Transforming Mozambique: The Politics of Privatization, 1975-2000 by M. Anne PitcherReview by: Carrie ManningCanadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 38, No. 1(2004), pp. 203-206Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Canadian Association of African StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4107290 .

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Reviews / Comptes rendus 2o3

l'6crivain et sa vision du monde: Il n'avait pas le coeur d'assister, impassible et froid, au spectacle des etres humains matraqu6s, brim6s, pill6s et s6questr6s pour non paiement de l'imp6t, ou pour d6faut de carte du parti. D6truire en lui certaines v6rit6s incrust6es dans sa chair spirituelle. Louer tout haut ce qu'il avait maudit a cor et a cri. Danser sur la corde raide de la duplicit6, de la f6lonie, de la d1lation, du mensonge au clair du jour. Non, il ne poss6dait pas assez de talents pour r6ussir un tel exploit ... (290).

Ren6 Philombe aura, sa vie durant, r6sist6 de l'int6rieur a la colonisation et a la dictature d'Ahmadou Ahidjo et de Paul Biya avec autant

d'opiniatret6 que Mongo Beti, son compatriote, en quatre d6cennies d'exil continu en France. Entre autres affinit6s, leurs oeuvres sont fortement marqu6es par le mythe de Ruben Um Nyob6. Ils ont 6t6 co-r6cipiendaires, en 1992, du Prix Bernard Fonlon-Lee Nichols decerne par l'African Literature Association. Et, curieux clin d'oeil du destin, ils nous ont quit- t6s, tous les deux, en fin 2002, a moins d'un mois d'intervalle.

L'intrigue lin6aire s'accorde avec le parcours initiatique de Bedi- Ngula. L'6chec de sa reinsertion sociale ne fait que mettre en exergue l'in- tol6rance du pouvoir de Yaound6. Pour ce qui est des finitions, les d6faillances de la relecture et de la mise en page entachent la beaut6 du r6cit qui passe avec virtuosit6 des formules recherch6es au parler popu- laire. L'on est en droit de souhaiter une r6vision de ces deux aspects de l'oeuvre a l'occasion d'une 6ventuelle r66dition.

Andre Djiffack University of Oregon

M. Anne Pitcher. Transforming Mozambique: The Politics of Privatization, 1975-2000. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 293 pp.

This book sets out to explore the dynamics of the transition from a state- centred to a market-based economy through the lens of privatization. Pitcher's main argument is that, notwithstanding the expectations of neoliberal advocates of privatization and the cries of recolonization by crit- ics of neoliberalism, Mozambique's movement toward a market-based economy has not been accompanied by a withering away of the state. On the contrary, she argues, despite the fact that it is frequently cited by the champions of neoliberalism as an exemplary case, Mozambique's liberal- ization process has been characterized by a strategy of "transformative

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204 CJAS / RCEA 38: I 2004

preservation," in which state actors have retained a measure of control over both the process and the benefits of privatization.

Pitcher highlights the importance of states as political actors, as well as the need to be mindful of the historical context within which economic transformations are embedded. These, she rightly points out, will affect both the character of the economic liberalization process and the political and economic outcomes of that process. In choosing to relinquish the commanding heights of the economy, states do not intend to become shrinking violets. Rather, they seek to maximize political and economic gains and minimize losses. She argues that "where the ruling party in power survives the transition, as it has in Mozambique, state institutions and party elites have taken advantage of restructuring to fashion new constituencies of supporters and to maintain some of the political and economic control they have exercised since independence in 1975" (6).

Aside from its appeal to those interested specifically in Mozambique or the subregion, the book's careful and analytically informed account of the state's role in shaping the move to the market will be of interest to scholars of comparative political economy as it usefully situates the Mozambican case in the broader literature on privatization and neoliberal transition. It also constitutes a substantial contribution to scholarship on the nature and evolution of the Mozambican state from independence in 1975 to the present.

The argument is sustained by an exhaustively researched account of the ways in which the Frelimo-led state has sought to carry out a varied economic agenda, both transformative and developmental, in the decades since 1975. The book covers the emergence of, and changes in, state-led strategies of development from independence through the early 1980s. It then offers a detailed account of the state's subsequent turn toward the market and describes the complexities of the emerging capitalist class, taking note of the blurred lines between state and private, and foreign and domestic investors. It deals with most of the major questions concerning economic development strategies and outcomes in Mozambique since independence and explores a broad range of factors that might plausibly explain choices and outcomes, from the relative importance of the war and regional destabilization to the colonial inheritance, structural adjustment, and errors in the making and implementation of policy.

