inégal (Paris: Maspéro, 1969).

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  11. Thomas Balogh, Partenaires inégaux dans l’échange international (Paris: Dunod, 1971).

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Revolutionary theory

  1. A selection of the relevant literature, both conceptual works and country studies, would include: Munslow, 1986; James Mittelman, Underdevelopment and the Transition to Socialism: Mozambique and Tanzania (New York: Academic Press, 1981)

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  2. Lars Rudebeck, Guinea-Bissau: a Study of Political Mobilisation (Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1974)

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  3. P. Aaby, The State of Guinea-Bissau: African Socialism or Socialism in Africa? (Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1978)

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  4. Carlos Lopes, Etnia, Estado e Relações de Poder na Guiné-Bissau (Lisbon: Edições 70, 1982)

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  5. David and Marina Ottaway, Afrocommunism (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1981).

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  6. See here Gérard Chaliand, Mythes révolutionnaires du Tiers Monde (Paris: Seuil, 1976).

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Democratic Theory

  1. Among important recent statements are: Richard Sklar, ‘Democracy in Africa’, in Chabal, 1986, and ‘Developmental Democracy’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 29, 4 (1987); Oyugi et al., 1988; Anyang’ Nyong’o, 1987. For a more general background, see: Samuel Huntington, ‘Will more Countries Become Democratic?’ Political Science Quarterly, 99, 2 (1984); Robert Jackson and Carl Rosberg, ‘Democracy in Tropical Africa: Democracy versus Autocracy in African Politics’, Journal of International Affairs, 38, 2 (1985). For the conceptual background, see: Roland Pennock, Democratic Political Theory (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979)

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  2. Robert Dahl, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971)

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  3. Arend Lijphart, Democracies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984)

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  4. C.B. Macpherson, The Real World of Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966)

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  5. See here, inter alia, Steven Lukes, Individualism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. King’s College London, UK

    Patrick Chabal

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  1. Patrick Chabal
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© 1992 Patrick Chabal

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Chabal, P. (1992). Paradigms Lost. In: Power in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12468-8_1

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