Contenu du sommaire : Crises et développement en Afrique noire contemporaine

Military regimes and political development in Black Africa, by Dmitri-Georges Lavroff Following several years of political stability, the African States south of the Sahara have entered a period of political unrest illustrated by army intervention in political life. The question is to ascertain the reason behind these military coups d'Etat, and the way in which the resultant regimes are developing. Military coups d'Etat are a consequence of the difficulties of nation-building. Through their inability to overcome ethnic disparities and differences between urban and rural populations, civilian regimes have been incapable of achieving national unity. Although not negligible, the individual characteristics of African armies cannot by themselves explain the reasons for army intervention in political life in Africa. The military regimes in Black Africa do not represent a stage in the process of political development. A distinction must be made between modernisation and political development; in this sense, these regimes are instrumental in bringing about the modernization of the political system that political parties have been unable to achieve. It is in this connection that S. Huntington's theories concerning political decline are applicable. [Revue française de science politique XXII (5), octobre 1972, pp. 973-991.]

The African economy: evaluation and outlook, by Marc Penouil The African economies have undergone great change since becoming independent. Considerable progress has been made, particularly at the institutional level: administrative and political structures have been created or improved, plans formulated, financial and commercial infrastructures built up. The growth in national product resulting from these reforms has been unequal, giving rise to varying increases in income in countries where population growth is rapid. These changes pose a number of specific problems that economists will have to solve during the 1970s, in particular the growing disparity in incomes between the different sectors, regions and social classes; urbanisation; industrialisation; foreign relations between the African economies and the developed world. Future economic development will depend on what solution is found to these difficulties. [Revue française de science politique XXII (5), octobre 1972, pp. 992-1016.]

The crisis facing the State and ethnic assertion in contemporary Black Africa, by Guy Nicolas A number of problems are raised by the crisis facing the State in Black Africa. There is a connection between this "imported" institution, the African national reality and the facts normally designated by the term "ethnic reality". Both the realities that the concepts mentioned claim to incorporate and the analyses carried out by numerous specialists may be seen, on examination, to be superficial and arbitrary, and to perpetuate the same errors. After being shaped by very specific socio-cultural and historical circumstances, introduced without alteration and destined to constitute nations instead of issuing from them, the model of the European State has in most cases been diverted from its original vocation by the minority groups that have had control of it. As to the reality known by the general term "ethnic group", it is more varied, changing, complex and difficult to grasp than is generally indicated by the relevant analyses, and in fact corresponds to a number of very different socio-cultural structures, some of which are modern and have only relative or circumstantial relations with the "ethnic" reality proper. Far from being due to the survival of archaic structures, the "ethnic" opposition movements in fact frequently stem from modern political circumstances and especially the workings of the State. An analysis of the "haoussa" group serves to illustrate this new outlook. [Revue française de science politique XXII (5), octobre 1972, pp. 1017-1048.]

The political system and society in the Black African states, by Christian Coulon Africanist political science in both the Anglo-Saxon countries and in France, has devoted most of its attention to the most superficial or most fragile components of African political systems: parties, new elites, administrations and ideologies in particular. Yet these institutions and values have only a limited impact on the social unit that they claim to affect, and it therefore seems that research should now no longer be concentrated on central government as such, but on its real impact on society. It will then be appreciated that the "central sector" is confronted by other institutions and other values, in short a whole "peripheral sector". However, this orientation compels the political scientist to restrict his unit of analysis, start by directing his research at basic communities and make himself familiar with anthropological methods. [Revue française de science politique XXII (5), octobre 1972, pp. 1049-1073.]

Regional integration in Black Africa: the research situation, by François Constantin The African continent contains a complete range of the various possible forms of international regionalism. It offers the political scientist a very broad field of investigation, whether he is intent on unravelling the interrelations that exist inside or between different organizations, testing theoretical models of regional integration established in the light of experience gained by other continents or underlining the endogenous or exogenous variables that affect the regional integration movement. [Revue française de science politique XXII (5), octobre 1972, pp. 1074-1110.]