The panel focuses on expanding the analytical horizon of political economy in Southern Africa by interrogating patterns of extraction, production and transformation, and the political economy of governance and institutions. Our focus is Southern Africa at regional, national or sub-national scale.
Long Abstract:
This panel sponsored by the Journal of Southern African Studies welcomes contributions that help expand the analytical horizon of the political economy of Southern Africa by interrogating classical debates or contributing new evidence and vectors of analysis. The political economy of Southern African countries is interrelated in dimensions ranging from the spatial organisation of extraction, production and transformation, to the political economy of governance and institutions. The focus of the panel is Southern Africa writ large at the regional, national or sub-national scales. We are particularly interested in:
•Trajectories and dynamics of economic growth and crisis; Development politics and policies.
•Poverty and inequality. Social differentiation and gender, race and generational fault-lines.
•Class relations, class struggle, employment, informality and the 'precariat'. Collective action and unions.
•Social reproduction and social movements. Public services, housing, social protests.
•Social protection, social grants and cash transfer programmes. Pensions, social insurance and input subsidies.
•Economic and political power, governance and institutions. Policy reform and resistance. State-owned enterprises and state monopolies. Industrial policy and structural transformation.
•The political economy of the state, state-capital relations, elite bargains and 'developmental patrimonialism'.
•Taxation and fiscal reform, trade policy.
•Foreign direct investment, finance and financialization. Official development aid, emerging donors and trade relations.
•The political economy of mineral-energetic complexes (O&G, coal, platinum, gold, copper); transformation industries (steel, aluminium); electricity generation and distribution.
•Agrarian change and agricultural supply chains (cotton, soybeans, cashew, tobacco); Transport, logistics and services.
•Historical materialism, feminist economics, decolonising political economy; methods and evidence in political economy.
This paper examines the role of a development consultancy as a in supporting democracy and civil society in Zimbabwe, arguing that such organisations should be seen as powerful new actors in the political economy of aid.
Paper long abstract:
Over the past two decades, international development consultancies have played an increasingly important role in the political economy of aid in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, many activities traditionally overseen by donors themselves are now the responsibility of global consultancies, whose capabilities are enhanced by technical expertise, an entrepreneurial approach and significant capital reserves. In practice, this means that consultants are now major political and economic players across Africa, working on projects ranging from health and education, to infrastructure and governance and democracy. This paper will explore the implications of the rise of consultants through examining a particular initiative in Zimbabwe, the Transparency Responsiveness Accountability Citizen Engagement (TRACE) programme, which is operated by global consultants DAI. The programme, which manages funding from a range of major donors, aims to support civil society organisations in promoting democracy, good governance and human rights in a repressive, authoritarian state. The paper will argue that that whilst the programme is presented as merely fulfilling the requirements of donors, it has actually created a powerful new political actor in Zimbabwe, unifying formerly fragmented funding behind a singular purpose. This has significant implications for civil society organisations promoting democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe, as well as the volatile political landscape, where NGOs and opposition parties contest the authority of an increasingly authoritarian government. Beyond Zimbabwe, this case allows us to think more broadly about the implications of the privatisation of democratisation, and the role of global consultants as political actors.
This paper discusses how the post-war political settlement in Angola influenced the infrastructure (re)construction process and led to the creation of further productive capabilities, critical in processes of capitalist transformation, in the production of cement and steel.
Paper long abstract:
The dominant narrative on post-war Angola suggests that, a move towards the non-mineral sector by Angola's ruling elite is simply a move intended to advance its accumulation and rent-seeking strategies. In this paper, I will argue that even though that is a plausible explanation, nevertheless it fails to reasonably explain why the ruling elite would do so when there are still natural resources to exploit. It does not tell us how this is being done as well as nothing is said about the spill over effects. As consequence, the argument fails to examine the outcomes as well as to investigate the possible implications for the wider desire for economic diversification away from mineral resources.
