Bjorn Beckman
Biographic Data
| ID | 360494 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bjorn Beckman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bjorn |
| FAMILY NAME | Beckman |
| SIGNATURE | BECKMAN B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stockholm University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 86 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Intellectuals and African development: Pretension and resistance in African politics
This book looks at the very different responses to the African predicament from prominent writers like Soyinka, Ngugi and Achebe, to the military men in power and the students who defy repression. It suggests that intervention by international agencies who claim to promote ‘democracy’ and ‘empower the youth’ may reinforce authoritarian attitudes and structures. The essays in the book give voice to the outrage, ridicule and revolutionary ardour, a…
Asr Forum: Engaging With African Informal Economies
In January 2012 a broad spectrum of popular groups staged an unprecedented protest against the removal of what has been termed a "subsidy" on fuel prices by the Nigerian government. The participation of tailors in this national political event suggests that self-employed artisans were prepared to transcend their narrow nonpolitical agenda to promote their interests and demands for decent social and economic conditions. Interviews with participati…
A paradox of victory: Cosatu and the democratic transformation in South Africa
Alliances across the formal–informal divide: South African debates and Nigerian experiences
Scholars and democratic politics in Nigeria
This article deals with the role of organised interests in Nigerian democratisation. The wider study seeks to develop a general argument about the connections between the pursuit of group self‐interest, the defence of organisational rights, and involvement in wider democratic struggles. The argument draws on the experiences of a range of Nigerian organisations during the 1980s and early 1990s, including the central labour body, the Nigeria Labour…
The liberation of civil society: Neo‐liberal ideology and political theory
The state versus civil society debate is an arena where competing class projects confront each other, each seeking to ensure a social basis for its own control over the state. The state plays a central role in the construction of civil society. The neo‐liberal project seeks to de‐legitimise the state as a locus of nationalist aspirations and resistance, drawing on theories of ‘rent‐seeking’, ‘patrimonialism’ and ‘state autonomy’. The neo‐liberal …
Whose Democracy? Bourgeois versus popular democracy
(1989). Whose Democracy? Bourgeois versus popular democracy. Review of African Political Economy: Vol. 16, No. 45-46, pp. 84-97
Tribute to Mahmud Modibbo Tukur
(1988). Tribute to Mahmud Modibbo Tukur. Review of African Political Economy: Vol. 15, No. 43, pp. 136-137
Peasants and democratic struggles in Nigeria
This article discusses the role of the peasantry in the political strategies of the Nigerian left. It begins by looking at the way in which some socialist‐oriented organisations and writers have approached the peasant and agrarian questions. The paper discusses the political and economic implications of some of the positions taken, including ‘fighting the kulaks’ and ‘eliminating middlemen and money‐lenders’. It stresses the limited scope for lef…
The Post-Colonial State: Crisis and Reconstruction
Left, right and centre bemoan the failure of the African state. This article challenges their analysis which is not based upon an adequate analysts of the changes in social forces and processes that are involved. It substantiates this assertion by criticising the three most prominent explanations — neo-patrimonial, monopoly and comprador theories — for failing to take the African ruling class seriously, underestimating the foreign stake in state …
The military as revolutionary vanguard: A critique
The crisis of Nigerian ruling class politics in the wake of a collapsing oil economy has made sections of the Left pin their hopes to a left military intervention. This essay is a critique of such positions. It is particularly concerned with recent attempts to offer scientific justification for attributing a leading revolutionary role to the military. The essay also discusses the theoretical backing provided by soviet writers for such ‘military v…
Geographers among the Peasants: Power, Politics, and Practice
Whose state? State and capitalist development in Nigeria
General issues raised by the author's two previous contributions to this Review, in Nos.19 and 22. are here applied to an analysis of the character of the Nigerian state and the nature of its interrelationships with capital — foreign, local and capital‐in‐general. Oversimplifications that blame ‘under‐development’ on international capital working through a straight neo‐colonial state, and those that see a national bourgeoisie able to use state po…
