Structural adjustment and the political question

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Review of African Political Economy

Volume 13, Issue 37

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Structural adjustment and the political question

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Author(s): Yusuf Bangura

Publication date (Print): December 1986

Journal: Review of African Political Economy

Publisher: Review of African Political Economy

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Abstract

The call for a national debate on the country's political future has so far generated a lukewarm response. However, several tendencies have appeared which have serious implications for the struggle for democracy. Coming in the wake of the debate about Nigeria's relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), one would have thought that the ‘political debate’ would have been informed by the specific problems the economy is experiencing and the concrete adjustment policies the state has persistently implemented since 1982. Even some of the radicals who ought to have drawn the correct lessons from the diversionary tactics of the state in the IMF debate have tended to proceed as if we are starting from a tabula raisa,without any concrete economic policies which inform the state's quest for a new political order. This partly explains the reason for the strange convergence which seems to be developing between some radicals and the bourgeoisie in the articulation of a new political formula.

The thrust of this paper is to discuss the link between the state's adjustment programme and the question of political power. We argue that the adjustment programme of contemporary monetarism, which reached its highest expression in the 1986 budget, throws up specific types of political regimes ranging from zero/one and controlled two party systems to military rule, civil/ military diarchy and corporate representation. Against the background of the specific character of capitalist accumulation, with its monopolistic, antidemocratic and corrupt practices, the monetarist strategy of crisis‐management pushes the state towards more authoritarian policies. Many contributors to the political debate have not grasped this point. The appropriate response to authoritarian rule should, therefore, focus on the struggle for democracy and the strengthening of the working class movement for socialist power instead of the strategy of co‐determination which seeks to resolve the conflicting interests in the society under a unitary power structure that will accommodate the representatives of popular organisations.

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Journal ID (publisher-id): crea20

Journal ID (archive): CREA

Title: Review of African Political Economy

Publisher: Review of African Political Economy

ISSN (Print): 0305-6244

ISSN (Electronic): 1740-1720

Publication date (Print): December 1986

Volume: 13

Issue: 37

Pages: 24-37

Article

Publisher ID: 8703697 Coden ID: Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 13, No. 37, December 1986, pp. 24-37

DOI: 10.1080/03056248608703697

SO-VID: 77a70c7a-fdd6-4704-884f-70b60dadc065

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Figures: 0, Tables: 0, References: 11, Pages: 14

Bibliographic note

Petras J.. 1980. . ‘Neo‐fascism: Capital Accumulation and Class Struggles in the Third World. . Journal of Contemporary Asia . , Vol. 10((1))
Osadchaya. . 1983. . Keyesianism Today . , Progress Publishers. .
P. C. Assiodu , ‘The Impact of the Oil Crisis on the Nigerian Economy’ , public lecture, Nigerian Economic Society , Kaduna , 20 April 1986 .
Africa Development , Special Issue on Nigeria, Vol. IX No. 3 , 1984
J. Ibrahim , The Kaduna Mafia Syndrome and the New Nigerian’ (mimeo), Zaria 1986
Y. Bangura , ‘Nationalism, Accumulation and Labour Subordination (Mimeo) Zaria 1985
1986. . West Africa . , 7 April;: 711
Mohammed Ismaila. . 1986. . Sunday Concord . , 27 April;
1986. . ‘On the Political Alternatives Open to Nigeria in the Present Era: the Right of the Working People to Political Self‐Determination’. In: . presented by Z. A. Bonat to the ASUU Conference on the Political Debate; . April. 1986 ; , Kano . . Bayero University. .
Abba A.. 1985. . The Nigerian Economic Crisis: Causes and Solutions .
Usman Y. B.. 1986. . Nigeria Against the IMF .

Comments

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[1] Petras J.. 1980. . ‘Neo‐fascism: Capital Accumulation and Class Struggles in the Third World. . Journal of Contemporary Asia . , Vol. 10((1))

[2] Osadchaya. . 1983. . Keyesianism Today . , Progress Publishers. .

[3] P. C. Assiodu , ‘The Impact of the Oil Crisis on the Nigerian Economy’ , public lecture, Nigerian Economic Society , Kaduna , 20 April 1986 .

[4] Africa Development , Special Issue on Nigeria, Vol. IX No. 3 , 1984

[5] J. Ibrahim , The Kaduna Mafia Syndrome and the New Nigerian’ (mimeo), Zaria 1986

[6] Y. Bangura , ‘Nationalism, Accumulation and Labour Subordination (Mimeo) Zaria 1985

[7] 1986. . West Africa . , 7 April;: 711

[8] Mohammed Ismaila. . 1986. . Sunday Concord . , 27 April;

[9] 1986. . ‘On the Political Alternatives Open to Nigeria in the Present Era: the Right of the Working People to Political Self‐Determination’. In: . presented by Z. A. Bonat to the ASUU Conference on the Political Debate; . April. 1986 ; , Kano . . Bayero University. .

[10] Abba A.. 1985. . The Nigerian Economic Crisis: Causes and Solutions .

[11] Usman Y. B.. 1986. . Nigeria Against the IMF .

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