This paper addresses these problems through an analysis of the evolution of the Political Settlement, since independence till the present, and a retroduction methodology based on a case-study method, as its main analytical tool, using data collected during a 14-month fieldwork in Angola. Central to this analysis is how post-war infrastructure (re)construction led to further investments of, but not limited to, the ruling elite in the construction material manufacturing leading to the creation of further productive capabilities, critical in processes of capitalist transformation. However, the absence of policies likely to promote a better insertion of local content in many public works projects and export of the extra production capacity to foreign markets, hinder the benefits of the current investments thus representing an opportunity that needs to be further exploited.
Job creation has been the focus of debate in the current public policies in Mozambique. The current Government Plan emphasizes the priority of creating jobs as a path to poverty reduction. Contradictory or not, the channel of creation of decent jobs that promotes people's well-being are neglected.
Paper long abstract:
Job creation has been the focus of debate in the current public policies in Mozambique. The Government's Five-Year Plan (PQG 2015-2019) and the Employment Policy, emphasizes the generation of employment, the creation of 1.5 million new jobs in 5 years, as path to poverty reduction. Although, there are questions about the employment created in the large agro-industries in Mozambique by workers, unions and companies.
Contradictory or not, the mechanisms of creation of decent and productive jobs that can actually promote the development of people, are not discussed in the current Government's Program. This seems crucial to investigate under the prevailing growth pattern in Mozambique (which is narrowed and focused on the production of primary commodities for export, with very low or no processing, and with weak productive linkages in the economy).
This research has interest and aims to shed light to the study of the relationship between the patterns of employment and the more general organisation of work under the current productive system as well as its implications for social conditions, livelihoods, and economic transformation.
The research followed a political economy approach and drawn upon on a triangulation between qualitative and quantitative information.
The research findings shows that the type of employment generated in the agro-industries in Mozambique reflects the prevailing mode organisation of production and of work, which the profitability of the companies is based on the payment of low wages and precarious working conditions, where different groups of workers are responsible for their own social reproduction.
Drawing on ongoing fieldwork in Johannesburg, I explore the political economy of Uber in the city. This means unpacking UBER economics and labour relations, and two sets of struggles by UBER workers': 1) those against UBER to be recognised as workers, not as 'partners' 2) those against metered taxi.
Paper long abstract:
Drawing on ongoing fieldwork in Johannesburg, this paper explore the political economy of Uber in the city. This means unpacking UBER economics and labour relations, and two sets of struggles by UBER workers':
1) those against UBER to be recognised as workers, not as partners. The paper traces the organisation by workers, its challenges and achievements
2) those against metered taxi. Metered taxis response to UBER has been marked by severe violence and in some cases UBER drivers have been killed by metered taxi drivers. The paper traces the historical roots of this violences, and the way in which some degree of stable co-existence seems to have been achieved in the sector.
By pursuing an Agrarian Political Economy approach, this paper discusses preliminary findings on the emergence of new 'classes' of indigenous rural agrarian capitalists ('emerging farmers') in the Limpopo Valley of Mozambique and their place in processes of agrarian change and rural transformation.
Paper long abstract:
Political Economy has been a central theoretical and analytical approach in the investigation over the nature and trajectories of capitalist agrarian transition and the overall development of capitalism in poor countries. More specifically, it has been critical to the understanding of the diverse and complex forms, the historical and material conditions through which capitalist relations may have emerged, expanded and become relevant in processes of agrarian change and rural transformation. By pursuing an Agrarian political economy approach, this paper discusses preliminary findings on the emergence of new 'classes' of rural agrarian capitalists (the so-called 'emerging farmers') and their place in processes of agrarian change and rural transformation in Southern Gaza Province of Mozambique. More specifically, it discusses the extent to which these new 'classes' of agrarian capitalists may have emerged, developed and expanded in particular regions around the Limpopo Valley, the specific historical and material conditions of their emergence and development and the differing forms these have taken. The paper defends that, as an analytical approach, (agrarian) political economy is of particular theoretical and empirical relevance, in the context of Mozambican studies more generally. Expanding its analytical horizons for the study of the emergence, trajectories and development of indigenous rural capitalists in the Limpopo Valley as well as in other regions is a pending assignment in the context of Mozambican rural research more particularly.