Imperialism and the ‘national bourgeoisie’
This article takes up some of the major issues surrounding the development/underdevelopment debate, as taking place in Kenya and Nigeria in particular. While underdevelopment theory as exemplified in Amin and Frank has been found wanting, the ‘return to Marx’ via analyses of the internationalisation of capital and class formation in the periphery has not answered the questions raised by underdevelopment theory because it has not an adequate analy…
Imperialism and capitalist transformation: Critique of a Kenyan debate
The question of whether or not a dependency model is applicable to Kenya has been subject to considerable recent debate. Beckman offers a critique of the overall terms in which the debate has been cast. He argues that the critics of underdevelopment theory have failed to transcend its problematic and its misdirected identification of contradictions. They have in consequence placed unjustified emphasis on the state as a instrument of ‘factional’ i…
Aid and Foreign Investments: The Swedish Case
Beckman, B. Aid and Foreign Investments: The Swedish Case. Cooperation and Conflict, XIV, 1979, 133-148. This article, which is a summary of a larger study, examines Swedish aid policy and its relation to Swedish private investments in Third World countries. Post-1976 governments have significantly shifted policy in favour of integrating private investments into official aid policy. Main attention is paid to two policy issues: investment guarante…
West African Farmers and Development
Essays on Ghana
Organising the farmers: Cocoa politics and national development in Ghana
The United Ghana Farmers' Council was the farmers' wing of the Convention People's Party, which, led by Kwame Nkrumah, gained independence for Ghana in 1957. The Farmers' Council was dissolved and banned in 1966, together with other CPP organisations, after a military coup had overthrown the Nkrumah government. This book is primarly about the Farmers' Council and its functions in the political and economic system established by the CPP
The liberation of civil society: Neo‐liberal ideology and political theory
The state versus civil society debate is an arena where competing class projects confront each other, each seeking to ensure a social basis for its own control over the state. The state plays a central role in the construction of civil society. The neo‐liberal project seeks to de‐legitimise the state as a locus of nationalist aspirations and resistance, drawing on theories of ‘rent‐seeking’, ‘patrimonialism’ and ‘state autonomy’. The neo‐liberal …
Asr Forum: Engaging With African Informal Economies
In January 2012 a broad spectrum of popular groups staged an unprecedented protest against the removal of what has been termed a "subsidy" on fuel prices by the Nigerian government. The participation of tailors in this national political event suggests that self-employed artisans were prepared to transcend their narrow nonpolitical agenda to promote their interests and demands for decent social and economic conditions. Interviews with participati…
Imperialism and capitalist transformation: Critique of a Kenyan debate
The question of whether or not a dependency model is applicable to Kenya has been subject to considerable recent debate. Beckman offers a critique of the overall terms in which the debate has been cast. He argues that the critics of underdevelopment theory have failed to transcend its problematic and its misdirected identification of contradictions. They have in consequence placed unjustified emphasis on the state as a instrument of ‘factional’ i…
Whose state? State and capitalist development in Nigeria
General issues raised by the author's two previous contributions to this Review, in Nos.19 and 22. are here applied to an analysis of the character of the Nigerian state and the nature of its interrelationships with capital — foreign, local and capital‐in‐general. Oversimplifications that blame ‘under‐development’ on international capital working through a straight neo‐colonial state, and those that see a national bourgeoisie able to use state po…
Scholars and democratic politics in Nigeria
This article deals with the role of organised interests in Nigerian democratisation. The wider study seeks to develop a general argument about the connections between the pursuit of group self‐interest, the defence of organisational rights, and involvement in wider democratic struggles. The argument draws on the experiences of a range of Nigerian organisations during the 1980s and early 1990s, including the central labour body, the Nigeria Labour…
Imperialism and the ‘national bourgeoisie’
