State Versus Ethnic Claims: African Policy Dilemmas by Donald Rothchild & Victor A Olorunsola

Author:Donald Rothchild & Victor A Olorunsola [Rothchild, Donald & Olorunsola, Victor A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, African Studies, African, Minority Studies, Discrimination, Social Science, Political Science, World, General
ISBN: 9781000313093
Google: 4K2bDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-06-04T14:04:23+00:00

The General Public's Felt Dissatisfactions

In most middle African countries, scarcity gives rise to a struggle over how public rewards and resources are to be distributed. In this competition, the geoethnic and racial collective, as a distinct category of society united by a sense of common fate, plays an important part in, and is itself validated by, its usefulness as an instrument of such action. "Ethnic groups," as Robert H. Bates observes, "persist largely because of their capacity to extract goods and services from the modern sector and thereby satisfy the demands of their members. Insofar as they provide these benefits to their members, they are able to gain their support and achieve their loyalty."14 Irrespective of ideology or political structure, the ethnic connection is likely to survive adverse criticism and exhortation so long, at least, as such a linking process produces the kinds of economic and political as well as psychological benefits sought by group members.

It is as one examines collective demands more closely that noticeable distinctions emerge between the "class" interests of group members and elite. If Richard L. Sklar is on sound ground in describing class formation as "determined by relations of power" political as well as economic15 -- then it is possible to make an important distinction between group members expressing their felt dissatisfactions and elite brokerage elements who actually communicate the general public's discontents into the political process. As will become clear from an examination of the political practices and statements of elites and the author's survey data on the public's feelings of deprivation, the two constituencies differ in terms of associations, access, and interests. Members of the dominant class act as constituency ambassadors or "delegates" to the central government "patron,"16 their status being dependent upon continued local support. Such local backing certainly requires a basic degree of sensitivity on their part to the felt dissatisfactions of local constituents -- particularly those in the relatively advantaged areas close to the primary political centers. Spokesmen in such areas tend to be the more active and persistent communicators and to be relatively effective in gaining preferred access to governmental decision-makers. Irrespective of an area's level of development, however, the extent of the gap between the public's felt dissatisfactions and the dominant elite's selection of which dissatisfactions to press upon government is critical to the system's general responsiveness, and, in a related way, to its long-term stability.

How, then, is one to acquire a comprehensive picture of public needs and wants? If the existence of hegemonial decision systems in many parts of middle Africa tends to complicate the communications process and to give observers a somewhat incomplete record of publicly expressed demands, then it becomes necessary to turn to other techniques to gain an insight into the general population's priorities and expectations. Hence, the social scientist makes use of survey data. In this instance, I am fortunate to have secured access to data from Kenya (1966), Zambia (1969-70), and Ghana (1973).17 To be sure, these surveys suffer at least as

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