Research Catalog
The state in Africa : the politics of the belly
- Title
- The state in Africa : the politics of the belly / Jean-François Bayart.
- Author
- Bayart, Jean-François.
- Publication
- Cambridge ; Malden, MA : Polity, 2009.
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Use in library | JQ1879.A15 B3713 2009 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- xc, 370 pages; 23 cm
- Summary
- "The State in Africa is one of the most important and compelling texts of comparative politics and historical sociology of the last twenty years. Bayart rejects the assumption of African 'otherness' based on stereotyped images of famine, corruption and civil war and invites the reader to see that African politics is like politics anywhere else in the world, not an exotic aberration. Africans themselves speak of a 'politics of the belly' - an expression that refers not only to the necessities of survival but also to a complex array of cultural representations, notably those of the 'invisible' world of witchcraft. The 'politics of the belly' attests to a distinctively African trajectory of power that we need to understand as part of a long-term historical development. While acknowledging the insights of Western social scientists from Weber to Foucault, Bayart never loses sight of the realities of African politics and social life and he is careful to allow African voices - from the 'small boy' in the street to the 'big men' in the presidential palaces - to speak for themselves."--Book cover.
- Uniform Title
- Etat en Afrique. English
- Alternative Title
- Etat en Afrique.
- Subject
- Since 1960
- Economic history
- Politics and government
- Social conditions
- Politisches System
- Staat
- Politik
- Political situation
- Africa > Politics and government > 1960-
- Africa > Social conditions > 1960-
- Africa > Economic conditions > 1960-
- Africa
- Afrika
- Africa
- Afrika > politik och förvaltning > 1960-
- Afrika > sociala förhållanden > 1960-
- Afrika > ekonomiska förhållanden > 1960-
- Africa > economic conditions > social conditions > internal politics
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Language (note)
- Translated from the French.
- Contents
- The shadow theatre of ethnicity -- The unequal state: 'little men' and 'big men' -- The bourgeois illusion -- The opportunity state -- Conservative modernisation or social revolution? The extreme scenarios -- The reciprocal assimilation of elites: the hypothesis of an intermediate scenario -- The formation of a postcolonial historic bloc -- Entrepreneurs, factions and political networks -- The politics of the belly -- Conclusion: of terroirs and men.
- ISBN
- 9780745644370
- 0745644376
- LCCN
- 2009282259
- OCLC
- ocn263295089
- 263295089
- SCSB-1523828
- Owning Institutions
- Princeton University Library