Neopatrimonialism and corruption: towards a new common sense*

ABSTRACT

Neopatrimonialism, according to the distinguished development scholar, Thandika Mkandawire [2015. “Neopatrimonialism and the Political Economy of Economic Performance in Africa: Critical Reflections.” World Politics 67 (3): 563–612], provides the ‘common denominator’ for a host of practices of politics in Africa; viz. patronage, corruption, cronyism, and predation. So deeply embedded is this view among mainstream thinkers, that ‘underneath every policy lurks neopatrimonialism’, that the idea has come to be imbued with the ‘air of irrefutable common sense’. This paper deconstructs common sense refracted through the lens of present-day statecraft and the deceptive and subversive nature of contemporary neoliberal governance. It cautiously outlines the contours of a new common sense, placing emphasis on theorisation, a situated politics, institutional recalibration, fundamental changes in social relations, and the adoption of ‘bad’ and unorthodox development policies.     

Decolonising Universities in South Africa: Rigged Spaces?

This article provides a broad overview of the necessity for and challenges of decolonising universities in South Africa. It situates the student protests for the decolonisation of knowledge within the debates on the African Higher Education landscape, the ideology of Pan-Africanism, and calls for an African Renaissance. The article highlights the context in which the Fallist Movement emerged in South Africa and the demands it articulated. This article questions whether or not the decolonisation of knowledge, and the broader university system, can truly materialise, given the inherent nature and functioning of these institutions and the current practices of decolonising universities. The article argues that to date the decolonisation of universities has largely been ad-hoc, performative, and technical, rather than the sustainable and substantive transformative processes that should be at the heart of any decolonisation project. Furthermore, the article asserts that the universities that we are trying to decolonise are rigged spaces as they have been fashioned in the image of western universities and align with their norms, values, and epistemologies. To break this foundational epistemological and cultural bedrock requires a complete overhaul of the structure, ideology, and functioning of the universities. Without major shifts in the power relations, orientation and forms of knowledge production at these universities, there can be no decolonisation.     

South Africa’s civil war, 1985–1995

The end of apartheid in South Africa is typically characterised as ‘peaceful’. However, between 1985 and 1995, South Africa experienced a civil war in which more than 20,000 people died. In this war, the African National Congress (ANC) implemented a strategy of ‘people’s war’ based on Vietnam’s experience while the government pursued a counterinsurgency strategy based on models employed by the United States. In the war’s second phase, the ANC and Inkatha employed unconventional tactics in a campaign to gain political and military control of disputed territory. Owing to its success in the war, the ANC was able to prevent its rivals from significantly limiting its power in the central government after 1994 as well as exclude Inkatha from operating in key areas even in its home province.     

美国政府管制变革的简析及启示

文章通过对美国管制制度变革的历史过程以及变革原因的简要分析和反思 ,总结了这些实践对我国政府管制制度改革的启示。政府管制制度的变革是国家经济、社会利益关系、政治要求和行政理念等多种因素合力作用的结果 ,这些启示主要在于如何从宏观的角度把握我国政府管制制度的变革     

历史视野中的美国经济"双赤字"问题

多年来,美国经济发展中的一个重要特征是存在着高额的财政赤字和经常项目赤字.双高赤字起自上世纪80年代里根政府时期,可以说是"里根经济学"为取得成功所付出的代价.90年代的克林顿政府所采取的削减联邦财政赤字为主要内容的宏观经济政策获得了成功,而美国经济的持续繁荣则继续导致了美国贸易赤字的增长.小布什政府上台次年重新出现财政赤字,其后双赤字不断攀升,创下了历史最高记录.布什政府推行的减税计划造成政府税收下降和9.11事件以后美国政府开支的大幅度增加是联邦财政重现赤字的主要原因;美国贸易赤字居高难下并不断增加,从根本上说则是美国经济中消费和支出远远大于其产出的结果.双赤字对美国经济有利有弊,但归根到底弊大于利,同时也给世界经济增长蒙上了阴影,带来了诸多不确定因素.美国的双高赤字形势虽然可能会有所改观,但作为一种总体的状况恐会长期存在下去.     

中美之间的认识差异--美国视角分析

影响中美关系的因素很多,中美之间既有原则性差异又有一般性差异。从国家层面看,美国认为美国有权以人权、民主或自由的名义指责或改变别国的内政;从国家间关系看,美国认为中美之间缺乏战略合作基础;从国际层面看,美国认为中国主张的多极化实际上是反美与争霸。中美之间的差异包括价值观的差异、对外战略指导原则的差异以及历史观的差异,美国对中国认识的误解和偏执主要原因在于美国的霸权主义心态、冷战思维以及功利主义。随着中美双方有识之士的共同努力,美国对中国的正面认识将会加强。     

Thabo Mbeki’s African developmental agenda through Pan-Africanism and the African renaissance

In 1996, the then South African deputy president thabo Mbeki opened parliament with his since then acclaimed ‘I am an African’ speech. Subsequently, Mbeki publicly persuaded Africans to embrace and advance the concept of an African renaissance for Africa’s development. While Mbeki’s African renaissance project was welcomed on the one hand; on the other, it was anticipated that it would be an elitist project. In this article, it is argued that to the contrary, the African renaissance as pursued by Mbeki has sought to benefit ordinary Africans in a practical sense. This article uses a historical narrative approach so as to give a historical context against which Mbeki’s African renaissance emerged, highlighting the successes, failures, constraints, setbacks and challenges that he had to confront. the argument is that African intellectuals and academics who correctly point out the absence of a mass-based African renaissance movement must not stand apart and merely point fingers, but must be actively engaged in the realisation of the African renaissance ideals.     

‘States have emotions too’: an affect-centred approach to South African foreign relations

Building on established scholarship in international relations theory, notably Alexander Wendt's assertion that ‘states are people too’, this paper explores South African foreign policy decisions that are routinely dismissed as being ‘schizophrenic’, and makes two claims: first, that existing scholarship fails to adequately address causal factors of South African foreign policy and, second, that we need to turn to emotions and affect to do so. As such, the theoretical framework adopted for the purposes of the paper treats ‘state-level’ affect as a central explanatory factor, in contrast to established scholarship on emotion theorisation, which treats states as ontologically subordinate to their constituent members and thus subject to the private affects and cognitions of the individuals that make decisions on behalf of the state. Existing literature on collective emotion seems to support the possibility of state emotion. This notion of transsubjective emotionality facilitates the argument that states have emotions too, and that these emotions condition not only identities but also actions in international relations.     

Hidden corporate profits in the U.S. prison system: the unorthodox policy-making of the American Legislative Exchange Council

Using a leaked document trove containing 800 model bills, we analyze the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) hidden corporate profit making in the prison–industrial complex. We find that ALEC seeks to expand the private prison industry in three ways: (1) promoting greater use of private prisons, goods, and services, (2) promoting greater use of prison labor, and (3) increasing the size of the prison population. ALEC’s efforts to increase the prison population by expanding definitions of existing crime, creating new crimes, enhancing enforcement of existing crimes, amending the trial process to increase the likelihood of incarceration, and lengthening prison sentences for crimes pose a threat to civil liberties. ALEC’s unorthodox policy approach exemplifies John Gaventa’s theory that powerful interests maintain their power by creating conditions in which citizens are not able to identify and advocate on behalf of their interests.