L'idéologie de la croissance

This paper argues that the concept of economic « growth » should be seen not only as an end in itself but as a means of legitimizing the perpetuation of particular interests to the detriment of more general interests. This hypothesis is illustrated with reference to the growth experience of the Ivory Coast.Through an analysis of the Ivorian Five Year Plan, the paper attempts to show the ideological and political character of the social and economic changes projected for the period 1971–1975 which may be shown to be the continuation of those which have taken place in the Ivory Coast since political independence in 1960.The planning document is presented as a political instrument not only in the narrow sense because of the highly selective presentation of the statistical information, but also because of the general orientation to the growth pattern which it proposes which ensures the reproduction of the existing power structure. The former statement is documented through references to the choices, omissions, emphasis on certain sectors and the selective use of growth rates presented in the 1971–1975 Plan. The latter statement is illustrated through the analysis of the impact of the projected growth pattern in the rural and urban sectors, in agriculture as in industry.The article concludes that the ideology of growth prevalent in the Ivory Coast is a political rationalization for a specific orientation to development which favours foreign interests and those of a local minority and which by definition, cannot satisfy the needs of the local population as a whole nor put an end to the extroverted and dependent orientation of the Ivorian growth experience

Cote d ivoire · Economics · Economy · Geography · Humanities · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Population · Rationalization (economics) · Sociology · African Studies and Ethnography · Agriculture and Rural Development Research · Demography · French Urban and Social Studies · Law · Philosophy

• Africa and the World Economy

  Frederick Cooper, Faith Cooper•African Studies Review•1981

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