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Authoritarian neoliberalism and capitalist transformation in Africa: all pain, no gain

Harrison, Graham

Authors



Abstract

As a region of the world capitalist political economy, Africa has been the epitome of neoliberalism as a universal project to remake societies in its image. In Africa, the neoliberal project encountered a region already ensconced in state-forms that were authoritarian, albeit very often weaker than their analogues in Latin America or Southern Europe. In these circumstances, neoliberalism both reconstructed and relied upon authoritarian state practices: reassertions of law and order, rising technocracy, re-built bureaucracies, and ‘choiceless democracy’. Liberal advocates of neoliberalism indulged authoritarian governance in the belief that economic liberalization would generate economic growth and transformation. Reviewing these authoritarian neoliberal constructions, one is struck by how poorly they performed as vehicles for market-based capitalist transformation. In a phrase, the pain of neoliberal adjustment was accompanied by no palliative of sustained economic ‘gain’. Liberalization, executed by top-down and undemocratic governance, has generated fragile growth, instability, some enrichment and no economic transformation. This conjuncture is pivotal to an understanding of moves by some governing elites to explore and at times implement non-neoliberal development strategies. The article concludes by suggesting that neoliberalism is currently a somewhat besieged orthodoxy. However, the exploration of unorthodox development strategies has taken place within an authoritarian political shell.

Citation

Harrison, G. (2019). Authoritarian neoliberalism and capitalist transformation in Africa: all pain, no gain. Globalizations, 16(3), 274-288. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2018.1502491

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Aug 6, 2018
Publication Date 2019
Deposit Date Jan 21, 2020
Journal Globalizations
Print ISSN 1474-7731
Electronic ISSN 1474-774X
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 3
Pages 274-288
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2018.1502491
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1279218