ABSTRACT
Using a political economy framework (an understanding of how history, culture and customs impact the economic system of Sao Tome Principe, STP), the purpose of this chapter is to examine the evolution of STP from forced or unfree labor in agricultural production to the practice of cultural imperialism by both the elites and capitalists in the extractive industries, such as oil and gas, in the wealth accumulation process. While the undergirding question here is who governs in STP, the chapter is organized as follows. It begins with an historical synopsis of the evolution of STP as a country based on a plantation economy and follows by an examination of the situation in contemporary STP beginning from the 1990s. The next section discusses the politics of neo-colonial oil extraction in STP in which, through the lenses of primitive accumulation theory, the question of who governs or dominates the governance structure of the country becomes obviously apparent. In the concluding section, the chapter offers some possible, and politically palatable, sustainable public policy solutions for economic development of the twin islands nation that addresses the social equity issues in its current political economic structure.
