Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa by Robert H. BatesReview by: Howard SteinCanadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 23, No. 2(1989), pp. 308-311Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Canadian Association of African StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/485530 .

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308 CJAS / RCEA 23:2 1989

instance, the article by Immanuel K. Bavu argues that policy goals identification is an important pre-requisite for improving the performance of public enterprises. Bavu writes:

It is important for governments to be clear as to what policy goals they want to pur- sue. The options open here are constrained by the present international division of labour as dominated by the capitalist system. Nonetheless, it would be a defeatist view to sit back and scape-goat imperialism for every economic development hurdle experienced, just as it would be unscientific to pretend any African govern- ment can disengage itself from the encapsulation. What is important is for govern- ments, especially the leaders of governments, to have a thorough understanding of the principal contradiction that is dominant in the present world economy and the objective conditions affecting them. To avoid beingnormative we propose that the option is either to follow the socialist course or the capitalist course. In this regard, President Nyerere, argues that there is only one rational choice, i.e. socialism, Gunder Frank, on the other hand, warns that even if one chose socialism it is diffi- cult, if not impossible, to escape the hungry claws of international capital.All these arguments notwithstanding and in the light of the facts obtaining in the experience of African politics we propose that a firm commitment to a particular mode of pro- duction is necessary. It is on the basis of such a choice that other choices guiding the internal management of strategies and programmes will follow (250).

Although the coverage of the book is wide, it has certain flaws. First, the space given to the concept of "privatization" is inadequate, and the concept needs to be further illuminated. Second, given AAPAM'S desire that this book should be used by scholars and practitioners of public administration, a selected bibliography ought to have been provided. Third, as is often true of a book with many contributions, this one is of uneven quality. Some of the chapters are simply literature reviews; others are more analytical. Some are very general with no examples, while others delve quite deeply into their subject matter. Fourth, although the book is attractive and easy to handle and the print is clear and easy to read, there are some minor spelling or typing errors.

Notwithstanding these flaws, this work has made a place for itself in an important but neglected field in Africa. It has certainly filled the gap in the often fragmented and inadequate literature on public enterprises in the continent. The book would be of immense interest to politicians, policy makers, administrators, managers, and scho- lars of public administration and management. AAPAM should be congratulated for this important publication.

Joseph R. A. Ayee University of Swaziland

Robert H. Bates. Essays on the Political Economy of Rural Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. 178 pp.

The latest volume by Robert Bates is a reprint (with a new preface) of the 1983 Cam- bridge University Press book of the same title. It represents a growing trend in some areas of the social sciences to search for a "scientific" basis of investigation by borrow- ing certain axioms from neo-classical economics. In consonance with the collective

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309 Book Reviews / Comptes rendus

choice school, Bates applies a rational-deductive framework to explain the evolution of African institutions as the product of the aggregation of individual preferences. Although he uses the neo-classical view of a utility maximizing basis of human behaviour, he separates himself from the more extreme "public choice" school by arguing that rational actors operating in a market setting do not always make choices that are socially optimal. However, he shares the common purpose of universalizing "rational choice" axioms so that it applies to all aspects of human behaviour, not sim- ply economic.

The problem with this approach is not simply one of applicability outside of eco- nomics but also of the questionable merit of this framework even within economics. The question of interest to Africanists, however, is whether his approach adds to the understanding of historical and contemporary developments on the continent. Unfor- tunately, as a result of the rational-deductive framework, history becomes the product of a premise. Human beings and their institutions are mere reflections of rationality as defined by social choice theory. The concept of rational behaviour is reified and replaces the human being in all its complexity. Social history with its myriad of causal factors is emptied of its intricacies, becoming a product of the rational human concept. Keeping this weakness in mind, let us turn to the specific content of the volume.

In the first essay, Bates explains how individual rationality in primitive societies (e.g. Nuer) leads to the preservation of order in the absence of a coercive state. For this purpose, he utilizes a game-theoretic approach, applying the little mental conundrum called the prisoner's dilemma to illustrate the gains and losses associated with various combinations of cattle theft, retaliation, and the status quo. Bates then shows how the institutions and social practices such as compensation and arbitration tend to remove the gains fromforce, thereby ensuring that the social order will prevail. Thus, it is ratio- nal from an individual utility maximizing perspective to preserve the social order.

Even granting the arbitrariness of the values of the loss-gain matrix, social institu- tions take on the appearance of being a product of the principle of rationality aimed at the singular purpose of maximizing individual gain. This purpose obviously trivializes the intricate nature of cultural development in primitive society which has been so richly developed by anthropologists and the like.

The second essay examines the underlying economic conditions in pre-colonial African societies that formed the basis of centralized state formation (e.g. market development, population density, the need for property rights, etc.). Using an uneven compendium of historical and ethnographic reports, Bates evaluates a series of hypoth- eses about the linkages between the state and various economic attributes. For this purpose, he applies the rather simple correlation analysis, using cross tabulations instead of a more intricate regression approach (presumably because of sample size limitations). As a result, the conclusions are rather suspect since they cannot pinpoint causal direction. For example, is it markets that lead to centralization or centralization that leads to the development of markets? Bates to some extent recognizes these limi- tations but goes on to present the chapter as a causal explanation of political central- ization.

