Political Accountability in African History 126 JOHN LONSDALE the Politics of Representation and Good Government in Post-Colonial Africa 158 JOHN DUNN
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POLITICAL DOMINATION IN AFRICA AFRICAN STUDIES SERIES 50 Editorial Board John Dunn, Reader in Politics and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge J. M. Lonsdale, Lecturer in History and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge A. F. Robertson, Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge The African studies series is a collection of monographs and general studies which reflect the interdisciplinary interests of the African Studies Centre at Cambridge. Volumes to date have combined historical, anthropological, economic, political and other perspectives. Each contribution has assumed that such broad approaches can contribute much to our understanding of Africa, and that this may in turn be of advantage to specific disciplines. OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES 4 The Nigerian Military: A Sociological Analysis of Authority and Revolt 1960-1967 Robin Luckham 6 Labour in the South African Gold Mines, 1911-1969 Francis Wilson 9 Dependence and Opportunity: Political Change in Ahafo John Dunn and A. F. Robertson 11 Islam and Tribal Art in West Africa Rene A. Bravmann 14 Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel Emmanuel Obiechina 15 Saints and Politicians: Essays in the Organisation of a Senegalese Peasant Society Donal B. Cruise O'Brien 17 Politics of Decolonisation: Kenya Europeans and the Land Issue 1960-1965 Gary Wasserman 18 Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-century Africa B. G. Martin 19 Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate: Historical and Sociological Perspectives Joseph P. Smaldone 20 Liberia and Sierra Leone: An Essay in Comparative Politics Christopher Clapham 23 West African States: Failure and Promise: A Study in Comparative Politics John Dunn 24 Afrikaners of the Kalahari: White Minority in a Black State Margo and Martin Russell 25 A Modern History of Tanganyika John Iliffe 26 A History of African Christianity 1950-1975 Adrian Hastings 28 The Hidden Hippopotamus: Reappraisal in African History: The Early Colonial Experience in Western Zambia Gwyn Prins 29 Families Divided: The Impact of Migrant Labour in Lesotho Colin Murray 30 Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960 Patrick Manning 31 Kings, Commoners and Concessionaires: The Evolution and Dissolution of the Nineteenth- century Swazi State Philip Bonner 32 Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayy id Mohammad Abdille Hasan Said S. Samatar 33 The Political Economy ofPondoland 1860-1930: Production, Labour, Migrancy and Chiefs in Rural South Africa William Beinart 34 Volkskapitalisme: Class, Capital and Ideology in the Development of Afrikaner Nationalism 1934-1948 DanO'Meara 35 The Settler Economies: Studies in the Economic History of Kenya and Rhodesia 1900- 1963 Paul Mosley 36 Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa Paul E. Love joy 37 Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership and People's War Patrick Chabal 38 Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa Robert H. Bates 39 ljeshas and Nigerians: The Incorporation of a Yoruba Kingdom, 1890-1970s J. D. Y. Peel 40 Black People and the South African War 1899-1902 Peter Warwick 41 A History of Niger 1850-1960 Finn Fuglestad 42 Industrialisation and Trade Union Organisation in South Africa 1924-55 Jon Lewis 43 The Rising of the Red Shawls: A Revolt in Madagascar 1895-1899 Stephen Ellis 44 Slavery in Dutch South Africa Nigel Worden 45 Law, Custom and Social Order: The Colonial Experience in Malawi and Zambia Martin Chanock 46 Salt of the Desert Sun: A History of Salt Production and Trade in the Central Sudan Paul E. Love joy 47 Marrying Well: Status and Social Change among the Educated Elite in Colonial Lagos Kristin Mann 48 Language and Colonial Power: The Appropriation ofSwahili in the Former Belgian Congo, 1880-1938 Johannes Fabian 49 The Shell Money of the Slave Trade Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson POLITICAL DOMINATION IN AFRICA Reflections on the limits of power edited by PATRICK CHABAL King's College London The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by Henry VIU in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE LONDON NEW YORK NEW ROCHELLE MELBOURNE SYDNEY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521322973 © Cambridge University Press 1986 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1986 Re-issued in this digitally printed version 2008 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Main entry under title: Political domination in Africa. (African studies series; 50) Bibliography. Includes index. 