Competition Among Malian Elites In The Manantali Resettlement Project: The Impacts On Local Development

This paper addresses the growing interest in understanding the effects of the state on possibilities for African development. In contrast to many earlier approaches, which stressed the homogeneity within the state apparatus, this paper looks at the developing country state as an arena that merits it...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Urban anthropology and studies of cultural systems and world economic development 1997-10, Vol.26 (3/4), p.369-411
Main Author: Koenig, Dolores
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alliances
Bureaucrats
Competition
Dams
Developing countries
Economic competition
Economic Development
Government
Government bureaucracy
Housing
Interest Groups
Interorganizational Relations
LDCs
Mali
Organizational Structure
Political Elites
Projects
Social Development
State Role
State Society Relationship
Territories
Urban anthropology
Villages
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Summary:This paper addresses the growing interest in understanding the effects of the state on possibilities for African development. In contrast to many earlier approaches, which stressed the homogeneity within the state apparatus, this paper looks at the developing country state as an arena that merits its own analysis, potentially independent of developed country interests and with internally divergent groups and goals. The approach of this study is empirical. It focuses on the actions of bureaucrats within project implementation, including some of the conflicts between Malian government organizations that occurred in the implementation of the Manantali Resettlement Project. Divergent goals and objectives led different parts of the Malian government to create alliances upward (with some donor groups), horizontally (with other government groupings), and downward (with the local population). This allowed individuals and groups at less powerful levels to advance their own interests in two ways. First, competition among different groups at a higher level created autonomous spaces in which the less powerful could pursue their own agendas. Second, less powerful individuals and groups looked for upward allianees that might be of mutual benefit and would allow them to increase their leverage.
ISSN:0894-6019
2328-1022