Reproduction and convertibility: examining wealth inequalities in South Africa (2021)

This article presents and analyses how Tanzania, a country on the global “periphery” with a natural resource sector dominated by capital from the Global North, has thus far failed to transform its mineral wealth into sustained economic development. Using Immanuel Wallerstein’s “world systems theory” as the theoretical framework, we exemplify how the “core” exploited gold reserves in the 1990s and into the new century – and what techniques and mechanisms (e.g. asymmetry of information, imposition of inadequate management structures) it now currently uses to develop the nascent gas sector to its advantage. Scrutinising actions undertaken by the Tanzanian president to concentrate power, root out corruption, and to stand up to profit-maximising foreign corporations – or what we call the “Magufuli effect” – as way of illustration, we also demonstrate how Tanzania is trying to change its role within the international division of labour and how the core attempts to maintain the status quo meanwhil

Introduction Current assumptions about the transformative role of Chinese invest-ment seem insufficiently concerned with the historical industrial trajectory and path-dependency of African countries. These factors have not only determined the present industrial profiles of many of these countries— including the subject of this chapter, Zambia—but are likely to shape their economic structures going forward. This…

Synthesising results of field study research and statistical data analysis, we scrutinise development models pursued by Tanzania and examine to what extent they changed the structure of the country’s economy. Particular attention is devoted to the mining sector and its role in keeping Tanzania at the periphery of the global economy. Our findings suggest that not only does the structural dependency continue to the current period, but its presence extends to new spheres. We argue that the implementation of the Norwegian model of hydrocarbon sector management in Tanzania is an exemplification of institutional dependency.