ABSTRACT
Structural distortions in the Africa's space economy are found in both the productive and the distributive framework. The most harmful aspect of factor, infrastructural and output biases inherent in a neocolonial system of extraction is the division of the national space into center and periphery with differential access to political power and economic opportunities. In economies within structural hegemony, factor and in infrastructural biases enable core monopolies to shift market risks and uncertainties to the countryside. The space economy, settlement hierarchy, location of productive activities, and spatial interaction are all induced by structural hegemony and associated processes. The spatial manifestation of structural hegemony in the form of "enclaves", "settler" lands, "bantustans", and primate cities are creations of alien objectives in open economies which are rarely found in more balanced and relatively closed economies. The prevailing geography of reward for educated people maximizes utility at the primate city and this has prevented centrifugal dynamics of social or technological diffusion.
