Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-19T19:07:18.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Accumulators and Democrats: Challenging State Corruption in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Ernest Harsch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

As the news of President Moussa Traoré's overthrow spread through Mali in March 1991, large crowds of people poured into the streets of Bamako, Segu, Kati, and other towns to exact retribution, culminating weeks of popular unrest. They went after prominent officials, military officers, and members of the wealthy élite that had prospered during the 23 years of Traoré's authoritarian rule. Customs and tax offices, traditional centres of high-level corruption and embezzlement, were systematically burned, their files taken of scattered, their staff put to flight. Big merchants, accused of collaborating with the ousted régime and benefiting from state favours, saw their shops emptied and destroyed. Though disorganised and apparently beyond the control of any leadership, the crowds carefully spared vital economic installations — but not the Bamako offices of the Caisse centrale de coopération économique (C.C.C.E.), seemingly tainted by its rôle as the main channel for French financial aid to the Government.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 31 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See the reports by Simon, Catherine in Le Monde (Paris), 28–9 03 and 31 March–1 April 1991;Google Scholar also Turrittin, Jane, ‘Mali: people topple Traoré’, in Review of African Political Economy (Sheffield), 52, 11 1991, pp. 97–103.Google Scholar

2 Harsch, Ernest, ‘Democracy in Africa?’, in Development Forum (New York), 19, 4, July—August 1991, pp. 12–13 and 16.Google Scholar

3 Sarassoro, Hyacinthe Cabogo, ‘La Corruption et l'enrichissement sans cause en Afrique aujourd'hui’, in Afrique contemporaine (Paris), 156, 4th quarter 1990, p. 195 — my translation, as for other French quotations.Google Scholar

4 Bayart, Jean-François, ‘La Corruption en Afrique: “l'invisible” et le partage du gâteau’, in Africa international (Paris), 209, 09 1988, p. 64.Google Scholar

5 United Nations, ‘Practical Measures Against Corruption’, New York, A/CONF. 144/8, 29 May 1990, pp. 5–6.

6 Nye, Joseph S., ‘Corruption and Political Development: a cost-benefit analysis’, in American Political Science Review (Washington, DC), 61, 2, 06 1967, p. 419.Google Scholar

7 Huntington, Samuel P., Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven, 1968), pp. 59–71.Google Scholar

8 Cf.Scott, James C., ‘The Analysis of Corruption in Developing Nations’, in Comparative Studies in Society and History (Cambridge), 11, 3, 06 1969, pp. 315–41,Google Scholar and Brownsberger, William N., ‘Development and Governmental Corruption — Materialism and Political Fragmentation in Nieria’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 21, 2, 06 1983, pp. 215–33.Google Scholar

9 See Brownsberger, loc. cit. and Greenstone, J. David, ‘Corruption and Self-Interest in Kampala and Nairobi’, in Comparative Studies in Society and History, 8, 2, 01 1966, pp. 199–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 For example, Peter P. Ekeh, ‘Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: a theoretical statement’, in ibid. 17, 1, January 1975, pp. 91–112, and Andreski, Stanislav, The African Predicament (New York, 1968), p. 101.Google Scholar

11 Leff, Nathaniel H., ‘Economic Development Through Corruption’, in Ekpo, Monday O. (ed.), Bureaucratic Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa: toward a search for causes and consequences (Washington, DC, 1979), pp. 325–40.Google Scholar

12 Beenstock, Michael, ‘Corruption and Development’, in World Development (Oxford), 7, 1, 1979, p. 22.Google Scholar

13 Zolberg, Aristide R., Creating Political Order: the party-states of West Africa (Chicago, 1966), pp. 134–45;Google ScholarBayart, Jean-François, L'État au Cameroun (Paris, 1979),Google Scholar and Médard, Jean-François, ‘The Underdeveloped State in Tropical Africa: political clientelism or neo-patrimonialism?’, in Clapham, Christopher (ed.), Private Patronage and Public Power: political clientelism in the modern state (New York, 1982), pp. 162–92.Google Scholar

