ABSTRACT
This book sets out to inquire into how the state as a historically constituted institutional reality changes in the context of an economy increasingly dominated by extractive industries. It shows that very significant developments are taking place on the ground, challenging received wisdom concerning how to address the state theoretically and empirically, but also how to calibrate the semantics of the concept itself to the particular circumstances of the African continent. The book focuses on one potentially relevant conceptual implication. It bears on the usefulness of focusing attention on process rather than essence. The book engages development policy and practice as well as social science. It challenges the causal and linear assumptions of the former to the effect that development can be engineered through the 'right' kind of policies. The book argues for the primacy of social action embedded in local contexts as the better bet in assessing potential development outcomes.