1. Africa - Politics and government - Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Chabal, Patrick, 1951- II. Series. JQ1872.P63 1986 320.96 85-29985 ISBN 978-0-521-32297-3 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-31148-9 paperback To the memory of Jean and Helene Mondain Ne creda mai alcuno stato potere sempre pigliare partiti securi, anzi pensi di avere a prenderli tutti dubii: perche si truova questo nell'ordine delle cose, che mai no si cerca fuggire uno inconveniente che non si incorra in uno altro; ma la prudenzia consiste in sapere conoscere la qualita delli inconvenienti, e pigliare el meno tristo per buono ... Concludo adunque che variando la fortuna e stando li uomini ne' loro modi ostinati, sono felici mentre concordano insieme, e come discordano infelici. Io iudico bene questo, che sia meglio essere impetuoso che respettivo... Niccolo Machiavelli, // Principe e Discorsi sopra la Prima Deca di Tito Livio (Milan: Istituto Editoriale Italiano, 1970), pp. 106, 114 Let no state think that it can always adopt a safe course; rather should it be understood that all choices involve risks, for the order of things is such that one never escapes one danger without incurring another; prudence lies in weighing the disadvantages of each choice and taking the least bad as good ... My conclusion is, then, that, as fortune is variable and men fixed in their ways, men will prosper so long as they are in tune with the times and will fail when they are not. However, I will say that in my opinion it is better to be bold than cautious... Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, translated and edited by T. G. Bergin (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1947), pp.67, 75 II politico in atto e un creatore, un suscitatore, ma ne crea dal nulla, ne si muove nel vuoto torbido dei suoi desideri e sogni. Si funda sulla realta effetuale ... un rapporto di forze in continuo movimento e mutamento di equilibrio. Applicare la volonta all creazione di un nuovo equilibrio delle forze realmente esistenti ed operanti, fondan- dosi su quella determinata forza che si ritiene progressiva, e potenziandola per farla trionfare e sempre muoversi nel terreno della realta effetuale ma per dominarla e superarla. II 'dover essere' e quindi concretezza, anzi e la sola interpretazione realistica e storicistica della realta, e sola storia in atto e filosofia in atto, sola politica. Antonio Gramsci, Quaderni del Carcere, vol. Ill (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), p. 1578 The active politician is a creator, an initiator; but he neither creates from nothing nor does he move in the turbid void of his own desires and dreams. He bases himself on effective reality... a relation of forces in continuous motion and shift of equilibrium. If one applies one's will to the creation of a new equilibrium among the forces which really exist and are operative - basing oneself on the particular force which one believes to be progressive and strengthening it to help it to victory - one still moves on the terrain of effective reality, but does so in order to dominate and transcend it. What 'ought to be' is therefore concrete; indeed it is the only realistic and historicist interpretation of reality, it alone is history in the making and philosophy in the making, it alone is politics. Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, edited and translated by Ouintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (New York: International Publishers, 1971), p. 172 Contents Acknowledgements page ix Introduction: Thinking about politics in Africa 1 PATRICK CHABAL Democracy in Africa 17 RICHARD L. SKLAR Politics and vision in Africa: the interplay of domination, equality and liberty 30 THOMAS M. CALLAGHY Democracy and ethnocentrism 52 MARTIN STANILAND Wails and whispers: the people's voice in West African Muslim politics 71 DONAL B. CRUISE O'BRIEN Revolutionary democracy in Africa: the case of Guinea-Bissau 84 PATRICK CHABAL Civil society in Africa 109 JEAN-FRAN£OIS BAYART Political accountability in African history 126 JOHN LONSDALE The politics of representation and good government in post-colonial Africa 158 JOHN DUNN Notes 175 Index 207 vn Acknowledgements This book was conceived during my participation in a panel on Richard Sklar's 'Democracy in Africa', at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, held in Boston in December 1983. I am grateful to Richard Joseph for having invited me to join the panel and to the other members of the panel for their thoughts and comments. I am equally grateful to Richard Sklar for agreeing on the spot to publish his Presidential Address in the present volume. I also want to record my debt to Michael Schatzberg. I wish to thank the editors of the African Studies Series for their assistance during the gestation of this book. John Lonsdale generously helped me in the translation of Jean-Frangois Bayart's chapter and John Dunn provided much appreciated encouragement and intellectual support.