14 Callaghy, Thomas M., The State-Society Struggle: Zaïre in comparative perspective (New York, 1984), pp. 184–94,Google Scholar and ‘External Actors and the Relative Autonomy of the Political Aristocracy in Zaïre’, in The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics (London), 21, 3, 11 1983, pp. 61–83.Google Scholar

15 Joseph, Richard A., Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: the rise and fall of the Second Republic (Cambridge, 1987), p. 63.Google Scholar

16 Sklar, Richard L., ‘The Nature of Class Domination in Africa’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, 17, 4, 12 1979, p. 537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

17 Gould, David J., Bureaucratic Corruption and Underdevelopment in the Third World: the case of Zaïre (New York, 1980), p. 32.Google Scholar

18 Kamier, El-Wathig and Kursany, Ibrahim, Corruption as the ‘Fifth’ Factor of Production in the Sudan (Uppsala, 1985), Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Research Report No. 72, p. 8.Google Scholar

19 Ekekwe, Eme, Class and State in Nigeria (London, 1986), pp. 113–14.Google Scholar

20 Williams, Robert, Political Corruption in Africa (Aldershot, 1987), p. 69.Google Scholar

21 Diamond, Larry, ‘Class Formation in the Swollen African State’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, 25, 4, 12 1987, pp. 579 and 581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 Szeftel, Morris, ‘Political Graft and the Spoils System in Zambia — the State as a Resource in Itself’, in Review of African Political Economy, 24 May—August 1982, pp. 6 and 20.Google Scholar

23 Cf.Amselle, Jean-Loup, ‘Fonctionnaires et hommes d'affaires au Mali’, in Politique africaine (Paris), 26, 06 1987, pp. 63–72.Google Scholar

24 ‘Scibe-Zaïre: une réussite privée’, in Jeune Afrique économie (Paris), 125, 11 1989, p. 282.Google Scholar

25 O'Brien, Donal B. Cruise, Saints and Politicians: essays in the organization of a Senegalese peasant society (Cambridge, 1975), p. 195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26 For a discussion of Nigeria and Gabon, see Lemarchand, René, ‘The State, the Parallel Economy, and the Changing Structure of Patronage Systems’, in Rothchild, Donald and Chazan, Naomi (eds.), The Precarious Balance: state and society in Africa (Boulder and London, 1988), pp. 158–60.Google Scholar

27 Gould, op. cit. pp. 7–8.

28 For the revealing case of Washington's indulgent policy towards Samuel Doe's régime in Monrovia, see U.S. General Accounting Office, Liberia: need to improve accountability and control over U.S. assistance (Washington, DC, 07 1987).Google Scholar

29 Sarassoro, loc. cit. p. 196.

30 Kasfir, Nelson, ‘State, Magendo, and Class Formation in Uganda’, in The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 21, 3, 11 1983, p. 100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31 World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa. From Crisis to Sustainable Growth: a long-term perspective study (Washington, DC, 1989), pp. 55–6 and 61.Google Scholar

32 Landell-Mills, Pierre and Serageldin, Ismail, ‘Governance and the Development Process’, in Finance and Development (Washington, DC), 28, 3, 09 1991, p. 14.Google Scholar

33 World Bank, op. cit. p. 61.

34 Boone, Catherine, ‘The Making of a Rentier Class: wealth accumulation and political control in Senegal’, in The Journal of Development Studies (London), 26, 3, 04 1990, p. 431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

35 Callaghy, , The State–Society Struggle, pp. 75–8.Google Scholar

36 World Bank, op. cit. p. 135.

37 Lubeck, Paul M. (ed.), The African Bourgeoisie: capitalist development in Nigeria, Kenya, and the Ivory Coast (Boulder, 1987),Google Scholar and Marsden, Keith, African Entrepreneurs: pioneers of development (Washington, DC, 1990), International Finance Corporation, Discussion Paper No. 9, pp. 5–8.Google Scholar

