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- Convenors:
-
Ushehwedu Kufakurinani
(University of Sussex)
Maria Dyveke Styve (University of Bergen)
Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven (King's College, London)
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- Stream:
- Economy and Development
- Sessions:
- Friday 14 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel series interrogates disruptions and continuities in Africa's connection with the global economy, taking the work of the late Amin as an intellectual point of departure, both theoretically and/or methodologically.
Long Abstract:
Sixty years ago, a young Samir Amin finished his PhD dissertation, which applied Marxist principles to the global economy. From this was born the dependency theory. With the rise of neo-classical economics in the 1980s, dependency theory became marginalised and was ultimately cast aside despite its popularity in the mid-20th century, particularly in the Global South. Is Samir Amin's dependency theory relevant in this day and age especially with regards to the African experience? This panel series interrogates disruptions and continuities in Africa's connection with the global economy, taking the work of the late Amin as an intellectual point of departure, both theoretically and/or methodologically. We seek papers that examine how the structural conditions, both internally and those imposed by the global economy have changed, for example with the intensification of financialization, the rise of China and with the increase of populism internationally. Can Amin's contribution to dependency theory and his notion of delinking be fruitfully rethought within these changing contexts? What are alternative and new forms of dependency theory that have emerged since its initial inception? Do(es) dependency theory(ies) still have any relevance for understanding the place of Africa in the global economy? What connections and disruptions have been made in the understanding of Africa's underdevelopment?
This panel invites papers that engage with the intellectual openings provided by Samir Amin's work, including Eurocentrism, and the relationship between theory and political practice. Panelists will also be invited to submit their papers for consideration in a festschrift on Samir Amin.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 14 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
This paper will examine Sino-Africa trade relations using the case study of Angola building on Amin's arguments of 'unilateral adjustment' and that the center grows at the expense of the periphery. The case of Angola reveals two major issues that confirm Amin's views.
Paper long abstract:
This paper will examine Sino-Africa trade relations using the case study of Angola building on Amin's arguments of 'unilateral adjustment' and that the center grows at the expense of the periphery. The case of Angola reveals two major issues that confirm Amin's views. Firstly, China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world whilst Angola ranks in the bottom in terms of child mortality, public expenditure on education and in terms of health expenditure. Secondly due to the nature of governance in Angola, she could not secure donors or investments from the Paris Club and/ the IMF. Relations were strained in the mid-1990s when Luanda (former president) repeatedly backed out of IMF reform programs and refused to provide the IMF with basic economic statistics. After the civil war in 2002 she therefore looked to China and got involved with China Sonangol. This company has been accused of having become a State within a State because of its heavy involvement in government. The Angolan government has to adjust and meet the demands of the Chinese. Though his ideas mainly focused on the global north and the global south, the case of China in Africa demonstrates the elasticity and applicability of Amin's views as they become more and more relevant today especially with the rise of the discourse of a Chinese imperialism in Africa.
Paper short abstract:
In the far more recent years the Chinese have established a stronger linker that is far more economic and their presence in the Zimbabwe can be felt in different. This has triggered scholars to interpret the meanings of such a relationship which has duplicated the dependency on the West
Paper long abstract:
In contemporary history, the Chinese have been known to help the Zimbabwe people to fight the liberation struggle. In the far more recent years the Chinese have established a stronger linker that is far more economic and their presence in the country can be felt in different economic spaces that include mining, retail and even agriculture. This relationship has triggered scholars to interpret the meanings of such a relationship which, more ways than one, has duplicated the dependency on the West and replicated core-periphery relations. It is within this context that this study seeks to test Samir Amin's on international capitalism using the case of SINO-Zimbabwe relations. Samir Amin has played a critical role in shaping academia in the discourse of dependency. His ideas on international capitalism, core-periphery relations, historical materialism have had wide application and followers. Equally, there have also received a fair share of criticism. A number of scholars have come to interpret Sino-Africa relations in general and Sino-Zimbabwe relations in particular as constituting another round of plunder in which relations of dependency have been replicated. The result of this, it is argued, is recurrent development crises afflicting many African states. Chinese presence in Africa, here trade relations have been seen within the context of neo-imperialism.
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to engage critically with NRA, relying on what Amin called "the analysis of really existing capitalism" in which the relation between the core and periphery transforms.
Paper long abstract:
The study on regionalism has been brought back in mid-1990s with an emphasis on the relation between globalisation and regionalisation. The New Regionalism Approach (NRA) which emerged from this new literature on regionalism has also introduced recent examples within African context (Söderbaum 2004). Samir Amin's early contribution on the discussion underlined two points: "the disappearance of the link between the arena of reproduction and accumulation and that of political and social control" and "the emergence of new dimensions of polarization" (Amin 1999: 76). This paper aims to engage critically with NRA, relying on what Amin called "the analysis of really existing capitalism" in which the relation between the core and periphery transforms. The paper examines infrastructure regionalism in Africa and its relation to spatial implications of the transformations in global economy in order to re-address how African economies integrate in the world economy in unequal relations.