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Ivoirien Capitalism: African Entrepreneurs in Cote d'Ivoire

John Rapley
 
ISBN: 978-1-55587-397-4
$45.00
1993/198 pages/LC: 93-9245
"The impressive data assembled by Rapley, and his competent grasp of the relevant literature on Côte d'Ivoire and the political economy of develoment, makes what he has written of great interest to students of African capitalism."—Modern African Studies

DESCRIPTION

Though studies of capitalism in Africa traditionally focus on the activities of foreign investment, in Cote d'Ivoire capitalist development has been largely the work of a domestic class of entrepreneurs.

This book traces the history of Cote d'Ivoire's capitalist development, beginning with early European contact and bringing the story up to the present decade. Drawing on new data, Rapley's provocative argument refutes all standard assumptions about capitalism in the country. He demonstrates that a dynamic capitalist class has emerged in Cote d'Ivoire, one neither subordinate to foreign interests nor synonymous with the bureaucratic or political elite. These indigenous entrepreneurs, Rapley posits, as a class control the Ivoirien state, and it is indigenous Ivoirien capitalism that has been primarily responsible for the growth of the country's economy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Rapley is academic visitor at the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge. He is author of Understanding Development: Theory and Practice in the Third World (now in its third edition) and Globalization and Inequality: Neoliberalism's Downward Spiral.

CONTENTS

  • The Study of Capitalism in the Third World.
  • Early Ivoirien Capitalism.
  • The Political Triumph of the Ivoirien Bourgeoisie.
  • The Ivoirien State: Motor of Capitalist Development.
  • The Development of Ivoirien Capitalism Since 1960.
  • The Modern Ivoirien Bourgeoisie.
  • Capitalism in Africa.
  • Appendixes: Survey of Ivoirien Corporations Having Private Domestic Investors; Use of Sources.