REFORMISM AND REVISIONISM IN AFRICA'S POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE 1990s Also by Timothy M. Shaw AFRICA IN WORLD POLITICS (editor with Ralph I. Onwuka) AFRICA PROJECTED (editor with Olajide Aluko) NEWLY INDUSTRIALIZING COUNTRIES AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SOUTH-SOUTH RELATIONS (editor with Jerker Carlssori) NIGERIAN FOREIGN POLICY (editor with Olajide Aluko) PEACE, DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY IN THE CARIBBEAN (editor with Anthony T. Bryan and J. Edward Greene) TOWARDS A POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR AFRICA Reformism and Revisionism in Africa's Political Economy in the 1990s The Dialectics of Adjustment Timothy M. Shaw Professor of Political Science and International Development Studies Dalhousie University, Canada M150th YEAR St. Martin's Press © Timothy M. Shaw 1993 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published in Great Britain 1993 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-333-57745-0 Printed in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire First published in the United States of America 1993 by Scholarly and Reference Division, ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 0-312-07977-X Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shaw, Timothy M. Reformism and revisionism in Africa's political economy in the 1990s: the dialectics of adjustment / Timothy M. Shaw, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-312-07977-X 1. Africa—Economic conditions—1960- 2. Africa—Politics and government—1960- I. Title. HC800.S527 1993 338.96—dc20 92-2904 CIP To successive generations of African university students who continue courageously to challenge the arbitrary assumptions and assertions of African states Contents List of Maps viii List of Tables viii List of Boxes ix List of Figures x Preface xi List of Abbreviations xii 1 Introduction: Beyond the Dialectics of Dependence 1 2 The African Condition: From Crisis to Conjuncture 59 3 The Continent in the 1990s: New Factors and Forces 103 4 Into the Twenty-first Century: Marginal or Central? 129 5 Conclusion: African Studies and African States 151 Appendix: OAU - Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (June 1991) 179 References 199 Index 111 VII List of Maps 1 Political Economies of Africa, 1991 14 2 Political Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1960 61 3 Political Systems in Africa, 1991 105 List of Tables 1 Africa: Country Profiles 4 2 Political Regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa 6 3 Africa and the South: Regional Aggregates of Human Development Indicators 33 4 Total External Public and Private Debt and Debt Service Ratios 66 5 Balance of Payments and Reserves 73 6 Human Development Index, 1991 77 7 Women in Development 127 8 Women's Comparative Rank According to Alternative Indexes 175 vin List of Boxes 1 African Societies and Political Culture 15 2 African Authors and Political Decay 18 3 Plus qa Change'. Post-war Planning for Africa 19 4 Informal Sectors: Subsistence and Sustainable? 22 5 Varieties of Refugees: Economic, Ecological and Professional as well as Political 26 6 The 'New Poor': Demise of the Middle Class 28 7 Mobile Elites: Transnational Families 30 8 Private Wealth: Public Squalor 53 9 The Essentials of Luxuries: from Stereos to Satellite Dishes 57 10 Decline in Basic Human Needs (BHN) Satisfaction 81 11 Fertility and Food: Malthusian Nightmare 134 12 'New' and Old Diseases: AIDS, Hypertension and Malnutrition 141 13 AIDS in Central Africa: the Disease of the Rich 142 14 Security of Polity and Property: Africa's Growth Industry 147 15 Trince, Autocrat, Prophet, Tyrant': Personalities in African Politics 148 16 Political Wives and Social Corruption 158 17 Military Roles and Debts: Costs of Coups or Equipment 159 18 Deindustrialisation and Perpetual Underdevelopment 162 19 African Multinational Corporations 163 20 Fate Worse than Debt? 168 21 Gold Rush: Minerals in the Informal Sector 169 22 Uganda: Rehabilitation Despite Conditionalities 172 23 Africa's Last Colony: the Independence of Namibia, 1990 174 24 Success Stories: For Whom? For How Long? 176 25 Eritrea, 1993: Protracted Struggle to Recapture Independence 177 IX