131 Isaacman Explains This by Suggesting That the Kind of Master

BOOK REVIEWS 131 Isaacman explains this by suggesting that the kind of master-subject relation- ship established by the Prazeros was not alien to the Zambesi and that it con- forms to the earlier pattern of political subjection of the Tonga, Sena, and Chewa Chiefs to their Karanga and Malawi political overlords. This parallel does not necessarily nullify the point of the extra-African origin of the Prazeros. The book is strong on several points, in spite of the obvious and generous use of social-science jargons, its treatment of the little impression Portuguese colonialism had on African society after centuries of Portuguese rule is very relevant to the on-going debate of Portuguese colonialism in Africa. The book points out the general weakness and inefficiency of Portuguese rule in Africa. 'The economy of Mozambique contrary to what one would have expected was not based on plantation agriculture. In fact the Prazeros were mostly traders. They traded first in Gold and Ivory and by 1821 the economy of Mozambique was based on the slave trade. About 85% of the total value of exports was realised from the legal sale of slaves. The history of the Prazos is in fact the history of the failure of plantation agriculture in Mozambique. The slave trade continued to dominate the economy of Mozambique up till the 1850s and like in some parts of West Africa, it destroyed the very foundations of the states and Prazos in this area. This book also confirms the results of earlier researches about the essential differences of African slavery and plantation slavery. Isaacman points out the social mobility enjoyed by African slaves. They could marry sons and daughters of their masters, they were rarely ever sold except in times of extreme crisis. Another important contribution of this book is the exposure of the myth of 'colour blindness' or lack of racial discrimination in the Portuguese Empire. Isaacman points out that marriage between a "Portuguese" female and a Goan was considered absolutely scandalous and that this kind of racial feeling was encouraged by a 1755 Legislation which enjoined on the dona (female estate holders) to marry only European Portuguese men and not Indians from Goa who must have been considered Portuguese with a difference. The weakest points of the book are that Isaacman occasionally forgets the Central theme of the book and discussions that are not tangent to the main theme are constantly brought into the book thus throwing the whole work out of focus. The treatment of the politics of the area before the advent of the Portuguese is a bit confused; nevertheless this book in spite of its shortcomings is bound to attract the attention of scholars of Portuguese enterprise in Africa. University of Ibadan A. OSUNTOKUN Ibadan, Nigeria C. P. Potholm, Four African Political Systems. Englewood-Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1970, pp. 308, No price given. It is not simply the `breakdown' of `democracy' in independent African States since the mid-1960's that has aroused so much interest in African Politics. Nor is it because Africa is simply unique. Rather, it is partly because of all the continents and sub-continents in the world, it is in Africa - particularly south of the Sahara - where there has been such rapid changes in political systems. 132 Of the several African governments which inherited the Parliamentary system of government, when the white Governors departed in the early 1960's, few, if any, seem to have any resemblance to their 'mother' Parliaments in London or Paris. Part of the explanation lies in the nature of the African societies both before and after the invasion of Africa by the white colonialists; even the existence of Pax Europeanna was unable to mould African societies into 'nations' that could ensure the continuation of the type of democracy prevailing in Europe. Independent Africa is faced with enormous problems: the leadership in most of black Africa was inept, corrupt and simply inefficient; independence itself opened the old wounds of 'tribal rivalries' ; the departure of the colonial power removed the only obvious 'enemy' that fostered unity among the Africans; fragile economies dependent on one major cash crop have led to, or been the consequences of, lack of stability and progress; and the general difficulty of African States to cope with endemic world problems has only accentuated an already hopeless situation. Nowhere are these developments discussed more basically and sympathet- ically than in Christian P. Potholm's Four African Political Systems. In a couple of chapters only, the reader is given a broad spectrum not only of the four Political Systems discussed here - that is, South African, Tanzanian, Somali and Ivoi- rien - but of almost all the African countries south of the Sahara. After reading Potholm's sober analysis of these four political systems, one realizes the extent to which we will remain indebted to this superb, well documented scholarly work. The author starts off with a useful conceptual framework for comparative Politics (chap. 1). As a background to the discussion of the four African Political Systems, the author discusses political development and modernization in three "broad stages of societal development", namely: traditional, transitional and modern. Chapters 1 and 2 are examples of a clear academic mind at work; for in these two chapters the bases or "models" for the comparative studies of any Political Systems - whether African, Asian or Latin American - are sug- gested. We are perhaps too well informed on the barbaric Political System in South Africa to expect any new ground to be uncovered; but, even though, the analysis is superb and the author succeeds in identifying at what level the decisions are really made and in showing how and why "the present form and style of command decision making... are the basic core values of South Africa, and [why] both are non-negotiable, either domestically or internationally" (p. 127), the crucial factor in South Africa's ability to defy the entire world is her strong economy. Thus wealth becomes a crucial criterion not only in the development but also in the actual survival of any African Political System. That is partly why the Ivoirien Political System - in a country with perhaps the highest in- come per capita in black Africa - has been able to survive in spite of the existence of serious political shortcomings and of the most obvious alienation of the mass of the people from the process of decision-making. In fact, Ivory Coast's present Political System owes its existence and survival largely to the presence of the French troops in the country as well as to Houphouet-Boigny's ability (because of the enormous wealth at his disposal) to reward handsomely his lieutenants who are in turn so committed to the system. It is perhaps the discussions of the Tanzanian and the Somali Political .

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