This article takes up some of the major issues surrounding the development/underdevelopment debate, as taking place in Kenya and Nigeria in particular. While underdevelopment theory as exemplified in Amin and Frank has been found wanting, the ‘return to Marx’ via analyses of the internationalisation of capital and class formation in the periphery has not answered the questions raised by underdevelopment theory because it has not an adequate analy…
A paradox of victory: Cosatu and the democratic transformation in South Africa
Peasants and democratic struggles in Nigeria
This article discusses the role of the peasantry in the political strategies of the Nigerian left. It begins by looking at the way in which some socialist‐oriented organisations and writers have approached the peasant and agrarian questions. The paper discusses the political and economic implications of some of the positions taken, including ‘fighting the kulaks’ and ‘eliminating middlemen and money‐lenders’. It stresses the limited scope for lef…
The Post-Colonial State: Crisis and Reconstruction
Left, right and centre bemoan the failure of the African state. This article challenges their analysis which is not based upon an adequate analysts of the changes in social forces and processes that are involved. It substantiates this assertion by criticising the three most prominent explanations — neo-patrimonial, monopoly and comprador theories — for failing to take the African ruling class seriously, underestimating the foreign stake in state …
The military as revolutionary vanguard: A critique
The crisis of Nigerian ruling class politics in the wake of a collapsing oil economy has made sections of the Left pin their hopes to a left military intervention. This essay is a critique of such positions. It is particularly concerned with recent attempts to offer scientific justification for attributing a leading revolutionary role to the military. The essay also discusses the theoretical backing provided by soviet writers for such ‘military v…
Whose Democracy? Bourgeois versus popular democracy
(1989). Whose Democracy? Bourgeois versus popular democracy. Review of African Political Economy: Vol. 16, No. 45-46, pp. 84-97
Aid and Foreign Investments: The Swedish Case
Beckman, B. Aid and Foreign Investments: The Swedish Case. Cooperation and Conflict, XIV, 1979, 133-148. This article, which is a summary of a larger study, examines Swedish aid policy and its relation to Swedish private investments in Third World countries. Post-1976 governments have significantly shifted policy in favour of integrating private investments into official aid policy. Main attention is paid to two policy issues: investment guarante…
Organising the farmers: Cocoa politics and national development in Ghana
The United Ghana Farmers' Council was the farmers' wing of the Convention People's Party, which, led by Kwame Nkrumah, gained independence for Ghana in 1957. The Farmers' Council was dissolved and banned in 1966, together with other CPP organisations, after a military coup had overthrown the Nkrumah government. This book is primarly about the Farmers' Council and its functions in the political and economic system established by the CPP
Essays on Ghana
West African Farmers and Development
Aid and Foreign Investments: The Swedish Case
Beckman, B. Aid and Foreign Investments: The Swedish Case. Cooperation and Conflict, XIV, 1979, 133-148. This article, which is a summary of a larger study, examines Swedish aid policy and its relation to Swedish private investments in Third World countries. Post-1976 governments have significantly shifted policy in favour of integrating private investments into official aid policy. Main attention is paid to two policy issues: investment guarante…
Imperialism and capitalist transformation: Critique of a Kenyan debate
The question of whether or not a dependency model is applicable to Kenya has been subject to considerable recent debate. Beckman offers a critique of the overall terms in which the debate has been cast. He argues that the critics of underdevelopment theory have failed to transcend its problematic and its misdirected identification of contradictions. They have in consequence placed unjustified emphasis on the state as a instrument of ‘factional’ i…
Imperialism and the ‘national bourgeoisie’
This article takes up some of the major issues surrounding the development/underdevelopment debate, as taking place in Kenya and Nigeria in particular. While underdevelopment theory as exemplified in Amin and Frank has been found wanting, the ‘return to Marx’ via analyses of the internationalisation of capital and class formation in the periphery has not answered the questions raised by underdevelopment theory because it has not an adequate analy…
Whose state? State and capitalist development in Nigeria
