ABSTRACT
Economic disengagement from the state in what is known as the second, parallel, informal, underground, black or irregular economy exists on an increasingly large scale in most countries of the world. The literature on postindependence Africa has stressed the importance of the state for class formation, but evidence of increasing disengagement from the state indicates a change in this pattern. In Zaire the rapid expansion of the second economy is related to the nature of the Zairian state and ruling class, and to the particular form of Zairian capitalism. In Zaire after independence the power of the new dominant class was based on control of the state, rather than of production, and on partnerships with foreign business interests that owned large mining and agricultural enterprises. An important factor in the disengagement from the state is the incomplete penetration of capitalism in Zaire and the persistence of noncapitalist modes of production, though modified and subordinated, in articulation with the capitalist mode.
