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Economic Dependence and Economic Performance in Black Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Extract

Samir Amin has recently argued that black African countries are all characterised by extreme forms of underdevelopment. In his view, this situation is produced by the dependency of African states on more developed countries that is a consequence of the continent's common historical experience of economic exploitation by European-organised mercantilism, the slave trade, imperialism, and colonialism. Moreover, via the mechanisms of western-based neo-colonialism, African under-development has been perpetuated, and perhaps even increased, during the achievement of political independence over the past 25 years.

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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

page 25 note 1 Amin, Samir, ‘Underdevelopment and Dependence in Black Africa: origins and contemporary forms’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), X, 4, 12 1972, pp. 503–24.Google Scholar

page 25 note 2 The literature on dependency and neo-colonialism is large and growing rapidly. Some important general statements are: Lenin, V. I., Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism (1917);Google ScholarRhodes, R. I. (ed.), Imperialism and Underdevelopment (New York, 1970);Google ScholarFann, K. T. and Hodges, D. C. (eds.), Readings in U.S. Imperialism (Boston, 1971);Google Scholar and Wilber, C. K. (ed.), The Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment (New York, 1973).Google Scholar Particularly important for black Africa are: Nkrumah, Kwame, Neo-Colonialism: the highest stage of imperialism (New York, 1965);Google ScholarGreen, Reginald H. and Seidman, Ann, Unity or Povety? the economics of panAfricanism (Baltimore, 1968);Google ScholarRodney, Walter, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London, 1972);Google ScholarArrighi, Giovanni and Saul, John S., Essays on the Political Economy of Africa (New York, 1973);Google ScholarAmin, Samir, Neo-Colonialism in West Africa (New York, 1973);Google ScholarLeys, Colin, Under development in Kenya: the political economy of neo-colonialism, 1964–1971 (Berkeley, 1974);Google Scholar and chapters by Green, Reginald H., Seidman, Ann, and Williams, Gavin in Allen, C. and Johnson, R. W. (eds.), African Perspectives: papers in the history, politics and economics of Africa presented to Thomas Hodgkin (Cambridge, 1970).Google Scholar

page 26 note 1 This summary follows closely that of Kaufman, R. R., Chernotsky, H. I., and Geller, D. S., ‘A Preliminary Test of the Theory of Dependency’, in Comparative Polities (New York), VII, 3, 04 1975, p. 304.Google Scholar

page 26 note 2 Stallings, Barbara, Economic Dependency in Africa and Latin America (Beverly Hills, 1972).Google Scholar

page 26 note 3 Reginald H. Green, ‘Political Independence and the National Economy: an essay on the political economy of decolonisation’, in Ailen and Johnson (eds.), op. cit. p. 292.

page 26 note 4 Stallings, op. cit. p. 7.

page 27 note 1 Thus, one may prefer and recommend socialism, self-reliance, and disengagement, because such policies are thought to promote valued ends, such as equality and human dignity. Such arguments are possible and worthwhile, but they would range far beyond the scope of this article.

page 27 note 2 The 30 states are: Burundi, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Peoples Republic, Dahomey, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malagasy Republic, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somali Republic, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Upper Volta, Zaire, and Zambia.

page 28 note 1 The source for the indicators of economic dependence is Stallings, op. cit. pp. 20, 28, 30, and 58. The indicators of economic performance come from Morrison, D. G., Mitchell, R. C., Paden, J. N., and Stevenson, H. M., Black Africa: a comparative handbook (New York, 1972), passim.Google Scholar In the few instances where data were missing, a large variety of other sources were consulted in an effort to complete the information. My analysis is based upon complete data for all indicators except the following: consumer price index, 1965, missing 4 cases; growth in electricity production, 1963–8, missing 1 case; and government spending per capita, 1968, missing 1 case.

page 29 note 1 Stallings, op. cit. p. 58.

page 29 note 2 On the method of concomitant variation, see Mill, John Stuart, A System of Logic, I, Book III,Google Scholar where it is stated that ‘whatever phenomenon varies in any manner whenever another phenomenon varies in some particular manner, is either a cause or an effect of that phenomenon, or is connected with it through some fact of causation’. The modem statistician's correlations represent Mill's method in both experimental and non-experimental research.

