Stefan Andreasson

Stand and Deliver: Private Property and the Politics of Global Dispossession

Property rights necessarily generate violent, and oftentimes lethal, processes of dispossession. While liberal theorists from Locke to Hayek consider property rights as an essential and emancipatory component of human freedom, they fail to consider societal power asymmetries impeding the ability of property rights to protect the interests of the weak and marginalised. If property rights produce freedom and prosperity, they do so very selectively. More obvious is the ongoing historical process of already propertied classes making ‘clever usurpation into an irrevocable right’ by extending private property regimes along two key dimensions – type and space. Examining various uses of private property over time reveals processes whereby relatively basic notions of private property, enforced by a Weberian state at the local level in the early era of industrialisation, are extended to encompass new and sophisticated forms of property that are enforced globally via international institutions. Two contemporary empirical cases of using property rights are examined in this paper: land reform in Southern Africa (specifically Zimbabwe) and intellectual property rights. In this context of ongoing dispossession, further privatisation and commodification can only exacerbate contemporary problems of marginalisation and dispossession.

Africa's prospects and South Africa's leadership potential in the emerging markets century

Abstract This article examines Africas role in an evolving international system where powerful emerging markets, such as bric, together with established powers are shaping economic trajectories. The specific focus is on South Africa as an aspiring leader on the African continent, and on its potential for becoming an emerging market shaping the global order together with bric and the West. It is unclear whether a changing global economy in which the postcolonial world plays a greater role will result in improved developmental prospects for Africans as African countries gradually reorient themselves from the West to the South, or whether relations with emerging markets will resemble neo-colonial ties with the West. South Africas structural weakness, stemming from serious domestic problems of a social, political and economic nature, threatens to undermine its standing in Africa and its emerging market status.

The African national congress and its critics: ‘predatory liberalism’, black empowerment and intra-alliance tensions in post-apartheid South Africa

Post-apartheid South Africa is characterized by centralized, neo-liberal policymaking that perpetuates, and in some cases exaggerates, socio-economic inequalities inherited from the apartheid era. The African National Congress (ANC) leaderships alignment with powerful international and domestic market actors produces tensions within the Tripartite Alliance and between government and civil society. Consequently, several characteristics of ‘predatory liberalism’ are evident in contemporary South Africa: neo-liberal restructuring of the economy is combined with an increasing willingness by government to assert its authority, to marginalize and delegitimize those critical of its abandonment of inclusive governance. A new form of oligarch power, combining entrenched economic interests with those of a new ‘black bourgeoisie’ promoted by narrowly implemented Black Economic Empowerment policies, diminishes prospects for broad-based socio-economic transformation. Because the new policy environment is failing to resolve tensions between global market demands for increasing market liberalization and domestic popular demands for poverty-alleviation and socio-economic transformation, the ANC leadership is forced increasingly to confront ‘ultra-leftists’ who are challenging its credentials as defender of the National Democratic Revolution which was the cornerstone in the anti-apartheid struggle.

Economic Reforms and 'Virtual Democracy' in South Africa and Zimbabwe: The Incompatibility of Liberalisation, Inclusion and Development

The message from the West to the global South has been consistent over the last two decades. If reforms are pursued along the lines prescribed by Western governments and international financial institutions (IFIs), economic development can follow and democracy take root. This ‘Washington consensus’ has most certainly been subjected to considerable criticism. For instance, former World Bank chief economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz (1998:2002) criticises contemporary strategies for their inability to resolve long-standing development dilemmas. Even so, the basic premise of the Washington consensus remains, despite marginal reformulations over the last decade (Adesina 2002). Developing countries must appease international and domestic capital demands, as only a market-centred approach to development can produce growth and fiscal stability (Broad and Cavanagh 1999:79–88; World Bank 2000; Chan 2002:16–17). Ignoring the advice will bring about increased economic marginalisation and hardship.

Comparing British and American conservatisms through the prism of African development

ABSTRACT Conservatism and conservative party politics in Britain and America is associated with neo-colonial attitudes, including pursuit of national interests ahead of post-colonial development. Based on interviews conducted in Washington and London with actors involved with African development, this article examines comparative shifts in conservatives’ engagements from the late Cold War era to the G. W. Bush and Cameron governments. Greater ideological heterogeneity and distinctiveness among American conservative interests groups, combined with a bureaucratic environment in the US allowing more direct channels for ideological input into policy, results in a more clearly conservative stamp on Africa policy in the US than in Britain where ideological lines on development have become more blurred since the 1997 New Labour election victory and the creation of the Department for International Development.

Energy Producers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Beyond the Gatekeeper State?

Abstract This article examines how gatekeeper states develop by comparing Nigeria, an archetypal gatekeeper state, with Chad, a more recent oil producer. It considers what emerging producers may learn from established ones, to thereby avoid the resource curse and thus move beyond the limitations of the gatekeeper state. Gatekeeping might be mitigated by transparency and governance initiatives promoted by International Financial Institutions, Western governments, civil society organisations, and even emerging producer governments themselves. But established gatekeeper states are also likely to endure and to emerge among new producers. Thus, the gatekeeper state concept, and its utility in analysing resource-rich states, endures.

Emerging frontiers of energy exploration in post-boom Africa

The likelihood of a continued depression of commodity prices globally will have a significant impact on the future of Africa’s oil and gas producing countries that remain dependent on energy export revenues to finance development. New discoveries of oil and gas across sub-Saharan Africa will result in an increasing number of countries becoming significant energy producers and exporters, and much of the new potential exists in various forms of unconventional energy, such as shale gas, coal-bed methane, oil sands and ultra-deepwater oil and gas. So far, however, African countries do not feature significantly in debates on the global expansion of unconventional fuel exploration and production. Therefore, this chapter examines how prospects for hydrocarbon exploration in sub-Saharan Africa have been affected by the recent crash and increased volatility in global oil prices.

Fossil-fuelled development and the legacy of Post-Development theory in twenty-first century Africa

Abstract This article examines the legacy of Post-Development theory, in particular its relevance and applicability to debates about Africa’s future. It scrutinises Post-Development theory, and its claims about the end of development, through the prisms of Africa’s continued pursuit of development and its political economy of energy. It considers the impact of these aspects of Africa’s developmental efforts on the ability of Post-Development theory to remain relevant in light of recent developments. Revisiting basic claims of Post-Development theory provides insights into the enduring disconnect and incommensurability between Africa’s twenty-first century socio-economic trajectories and the core assumptions of Post-Development theory.