Daniel Bach

Patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism: comparative trajectories and readings

There is a striking contrast between the dissemination of the concept of neopatrimonial rule in Africa and its more parsimonious mobilisation outside the continent. The increasing assimilation of the African neopatrimonial state to integral and predatory forms of politics has contributed to its perception as a global prototype of the ‘anti-developmental’ state. The article contrasts this trajectory with those observed in Latin America, South East Asia, Russia and Central Asia. There, patrimonialism and neopatrimonialism have been associated with a greater axiological neutrality than in Africa due, inter alia, to the preservation of an analytical dichotomy between regulated and predatory forms of neopatrimonialism. Neglected for all too long, the study of regulated forms of neopatrimonialism in Africa calls for fresh empirical and theoretical attention.

Africa in international relations: The frontier as concept and metaphor

The concept of the frontier has often been used to account for the rise of Africa in international relations and the world economy over the past decade. It is argued that, from a more general standpoint, the association of the frontier with a diversity of interpretations offers a useful tool to monitor the narratives, policies and trajectories associated with the African continent since the end of the Cold War. The article first examines Africas international relations through the metaphors of a ‘distant abroad’ and a ‘significant other’, before discussing the notions of a new frontier and a global interface. In the latter case, the concept helps to make sense of critical issues and transitions. It is argued that the current revival of interest in Africa is associated with two broad scenarios for the continent: on the one hand, the deepening of Africas insertion within the world economy through increasing dependency on commodities; on the other, a pattern of innovative policy-initatives and processes that offer a contemporary expression of the emerging economies paradigm.

Le Général de Gaulle et la guerre civile au Nigeria

ABSTRACTThis article analyses Frances position in the face of the secession of Biafra. First describing the background of Frances decision to become involved in the Nigerian war, the author then discusses French support for Biafra in the African political context. The principal points of French policy are summarized in three parts: the support for historic African leaders, the maintenance of a francophone community, and the primacy of geopolitical considerations. Nigeria federation represented for de Gaulle a threat to be controlled, but his attitude was modified by the generally hostile reaction of the leaders of francophone Africa.

Francophone Regionalism or Franco-African Regionalism?

The major significance of the regional francophone organisations lies in the close linkages which the former French colonies still maintain with the ex-metropolitan power through cooperation agreements which were signed at independence. During the last thirty years, special relations have on a number of occasions been established between the countries formerly under French rule and those governed by Belgium. In the early 1960s, Zaire, Ruanda and Burundi were drawn towards the regional alliances of the former French colonies. This tendency, reinforced by the shared language and the stand-off policy of the Belgian government, was reinforced by the need for all the francophone countries to present a concerted approach in their relations with the European Community: in accordance with Title IV of the Treaty of Rome, the 18 EAMA (Etats Africains et Malgache Associes) had to renegotiate what became the first and second Yaounde Conventions.1 At the same time, the joint efforts of the Cote d’Ivoire (which helped Zaire to join OCAM in 1966) and France (active through its Ministry of Cooperation and prepared to intervene in Shaba in 1977 and 1978) consolidated these closer ties in political terms.

Reappraising Postcolonial Geopolitics: Europe, Africa and the End of the Cold War

During the eighties, the economic and financial marginalisation of the African continent underwent a brutal acceleration under the combined effect of the collapse of commodity prices and the increasing financial difficulties of middle-income countries. By the end of the decade, Africa’s share of world trade was down to 1.4 per cent while the continent’s GDP and population amounted respectively to 4 per cent and 14 per cent of world figures. Barely thirty years after decolonisation, the weight of Africa’s 51 states in Europe’s external trade was both insignificant (4 per cent in 1989 against 7.5 per cent in 1980) and a source of increasing asymmetry in relations between the two areas (half of the continent’s’ external trade was conducted with the European states concerned). As shown elsewhere, the decline in European direct investment and export guarantee credit was equally spectacular over the same period.1