page 31 note 1 These and the preceding figures are from Stallings, op. cit. p. 58.

page 31 note 2 Green and Seidman op. cit. p. 93.

page 31 note 3 Ibid. pp. 37–51.

page 32 note 1 Amin, ‘Underdevelopment and Dependence in Black Africa’, loc. cit. p. 504.

page 32 note 2 As well described by Leys, op. cit. and Brett, E. A., Colonialism and Underdevelopment in East Africa (London, 1972).Google Scholar

page 35 note 1 Besides the works of Nkrumah and Green and Seidman already noted, I refer to Dusnont, René, False Start in Africa (New York, 1969);Google ScholarFanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth (New York, 1968);Google ScholarAndreski, Stanislav, The African Predicament (London, 1968);Google Scholar and Woddis, Jack, An Introduction to Neo-Colonialism (London, 1967).Google Scholar The books by Dumont and Fanon were, of course, originally published in French during the early 1960s.

page 35 note 2 My efforts included transfornations of skewed variables, multiple regression, and factor analysis. None of these techniques materially affect the findings presented in Tables 1–3, and as they are more complicated they are not reported.

page 35 note 3 The limitations of such data are best discussed in Morrison, Mitchell, Paden, and Stevenson, op. cit. and Taylor, C. L. (ed.), Aggregate Data Analysis (Paris and The Hague, 1968).Google Scholar

page 35 note 4 Johnston, J., Econometric Methods (New York, 1972 edn.), pp. 281–91,Google Scholar and Blalock, H. B. Jr (ed.), Measurement in the Social Sciences (Chicago, 1974), pp. 244–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Correlations are reduced when random error is present. If non-random error (bias) is present, one can correct for this if it is known, which is rarely the case. A reasonable safeguard is to use multiple indicators when bias may be present in any single indicator. This is one reason why I have used four indicators of economic dependence and 23 of economic performance.

page 36 note 1 As in Leys's excellent case-study of Kenya, op. cit.

page 38 note 1 See the discussion by Caporaso, J., ‘Methodological Issues in the Measurement of Inequality, Dependence, and Exploitation’, in Rosen, S. and Kurth, J. R. (eds.), Testing Theories of Economic Imperialism (Lexington, Mass., 1974), pp. 87114.Google Scholar

page 38 note 2 For example, Vengroff, Richard, ‘Neo-Colonialism and Policy Outputs in Africa’, in Comparative Political Studies (Beverly Hills), VIII, 2, 07 1975, pp. 234–50.Google Scholar

page 38 note 3 A good starting point would be the ‘Resolution on Neo-Colonialism’ of the Third All- African Peoples Conference, march 1961, reprinted in Legum, Colin, Pan-Africanism: a short political guide (New York, 1962), pp. 254–7.Google Scholar

page 39 note 1 Rosenau, J. N. (ed.), Linkage Politics: essays on the convergence of national and international systems (New York, 1969);Google ScholarWilkenfeld, J. (ed.), Conflict Behavior and Linkage Politics (New York, 1973);Google Scholar and Singer, M., Weak States in a World of Powers (New York, 1972).Google Scholar

page 39 note 2 Kaufman, Chernotsky, and Geller, loc. cit. in an empirical study of Latin America, using methods similar to mine, found little support for the dependency theory, and a similar pattern ofpositive correlations between Trade and economic performance. But see also Vengroff, loc. cit.

page 39 note 3 As pointed out in Cohen, B. J., The Question of Imperialism (New York, 1973), pp. 189227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 39 note 4 As suggested by the distinguished British economist and student of West African trade, Bauer, P. T., ‘The Economics of Resentment: colonialism and underdevelopment’, in The Journal of Contemporary History (London), IV, 1, 1969, pp. 5171.Google Scholar The frequent omission by dependence theorists of references to contrary arguments and evidence indicates that for some the ‘theory’ has already become an ‘ideology’.

page 40 note 1 I wish to acknowledge the research assistance of Thomas H. Johnson, a graduate student at the University of Southern California, in the preparation of this article.