Again, Bates relies on the utility maximizing nature of institutional shifts. Thus, individual interests must be identified that encourage the creation of institutions. In the case of markets, dominant interests that control large sections of trading (such as

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310 CJAS / RCEA 23:2 1989

sizeable caravans) are needed to overcome the free rider problem of public goods (everybody benefits but no one desires to pay for the cost of the security of a centralized government). Long-distance trade which by its nature requires investment of consider- able wealth by private individuals would by this reasoning encourage centralized states. The problem with Bates' approach beyond its methodological pitfalls is its inac- curacy in many cases. J. Iliffe in his seminal work, A Modern History of Tanganyika (London: Cambridge University Press, 1979), cites many conflicting examples (Ugweno in the northeast and Karagwe had state breakdowns as a result of trading and in Ufipa the centralized state easily predated the trading period) (61). Overall, given the evi- dence, Iliffe warns against generalizations (53). However, given its rational-deductive principles, collective choice theory will by nature generalize even in the face of coun- terfactual evidence because it is a premise in search of history.

The third essay attempts to discuss the reasons for the divergent patterns of agricul- tural development in Africa by focusing on two contrasting cases Ghana and Kenya. The latter developed a settler dominated food crop economy while the former was an export crop economy dominated by indigenous small producers. In Kenya, the produc- ers received the advantages from agriculture because of their control of the state while in Ghana the commercial interests had the advantage partially for the same reason. Again, Bates relies on the public good argument to explain the capturing of the state in each case.

The characterization of the Ghana and Kenya state in the manner described is not that unfamiliar to those with even a cursory knowledge of these two countries. The problem is the reductionist nature of the argument, which loses the detail and richness of more multifaceted approaches. For example, Ghana was considered by the colonial office to be the quintessential example of a successful peasant economy since it was more productive than other approaches (such as plantations), was less costly to main- tain, and avoided the instability associated with settler dominated agriculture. (For example, see the "Land Policy in Tanganyika" memo by C. Strachey 4 August 1921 quoted in H. Stein "The Historical Origins of Tanzania Statism: The Role of British Colonial Policies," African Studies Association Annual Meeting Papers, 1985, 12.) This suggests a somewhat more complex element to state formation and perpetuation (in Ghana and elsewhere).

In the fourth essay, Bates examines the impact of the state and the commercializa- tion of agriculture on the incidence of rural protest, using neo-classical theory. Two of the simple tools borrowed from welfare economics which are used to explain protest are the growth of external diseconomies such as land erosion and the application of taxation to finance public goods. In the first case, protest arose since regulating produc- tion and erosion for the social good always hurts the private individual, and in the latter case, any level of taxation is deemed to be inadequate because of the nature of public goods.

In many ways, this chapter illustrates the degree of absurdity in the projection of the principles of rationality into African history. The reaction of the local population to various forms of state intervention was diverse and unpredictable, again suggesting a complexity of causal factors. It is absurd to depict a peasant weighing his burden of tax- ation against the public goods he or she receives and deciding that it is unduly onerous, and then protesting accordingly. The response of the rural population is more likely to

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311 Book Reviews / Comptes rendus

be a product of the confluence of social, economic, and ideological forces at any partic- ular juncture (again for example see Iliffe's discussion of the Maji Maji rebellion). Sug- gesting that protest could have been avoided if "governments understood the external- ity problem" (96) is perhaps the apotheosis of the application of the rational-deductive method and sounds too similar to the moralizing of the public choice school from which Bates attempts to separate himself. In essence, governments could have main- tained social harmony if only they understood the "science" of neo-classical econom- ics.

Chapter five examines the basis of the development of agricultural policies by Afri- can states. Using collective choice reasoning, Bates attempts to explain the enigma of taxing farmers outputs but subsidizing inputs, improving production without raising prices, and introducing all types of economic inefficiencies in terms of price distor- tions, non-competitive rents, and poorly designed development projects. While this essay is probably the most creative in the book, it does not escape the problems of the other chapters. For example, he examines why agricultural prices are low and manufacturing prices high. He suggests that manufacturing tends to be more monopo- listic, and thus price is less of a public good than in the case of the scattered small scale agricultural producers. Moreover, the urban population in line with his view of coali- tion building will tolerate higher prices in manufacturing since it would help a few from an income perspective without hurting many because of its minimal budget impact (most income is allocated to foodstuffs).

This conception of the state as being captured by urban manufacturing forces is not overly cogent. For example, it would seem, given the "universally recognized" princi- ple of the impact of higher prices, that they would raise crop prices and subsidize the urban population at the retail level, thereby gaining advantages both at the political and economic level. Suggesting that inefficiencies breed opportunities for political favours adds little to the argument, given the plethora of options that always exist with or without dysfunctional policies. Once again the rational-deductive method leads to serious flaws in his evaluation since the interpretation of state behaviour is restricted to the axiomatic world of neo-classical behaviour.

Overall, the volume is an interesting contribution to applied economic theory, but adds little to our comprehension of the political economy of rural Africa.

Howard Stein Department of Economics Roosevelt University Chicago, Illinois

Agnes Chepkwony. The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Development: A Study of the National Christian Council of Kenya (NCCK), 1963-1978. Uppsala: Studia Missionalia Uppsaliensia, 1987.393 pp.

The NCCK in Kenya co-ordinated the relief and development activity of a number of Protestant congregations during Kenya's post-independence period. The programs of the NCCK can be grouped into three types: (1) relief services, including re-settlement, to the Maasai and to Northern Kenya; (2) Christian education and training; and

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