Theorising African states : the case of Angola from a critical theory perspective

[摘要] This thesis is a theoretical contribution to the debate about statehood in Sub-Saharan Africa.My primary aims have been to interrogate the use of the state concept on the continent, and toopen up new theoretical avenues to analyse the state. My starting point has been that the stateis a key to solving socio-economic challenges. Yet the social theory that purports to makesense of the state in Africa is poor. Mainstream scholars use prefixes such as 'failed', 'weak'and 'quasi' to make sense of existing African states. If they call for such labels, it is onlybecause an unhelpful ideal type based on the 'modern' European state is postulated. Suchscholarship is limited to theorising the distance between the ideal type and real states. Thisapproach gives a functionalist account of the state's relationship with society and economy,but fails to explain the state as a historical product and expression of the distribution of powerbetween social groups. As an alternative way to theorise states, I propose a synthesis betweenRobert W. Cox and Mahmood Mamdani. Combining Mamdani's and Cox's theoreticalframeworks avoids the problems that arise when Eurocentric International Relations (IR)theories are applied to an African context. The synthesis adds to both frameworks byaddressing a shortcoming in Cox by paying more attention to power struggles in theperiphery, and redresses the exclusive focus on Africa in Mamdani. Adding Cox to Mamdanicontextualises Mamdani's African state in space as well as time, whereas adding Mamdani toCox shows how African states respond to outside pressures and in the process (re)constitutethe world order by adding an inside-out pressure.I use a single case study of the Angolan state to illustrate how a Coxian / Mamdaniansynthesis contributes to the debate. This theoretical framework turns the attention to fouraspects. First, there is a close historical link between the economic structure and the form ofthe state in the country, from the slave trade to today's political economy of oil. Second, Ilook at the attempts of the Angolan state elite to legitimise its own power. I posit that in thecontext of social destitution and poverty, strategies to sustain consent based rule assumesparticular importance. Third, the Angolan state is an expression of internal powers strugglesbetween social groups in the country. The contemporary balance of power is volatile: recenteconomic growth has the potential of unsettling old power structures, as the relative balanceof who has access to economic power changes. Lastly, the world order supports the currentstructure of power in Angola, largely thanks to the political economy of oil. Oil gives theAngolan regime ample economic resources, as well as crucial support from oil companies andthe states that import the oil. This foreign support underwrites the regime and constitutes animportant element in its support base

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University