General issues raised by the author's two previous contributions to this Review, in Nos.19 and 22. are here applied to an analysis of the character of the Nigerian state and the nature of its interrelationships with capital — foreign, local and capital‐in‐general. Oversimplifications that blame ‘under‐development’ on international capital working through a straight neo‐colonial state, and those that see a national bourgeoisie able to use state po…
The military as revolutionary vanguard: A critique
The crisis of Nigerian ruling class politics in the wake of a collapsing oil economy has made sections of the Left pin their hopes to a left military intervention. This essay is a critique of such positions. It is particularly concerned with recent attempts to offer scientific justification for attributing a leading revolutionary role to the military. The essay also discusses the theoretical backing provided by soviet writers for such ‘military v…
Geographers among the Peasants: Power, Politics, and Practice
Tribute to Mahmud Modibbo Tukur
(1988). Tribute to Mahmud Modibbo Tukur. Review of African Political Economy: Vol. 15, No. 43, pp. 136-137
Peasants and democratic struggles in Nigeria
This article discusses the role of the peasantry in the political strategies of the Nigerian left. It begins by looking at the way in which some socialist‐oriented organisations and writers have approached the peasant and agrarian questions. The paper discusses the political and economic implications of some of the positions taken, including ‘fighting the kulaks’ and ‘eliminating middlemen and money‐lenders’. It stresses the limited scope for lef…
The Post-Colonial State: Crisis and Reconstruction
Left, right and centre bemoan the failure of the African state. This article challenges their analysis which is not based upon an adequate analysts of the changes in social forces and processes that are involved. It substantiates this assertion by criticising the three most prominent explanations — neo-patrimonial, monopoly and comprador theories — for failing to take the African ruling class seriously, underestimating the foreign stake in state …
Whose Democracy? Bourgeois versus popular democracy
(1989). Whose Democracy? Bourgeois versus popular democracy. Review of African Political Economy: Vol. 16, No. 45-46, pp. 84-97
The liberation of civil society: Neo‐liberal ideology and political theory
The state versus civil society debate is an arena where competing class projects confront each other, each seeking to ensure a social basis for its own control over the state. The state plays a central role in the construction of civil society. The neo‐liberal project seeks to de‐legitimise the state as a locus of nationalist aspirations and resistance, drawing on theories of ‘rent‐seeking’, ‘patrimonialism’ and ‘state autonomy’. The neo‐liberal …
Scholars and democratic politics in Nigeria
This article deals with the role of organised interests in Nigerian democratisation. The wider study seeks to develop a general argument about the connections between the pursuit of group self‐interest, the defence of organisational rights, and involvement in wider democratic struggles. The argument draws on the experiences of a range of Nigerian organisations during the 1980s and early 1990s, including the central labour body, the Nigeria Labour…
Alliances across the formal–informal divide: South African debates and Nigerian experiences
A paradox of victory: Cosatu and the democratic transformation in South Africa
Asr Forum: Engaging With African Informal Economies
In January 2012 a broad spectrum of popular groups staged an unprecedented protest against the removal of what has been termed a "subsidy" on fuel prices by the Nigerian government. The participation of tailors in this national political event suggests that self-employed artisans were prepared to transcend their narrow nonpolitical agenda to promote their interests and demands for decent social and economic conditions. Interviews with participati…
Intellectuals and African development: Pretension and resistance in African politics
This book looks at the very different responses to the African predicament from prominent writers like Soyinka, Ngugi and Achebe, to the military men in power and the students who defy repression. It suggests that intervention by international agencies who claim to promote ‘democracy’ and ‘empower the youth’ may reinforce authoritarian attitudes and structures. The essays in the book give voice to the outrage, ridicule and revolutionary ardour, a…
Political science (19 works) · Law (14 works) · Political economy (13 works) · Politics (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (10 works) · Economics (9 works) · Democracy (5 works) · Geography (5 works) · African history and culture studies (4 works)