William G. Martin

Africa's Futures: from North – South to East – South?

Abstract This article contests dominant projections of Africas future, most notably the Afro-pessimism that permeates almost all Northern analyses. While long-term data do confirm the continents developmental impasse, they also dispute the dominant argument that Africa has been isolated and disengaged from the world economy. Indeed, Africa has been increasingly engaged with—and impoverished by—its relationships with Europe and North America. African scholars, recognising this dilemma, call for a return of the ‘developmental state’. This recommendation, however, like Afro-pessimist projections, fails to take into account fundamental transformations in Africas geostrategic and world-economic relationships. The implications of two key, global transitions are traced for Africa and particularly South Africa: first, the disruptive power of global social movements; second, the rise of Asia and the demise of US and European hegemony over Africa.

Rise and Demise, Comparing World Systems.

* Introduction Concepts And Definitions * A Hundred Flowers Bloom: Approaches to World-Systems * Defining World-Systems * Two, Three, Many World-Systems Explaining World-System Evolution * New Territories: The Problem of Incorporation * The Semiperiphery: Seedbed of Change * Iterations and Transformations: A Theory of World-Systems Evolution Investigations: Cases And Comparisons * A Very Small World-System * The Unification of Afroeurasia: Circa 500 b.c.e.1400 c.e * The Europe-Centered System * Cross-System Comparisons: Similarities and Differences Conclusions * The Transformation of World-Systems * Conclusions, Questions, Speculations

Region Formation under Crisis Conditions: South vs Southern Africa in the Interwar Period*

In recent years considerable attention has been paid in Africa to the promotion of economic growth through regional economic associations. Yet little scholarship exists on the historical formation of southern Africa as an existing ‘region’. This essay explores this subject by analysing conflicts between local political actors over regional economic relationships in the first half of this century. Examining the period as a whole reveals a critical transition during the interwar period. If at the beginning of the century southern Africa was marked by relatively free flows of commodities, labour and capital, by the late 1930s this situation was dramatically transformed. South Africa had become an industrialising power, while the free trade zone so assiduously cultivated by colonial and settler power in the previous half century had been shattered. At the same time, strongly interdependent and inherently unequal relationships emerged across the economic landscape of southern Africa for the first time. Several...

The Making of an Industrial South Africa: Trade and Tariffs in the Interwar Period

The process of industrialization has long formed a central theme for historians of the modern world. The reasons are quite clear: the wealth and power of nations have long rested upon a well-established industrial sector. The historical study of industrialization in Africa, however, has generated a truncated literature, reflecting the poor performance of the continents manufacturing sector. Far from seeking to explain the course of industrialization, most scholarly attention has revolved around discussions of the forces that have hindered the development of modern industry.3 By almost any measure South Africa stands apart from these conclusions. Over the course of this century the country has moved from being a peripheral, primary producing nation to the industrial powerhouse of the continent. Yet it is striking how few of the comparative themes that have preoccupied scholars of industrialization in Africa, Latin America, and even East Asia have been engaged by those analyzing the course of South African industrialization. In

South Africa and the ‘New Scramble for Africa’: Imperialist, Sub-imperialist, or Victim?:

Is South Africa a ‘sub/imperialist’ state, a leader of the Global South, or a victim of imperial power from the North? This essay unpacks the debate surrounding South Africa’s role in the ‘new scramble for Africa’ by critically contrasting competing theoretical conceptions against historical and empirical evidence. The conclusion projects a radical—and unexpected—rupture in South Africa’s power and position in the world-economy as North–South networks are broken and East–South relations replace North–South relations.

Beyond Bush: The future of popular movements & US Africa policy

This article reviews US policy towards Africa, arguing that continuity over the past four administrations far outweighs differences between presidential candidate Senator Kerry and President George Bush. If Kerry were to win the Presidential elections in November, this would not lead to any radical change in US-Africa relations. What is new over the longer term, and is posed so starkly by Bushs unilateralist and militarised actions, is the relentless development of a post-liberal world order and policy agenda. Opposition to this agenda by progressive movements and organisations focused upon such issues as debt cancellation, privatisation, and public health has already born fruit in Africa and elsewhere. The successes, failures, and contradictions of these new campaigns and organisations reflect the post-liberal conditions they work under, and are thus significantly different from the solidarity struggles of the past. The assistance of Jim Cason was invaluable in constructing this essay, for which the author is very grateful.

The future of Southern Africa: what prospects after majority rule?

In the debates about a post‐apartheid future, the prospects for the region as a whole have been ignored. They depend first on the position of southern and South Africa in the global division of labour: this has worsened more than most areas since 1950 – even South Africa is more dependent today on exporting primary products; and regional trade, despite the Southern African Conference on Coordination and Development (SADCC), is declining. This deterioration could continue under the redefinition of economic activities now occurring in the world economy. These prospects also reflect the inherited realities: over and above the modest efforts of SADCC, southern Africas long relations with the South African economy make it into a whole that is more than just a geographically specific set of peripheral states. Three possible scenarios are explored: the regions renewed and enhanced subordination to an apartheid‐free South African economy; the break‐up of regional ties and the subordination of each of the countr...

Asian Land Acquisitions in Africa: Beyond the ‘New Bandung’ or a ‘New Colonialism’?

The ‘New Bandung’ framework presumes a stable North/South order and opposition to it. This article examines how reigning orthodoxies on the acquisition of land and agricultural investments in Africa by Asian states and corporations do not fit this model. This holds even for core-centric models such as ‘accumulation by dispossession’, which fail to capture the collapse of accumulation strategies in the global North as they relate to new powers, policies and movements in the South. Rather than a crisis of accumulation, Asian investment represents an attempt to cater to higher food demands of rising elites in the ‘emerging economies’ and a class collaboration between them and African elites. This represents the end of a process of expansion of the global North that had begun circa 1750. It follows that the future can no longer rely upon North/South polar models and theories.

The Rise of African Studies (USA) and the Transnational Study of Africa

Abstract: Among Africanists, one of the remarkable events of 1957 was the founding of the African Studies Association. Commentaries on the associations history are slight and understandably celebratory. Exploration of archival and related sources, however, reveals considerable uncertainty and struggle over the construction of the field in the 1950s and 1960s. Those sources range across changing continental, colonial, and racial boundaries and reveal racialized relationships among U.S. scholars and especially foundation officials, British scholars and colonial officials, and, in unexpected ways, scholars in Africa and particularly South Africa. This essay traces the interplay of these forces and the demise of the transnational study of Africa in this period—and points briefly toward todays uncertain future for the study of Africa.

Decarceration and justice disinvestment: Evidence from New York State

After 30 years of relentless expansion, the United States’ prison system faces the prospect of considerable contraction. This was certainly not expected and continues to be refuted by policy makers, activists, and academic theorists alike. Using evidence drawn from New York State, this essay argues that decarceration is taking place and may be expected to continue. Preliminary findings indicate, however, that the outcome is not likely to be the most commonly speculated ones: a return to a rehabilitative model, liberal reform along the lines of justice reinvestment, or the straightforward replacement of mass incarceration with parole and probation. Evidence to date suggests that a new and harsher criminal justice regime marked by justice disinvestment is being forged, entailing a significant shift from state penal institutions to differentiated, community-based social control, new private and non-profit actors, and new data and hardware technologies. These observations suggest a substantial rethinking of the political economy and theories of mass incarceration and the ‘carceral’ or ‘centaur’ state.