This paper explores weak South African post-apartheid industrialisation through the lens of restructuring of steel and engineering. It highlights the role of dominant conglomerates in shaping post-apartheid institutions and the destructive consequences for industrial capabilities that ensued.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines weak post-apartheid industrial performance through the lens of the restructuring of steel and engineering and the three private and public conglomerates - Iscor, Anglo American and Rembrandt - that dominated these sectors over South Africa's transition to democracy. The twentieth-century evolution of these groups is illustrative of apartheid accumulation processes rooted in mining and heavy industries, and their exertion of increasing control across the economy. Confined to a subordinate role, conglomerate engineering subsidiaries developed significant but truncated industrial capabilities. Orthodox explanations for weak post-apartheid industrial performance, based primarily on the persistence of market distortions and skills deficits, are found to be unsatisfactory. Rather underperformance is better understood through a political economy framework emphasising the overlapping influence of interests and legitimation strategies on the one hand and (flawed) scholarship and ideology on the other. Advocacy by the largest conglomerates for orthodox policies amenable to unfettered restructuring were legitimated by ideological claims and asset transfers to politically influential black individuals. Unguided by national strategies, industrial restructuring was undertaken by the conglomerates themselves in concert with increasingly influential institutional investors. This resulted in widespread destruction of industrial capabilities; the foreclosure of opportunities to develop globally competitive engineering firms; underinvestment and ultimately crisis in the steel sector; and weakened manufacturing linkages with the rest of the economy and impeded efforts since 2007 to mobilise policy at scale to promote industrial diversification.
This paper encourages us to rethink the role of financial sectors in resource-rich authoritarian countries. Often dismissed because of their simplicity, this paper shows how the financial sectors serve a crucial role of regime maintenance in resource-rich autocracies.
Paper long abstract:
Increasing evidence point to a natural resource curse in finance with resource-rich countries suggested to be predisposed to financial underdevelopment. Existing studies generally fail to reflect on the variation within this group of countries nor do they acknowledge that the political economy of their financial sectors is more complex that often assumed. This paper seeks to fill this gap by exploring the political economy drivers of financial sector development in resource-dependent autocracies. The paper challenges prevailing assumption that rulers of these countries would be disinterested in advancing their financial sectors because of their abundant resource wealth. Rather, I argue that rulers of resource-rich autocracies also need political support to be able to maintain power and to accommodate political supporters in the long run, rulers must ensure a level of economic performance. This longer-term view also extends to the financial sector. The paper substantiates the argument by drawing on an in-depth case study of oil-rich Angola, Africa's third largest economy. Through a careful tracing of the causal processes underpinning the development of the country's financial sector since 1991, the paper shows that Angolan rulers have used the financial sector change in their bid to maintain political control, even promoted the development of the sector. As one of the first studies to take a political economy approach to the study of finance in resource-rich countries, the paper suggests a number of broader lessons for the study of the political economy of banking in the region and beyond.
For many years, De Beers resisted calls for diamond beneficiation in Botswana.Eventually, the company agreed to beneficiation. Analysed through neo-Gramscian theory, De Beers' change of approach amounted to a passive revolution that sought to preserve the company's hegemony in the diamond industry.
Paper long abstract:
For many years, De Beers, the world's leading diamond mining and marketing company, resisted calls for diamond beneficiation and the relocation of some of its operations from London to Botswana, the largest diamond producer by value in the world, and also a shareholder in De Beers. Among others, De Beers argued that beneficiation activities, such as diamond cutting, polishing and even jewellery manufacture, were not viable in Botswana because of high labour costs. However, from the early 2000s, De Beers softened its position and in 2008, the Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB), the largest rough diamond sorting and valuing company in the world, was opened in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. This article interrogates De Beers' decision to embrace diamond beneficiation in Botswana, and deploying the neo-Gramscian theory of International Political Economy argues that De Beers' change in approach could be conceptualized as a passive revolution. This passive revolution had two objectives. Firstly was to appease Botswana, and thus ensure that the country is not tempted by De Beers' rivals. Indeed, at the time, De Beers' position as the leading diamond company was under threat from rivals such as Rio Tinto and Alrosa among others. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, this passive revolution sought to maintain De Beers' dominant position in the international diamond industry. In fact, without Botswana, De Beers would lose its status as the largest and richest diamond company in the world.
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