‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa
While the idea of the failed state can be easily contested as a Western conceit, understanding the symptoms typically claimed as indicating the condition is an important part of addressing it. A common argument has been that failure is a result of conditions internal to the country in question. This...
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Université de Reims Champagne-Ardennes
2017-09-01
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| Series: | L'Espace Politique |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/4349 |
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| author | Kevin R. Cox |
| author_facet | Kevin R. Cox |
| author_sort | Kevin R. Cox |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While the idea of the failed state can be easily contested as a Western conceit, understanding the symptoms typically claimed as indicating the condition is an important part of addressing it. A common argument has been that failure is a result of conditions internal to the country in question. This, though, is to ignore the way in which, in various ways, colonialism, and latterly a particular position in the international division of labor, have paved the way. In sub-Saharan African colonialism has been the more fundamental of the two. This is because of its failure to change production relations in a way that would encourage capitalist forms of development. A result has been the neo-patrimonial state which, in the context of dominantly pre-capitalist production relations, will necessarily struggle to achieve the standards held in the West to be successful. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c8d41c2ff6f74c6cbeb2a7976b6c85f2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1958-5500 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | Université de Reims Champagne-Ardennes |
| record_format | Article |
| series | L'Espace Politique |
| spelling | doaj-art-c8d41c2ff6f74c6cbeb2a7976b6c85f22025-08-20T02:26:40ZengUniversité de Reims Champagne-ArdennesL'Espace Politique1958-55002017-09-013210.4000/espacepolitique.4349‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan AfricaKevin R. CoxWhile the idea of the failed state can be easily contested as a Western conceit, understanding the symptoms typically claimed as indicating the condition is an important part of addressing it. A common argument has been that failure is a result of conditions internal to the country in question. This, though, is to ignore the way in which, in various ways, colonialism, and latterly a particular position in the international division of labor, have paved the way. In sub-Saharan African colonialism has been the more fundamental of the two. This is because of its failure to change production relations in a way that would encourage capitalist forms of development. A result has been the neo-patrimonial state which, in the context of dominantly pre-capitalist production relations, will necessarily struggle to achieve the standards held in the West to be successful.https://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/4349capitalist developmentcolonialismneo-patrimonial statepre-capitalist production relations |
| spellingShingle | Kevin R. Cox ‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa L'Espace Politique capitalist development colonialism neo-patrimonial state pre-capitalist production relations |
| title | ‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full | ‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr | ‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short | ‘Failed States’ in Question and the Case of Sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort | failed states in question and the case of sub saharan africa |
| topic | capitalist development colonialism neo-patrimonial state pre-capitalist production relations |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/4349 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kevinrcox failedstatesinquestionandthecaseofsubsaharanafrica |