ABSTRACT
The corporatist debate is a central part of the effort to develop a genuine political economy, that is, one that does not use economic theories to explain political outcomes, but combines the insights of a number of social science disciplines in the exploration of common concerns. The contribution by Julius Ihonvbere and Timothy Shaw demonstrates how, in the case of Nigeria, the state has attempted to maintain a dominant position in the structuring of social relations. Bereket Selassie’s essay on Ethiopia is yet further evidence of corporatist practice in Africa under extreme and deteriorating economic conditions. Corporatism as concept and structure may be compatible with militarism if the military is an important or dominant element in such an arrangement. The structural adjustment syndrome of devaluation, deregulation, and privatization has eroded the dominance and influence of the state; new corporatist coalitions are built around private capitals rather than state capital so the erstwhile bureaucratic and political factions are less central.