The introduction provides a concise discussion of competing perspec- tives on privatization and its expected costs and benefits, drawing on insights from the literatures on privatization in Eastern and Central Europe. Two subsequent chapters are dedicated to an intensive investiga- tion of state strategy to harness the economy in the interests of socialist transformation, modernization, and economic growth. These chapters do

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Reviews / Comptes rendus 205

a good job of portraying the multilevel challenges confronting the would- be builders of the newly independent Mozambique and, more importantly, of showing how the economic and political dimensions of the country's colonial past helped to structure the choices of independence leaders.

These early chapters also tackle the question of the degree to which nationalization was a deliberate part of Frelimo's transformative agenda, rather than simply a response to the circumstances in which many Portuguese and other foreign firms deserted the country after indepen- dence. Pitcher argues that the first few years after independence seem to support the idea that the government was cautious and pragmatic in its approach to nationalizing the private sector, but that after 1977 the party embarked on a more ideologically coherent program of socialist transfor- mation in which nationalization was to play an integral part. Nevertheless, as she notes, the government's policies toward the private sector were not always consistent from one case to the next.

One weakness in this otherwise excellent discussion is that there is little attention to internal party dynamics within the ruling party after independence. The important break between the Frelimo leadership and Lazaro Nkavandame before independence is discussed, but the party's formal decision in 1977 to adopt a Marxist-Leninist line became the source of lasting and important divisions within the party, and these divisions probably help explain at least some of the ideological and pragmatic devi- ations from announced party doctrine with respect to the economy. While there is a nuanced treatment of the multiple strands of Frelimo's transfor- mative ideology (socialism, modernism, and nationalism), as an actor, the party often comes across in this section as being more unified than is prob- ably warranted.

The crux of the argument about the role of the state in privatization and its impact and meaning for capitalist development in Mozambique is laid out in Chapter 4. Here, Pitcher details the multiplicity of arrange- ments to which the state has resorted in order to shape and retain a measure of control over the economy as it proceeds with liberalization. She argues that "continued state intervention in the economy simultaneously weakens World Bank claims that privatization has been a 'success' and challenges arguments that Mozambique is losing its sovereignty" (177). The chapter offers a useful and detailed accounting of the complex struc- ture of the private sector as a whole and of the state's role in it. Later chap- ters focus on particular sectors, such as manufacturing, agriculture, and agro-processing, with particularly interesting discussions of the divergent outcomes for cotton producing and cashew processing in the era of liberal- ization. The book closes with an innovative chapter on ways in which the state and private sector actors seek to legitimate and consolidate the

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206 CJAS / RCEA 38: I 2004

results of "transformative preservation." The chapter treats the use of visual imagery, as well as of discourse, offering an intriguing angle on the emergence of globalized capitalism in Mozambique.

Overall, this is a sophisticated and nuanced account of state-market relations during what is widely hailed as one of Africa's biggest economic liberalization success stories. Readers seeking a clear-cut vindication of neoliberalism as a panacea for African development will be as disappointed as will those looking for proof of neocolonization in Mozambique's economic transition. The truth, as usual, is more complicated. What read- ers will find is a richly detailed, historically informed, and analytically astute accounting that contributes a great deal to the comparative study of economic transition.

Carrie Manning Georgia State University

David Robinson. Muslim Societies in African History: New Approaches to African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. 220 pp.

Both accessible to relatively novice readers and containing enough concrete historical content to do justice to the complexity of the subject matter, David Robinson's Muslim Societies in African History is an ideal teaching text on Islam in Africa for the undergraduate classroom. The inclusion of a primary source in practically every chapter further enhances its value to teachers.

The book consists of two parts, of six and seven chapters each, with the first containing thematic chapters and the second, case studies. The book opens with two brief, well-crafted introductory chapters, one on the life of the Prophet and the emergence of Islam in Arabia, and the other on the sacred texts and basic institutions of Islam (mosque, court, school). Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the extension and "rooting" of Islam in Africa - what Robinson calls the islamization of Africa and africanization of Islam. The author lays out three common stages of islamization - those of "minority Islam," "court Islam" (the presence of a Muslim ruler), and "majority Islam" - and maps out the earliest inroads Islam made into Sub- Saharan Africa, across the desert to the Berbers of northwest Africa and across the ocean to the East African coast.

Robinson presents africanization as the processes by which Africans created Muslim space and time, for example, through the creation and assertion of genealogical, spiritual, and scholarly connections with leaders

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