Brad, you are not missing anything! I was making a critical comment on
Bates' approach to development. I am assuming we are talking about the same
Bates here (Robert). Regarding his _Markets and States_, I don't completely
disagree with the fact that state-led development had biases towards small
agricultural producers in Africa. This is evident. What I don't agree is
that Bates treats this problem as if it is simply state's choice to promote
export strategy or behave in certain ways to disbenefit rural producers.
Bates' method is methodologically individualistic. He treats states as
individuals. Accordingly, he disregards world systemic dynamics, or the
question of why Africa was left with promoting a "certain" type of
development strategy. I think this methodological problem is more evident in
his later book _Toward a political economy of development: a rational choice
perspective_
that is what i meant...
Mine
Brad De Long wrote:
> >Brad DeLong wrote:
> >
> >>A strong bias against relatively small-scale rural producers has been
> >>one of the worst things about African state-led development over the
> >>past generation (see Robert Bates's _Markets and States in Tropical
> >>Africa_, or Dumont's _False Start in Africa_). And it does look like
> >>this Mozambiquan export tax is a remnant of that bias.
> >
> >which is why, probably, Prof. Bates wrote the book _ Toward a political
> >economy of development: a rational choice perspective _ Publisher:
> >Berkeley :University of California Press,c1988.
> >
> >
> >--
> >
> >Mine Aysen Doyran
>
> ???? I'm missing something...
--
Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222