38 MacGaffey, Janet, Entrepreneurs and Parasites: the struggle for indigenous capitalism in Zaïre (Cambridge, 1987).Google Scholar

39 Kennedy, Paul, African Capitalism: the struggle for ascendency (Cambridge, 1988), p. 66.Google Scholar

40 Bathily, Abdoulaye, ‘Senegal's Structural Adjustment Programme and its Economic and Social Effects: the political economy of regression’, in Onimode, Bade (ed.), The IMF, the World Bank and the African Debt, Vol. 2,Google ScholarThe Social and Political Impact (London, 1989), p. 133.Google Scholar

42 Theobald, Robin, Corruption, Development and Underdevelopment (London, 1990), p. 158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42 Harsch, Ernest, ‘Privatization: no simple panacea’, in Africa Recovery (New York), 2, 3, 08 1988, pp. 12–14.Google Scholar

43 Barrin, Jacques de, ‘Plaies d'Afrique: rencontre avec un dirigeant du “troisième type”’, in Le Monde, 9 June 1990.Google Scholar

44 Foster, George M., ‘Peasant Society and the Image of Limited Good’, in American Anthropologist (Washington, DC), 67, 2, 04 1965, pp. 293–315.Google Scholar

45 Vallée, Olivier, ‘La Logique économique du changement démocratique’, in Le Monde, 5 March 1991, p. 28.Google Scholar

46 U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report: sub-Saharan Africa (Washington, DC), 22 11 1991, p. 25.Google ScholarPubMed

47 Communiqué of 23 February 1990, cited in ibid. 26 February 1990, p. 24.

48 Dia, Mam Less, ‘Côte d'Ivoire: crise de perspectives’, in Voix d'Afrique (Abidjan), 8, 04 1990, p. 13.Google Scholar

49 Daily Report: sub-Saharan Africa, 2 March 1990, pp. 13–14.Google Scholar

50 Ibid. 31 October 1991, p. 12.

51 Ibid. 17 June 1991, p. 3, 2 July 1991, p. 26, and 2 August 1991, p. 28.

52 Carrefour africain (Ouagadougou), 975, 20 02 1987, p. 32.Google Scholar

53 Harsch, Ernest, ‘Burkina: a revolution derailed’, in Africa Report (New York), 33, 1, 01—02 1988, pp. 33–9.Google Scholar

54 According to Williams, op. cit. p. 110, although Nigeria's 1979 constitution prescribed that all public servants declare their assets within six months, only the President and Vice-President had done so by 1983.

55 Daily Report: sub-Saharan Africa, 24 December 1991, p. 24.

56 ‘CCM Opens up the Valves’, in Southern African Economist (Harare), 4, 2, 04—05 1991, p. 23.Google Scholar

57 Saint-Paul, Marc Aicardi de, ‘L'Ombudsman en Afrique’, in Afrique contemporaine, 156, 4th quarter, 1990, pp. 226–30.Google Scholar

58 Clarke, Michael (ed.), Corruption: causes, consequences and control (New York, 1983), p. xvi.Google Scholar

59 Ephson, Ben Jr., ‘Checking Corruption in Ghana’, in West Africa, 5 April 1982, pp. 925–6,Google Scholar and Sawadogo, Michel F. and Yarga, Larba, ‘Les Tribunaux populaires de la révolution (T.P.R.) en Haute-Volta’, in Penant (Paris), 94, 785, 07—09 1984, pp. 267–83.Google Scholar

60 Statement of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia, 3 August 1991, cited in Daily Report: sub-Saharan Africa, 6 August 1991, p. 1.Google Scholar

61 Kpatindé, Francis, ‘Nicéphore Soglo: l'an I dans la douleur’, in Jeune Afrique (Paris), 1969, 26 03—1 04 1992, p. 23.Google Scholar

62 Daily Report: sub-Saharan Africa, 20 July 1992, p. 37.