Describe two Marxist and Neo Marxist Theory of Modern Governments of Africa

MARXIST AND NEO MARXIST THEORIES
These are theories which developed out of the philosophy of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.
These two philosophers were studying social formations in Europe during the industrial
revolution in the mid 19th century. The industrial revolution led to mass unemployment in
European cities. A class of workers emerged whose only source of livelihood was to sell their
labour to industrial estates for them to survive. These workers experienced a lot of suffering. In fact the industrial estates exploited their labour and paid low wages. This was the scenario that led Karl Marx and Frederick Engeles to develop their ideas which have now been called
Marxist ideas. The scholars who embraced the ideas of Marx and Engeles have been classified
as neo-Marxists. Marxists developed the theory of class struggle while neo Marxists developed
the theory of dependency and Underdevelopment.

1. Class Struggle Theory.
This theory is founded in the preposition that human society develops in a linear pattern
whereby there are modes of production that characterize each pattern of human development.
Human society has had three progressive modes of production which are communalism,
feudalism and capitalism. Once capitalism re4aches its apex it would pave way for the last
mode of production which is socialism. Socialism is a perfect mode of production.
Communalism was a mode of production that characterized societies that had simple forms of
economic production. These societies also had decentralized systems of government. Classes
began to emerge in feudalism and capitalism. In feudalism there were two antagonistic modes
of production. These were serfs and nobility. The serfs produced capital for free while the
nobility monopolized capital and means of production. The nobility controlled the government
and all resources. In a capitalist system of production the bourgeoisie control all state organs.
Thus policies and legislation passed by the legislature and civil service promote the economic,
social and political interests of the bourgeoisie. The rest of the citizens are alienated from the state and government. Democratic governments promote the interests of the bourgeoisie and
oppress workers, peasants and pastoralists. Marxists predicted that a class struggle will emerge in capitalist societies which will result into a revolution that will introduce socialism as a mode of production and also system of governance. In a socialist society there are no classes. Political power and economic resources are controlled by the workers. Before a socialist state is realized workers have to organize a revolution to overthrow the bourgeoisie. Once the revolution is accomplished workers have to institutionalize dictatorship of the proletariat to completely wipe out any manifestations of capitalism. It is this dictatorship of the proletariat that is called communism a transition stage to socialism.
Class struggle is relevant in studying system of governance in Africa because it facilitates
scholars to understand class interests of the people in power and how the petty bourgeoisie in
Africa manipulate the ruling class. Critics of this theory argue that Africa does not have
concrete workers and bourgeois classes and thus this theory cannot explain governance in
Africa which is affected by ethno political identities.

2. Dependency and Underdevelopment.
This theory is associated with Gunder Frank a Latin American scholar. Gunder Frank used this
theory to study underdevelopment in Latin America. It was later taken up by scholars like
Walter Rodney who wrote master pieces on how Europe underdeveloped Africa. (Rodney
1972). This theory was popular among social scientists in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The focus in these theories is explaining the cause of Africa’s economic stagnation. These
theories are rooted in neo-Marxist political theories that adopt a purposeful historical
perspective so as to bring out class relations in Africa, in particular and the rest of the world in general. In a nutshell these theories are based on the view that Africa’s systematic
underdevelopment is linked to European imperialism which has created unequal relationship
between Africa and Europe/North America which makes it possible for Africa’s resources to be
appropriated by Europe. Scholars who have adopted this approach in studying African politics
have been concerned with political economy.
The essence of this approach is that the political process is an exchange where the vote is a
form of money that can be exchanged in the political arena, which is synonymous to a market
place (Allan R. Ball 1993:15). The concept of change is central in dependency and
underdevelopment theories; hence politics is presented in terms of control of resources.
(Chazan 1992:19). The proponents of this theory argue that Africa will achieve sustainable
governments once they cut off links with international capitalism and thus cut off the chain of
exploitation which causes underdevelopment in African countries. It is this exploitation that
reduces African governments into a state of dependency on European and North American
states. Consequently, Europe and North America takes advantage of the vulnerable state of
African governments to perpetuate underdevelopment in Africa by forcing African
governments to pursue policies that promote exploitation of African resources by the developed
world.
This theory ignores the contribution of local and national factors that shape system of
governance in Africa. It gives emphasis to the international economy and its impact on
governments in Africa and does not bring out the impact of local political and social issues in
determining the type of governance in Africa. Among these local issues include ethnicity,
concentration of political power in the pr4esidency and gross violation of human rights.

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Titany answered the question on October 28, 2021 at 08:37