L'Etat et le politique en Afrique

In: Revue française de science politique, Band 50, Heft 4-5, S. 849-854

Abstract

Reviews Patric Chabal & Jean-Pascal Daloz's Africa Has Taken Off! Disorder as a Political Instrument (1999 [1998]). Chabal & Daloz's book is considered a good synthesis of Africa's politics & recent history, whose main thesis is that Africa's political upheavals & general disorder may actually provide benefits to those involved. Chabal & Daloz focus on the informalization of politics in Africa, the retraditionalization of these politics, & the fruits of economic failure. It is argued, however, that the authors fall into the common traps of referring too much to an extreme view of axiological neutrality & over-relying on determinism. It is concluded that while their writing is clear & interesting, it does not fully succeed in demonstrating the instrumentality of disorder. D. Weibel