Neopatrimonialism in Africa

What is it about?

This paper reviews the literature which explains the development failure of the African state from a neopatrimonialism perspective. Neopatrimonialism is the condition in a state where a Weberian Western style of domination co-exists with a patrimonial personal informal system of domination. We revise the evolution of the neopatrimonial African state since colonization and analyse the prevalence of neopatrimonialism in African regions and states along the lines of presidentialism, clientelism and corruption. We conclude that neopatrimonialism effect on economic development depends on the regulation or not of the distribution of rent and corruption and we can have a “developmental” and “predatory” neopatrimonialism. Additionally, the literature is not conclusive of the exact effect of neopatrimonialism on democracy. We conclude that neopatrimonialism is a relevant research tool if conceptualised with specificity and to be able to account for the diversity of practices.

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