Global Justice School 2005

Globalization and political recomposition

I: What role for states? The question of Sub-Saharan Africa

Jean, 2 June 2005

I. Introduction

II. Nature of African states

1) Classical definitions of the state

a) Bourgeois

b) Marxist

2) The colonial state

a) Africa and the origins of capitalism

b) Capitalism in Africa

3) The transition to neo-colonialism

a) Colonial society

b) Co-administration of the colonial state

III. The neo-colonial state

1) Neo-colonialism

2) ' Keynesian' neo-colonialism

a) Economic growth

b) The 'welfare state' and single-party rule

3) The crisis of the neo-colonial state

a) Growth and debt

b) Neoliberal structural adjustment

IV. Balance sheet of 'democratization'

1) Death of the welfare state and the democratic dynamic

2) Neoliberalism and 'democratization'

a) End of apartheid in South Africa

b) National conferences

c) 'Democratization' and impoverishment

d) Identities and neoliberalism: 'democracy African style'

3) The 'African Renaissance': the New Partnership for Development (NEPAD) and the African Union

V. What's the alternative?

1) Democracy and human rights

2) Social movements and anti-capitalism

3) Pan-Africanism and revolutionary internationalism