Towards the Social Architecture of the Rising Developmental State of Africa: Implications for Higher

Abstract

Since its inception in the post war period, economic development abstracted its major theories from neo-classical economics and its anti-thesis Marxist paradigm and sub-branches thereof. While profit was the overt and implicit driver of the former, classless society was the ultimate goal of the latter. Empirically, from a major departure in the development of capitalism in the West, in Asia, capitalist and socialist developed and developing economies emerged short of the leadership of the historical landlord and capitalist social classes. This prompted the theory of the developmental state. Today, with the demise of command economies such that of the Soviet Union and the economic, social and political crises of the capitalist state, there is a dire need to construct an alternative theory of development for countries coming from behind in the development process. The more so, in the specific situation of sub-Saharan Africa, save for South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe its social formation is bereft of the historical leadership of the landlord and the bourgeoisie, whose role has been taken by the state as in the development of the so-called 'Asian Tigers'/Miracle economies'. The article is a first step towards the construction of the social architecture of the developmental state. Towards this end, the article first examines the socio-economic infrastructure of African societies in their own terms and proposes five broad developmental goals – sustainable human development, the construction of multi-ethnic nations, expanding physical infrastructure, seizing and expanding the frontiers of science and technology and cultural engagement as part of the global village. Given these goals, Africa needs Articulated Vision and Action Plan, Functioning Sovereignty, Social Stability, Appropriate Policies and Institutions and Reducing Temporal Distance from and to the world economy. Finally, it needs to garner best practices in global development in space and time, identify and deal with global and continental challenges and opportunities.