“The post-colonial state was thought of as an entity that stood outside and above society as an autonomous agency.” Explain.
- The states in Asia, Africa and Latin America were lacking in terms of political cohesion and economic dynamism, which enabled the imperial states of the west to colonise them. While colonial exploitation did explain the lack of development in these states, as the dependency theorists argue, it was also ‘historically rooted in their distinctive social and political traits… brittle state structures that were overcentralised or fragmented, and control of economic resources by nonproductive groups’. During colonial dominance, states in Asia, Africa and Latin America witnessed the consolidation of non-productive dominant classes and a centralised state structure to appropriate economic surplus and maintain order. The surplus was used by the imperial states for non-developmental purposes to maintain law and order, further their imperial interests and direct appropriation. All these factors contributed to the economic underdevelopment of the colonies.
- Asian, African and Latin American countries inherited the overdeveloped colonial state apparatus and its institutionalised practices, through which the operations of the indigenous social classes in these dependent/peripheral states were regulated and controlled by the imperial states. This allowed aspects of the state itself to play the dominant role in the state. Arguably, no indigenous propertied class in the post-colonial society i.e., the indigenous capitalist class or the landed rich peasantry, was sufficiently strong to assume political dominance within the post-colonial societies. As for the metropolitan bourgeoisie based in the imperialist states, it enjoyed relative economic dominance within the peripheral states. However, the fact of independence precluded it from occupying the role of ruling class as it was formally excluded from party politics. In such a situation, weak social classes found themselves trapped in bureaucratic controls. The running argument in the neo-Marxist literature on the nature of the postcolonial state has been that the state enjoys autonomy mainly due to the weak indigenous propertied classes.
- The need Post-Colonial State felt in civil society to bring about social and economic change and achieve modernisation or development allows the authorities in the post-colonial state to play a central role in all spheres of society. The liberal perspective at the outset, also viewed the post-colonial state as playing a central role as modernising state. Being led by the western educated, modern political elite, they were entrusted with the task of following the growth trajectory of the developed western countries. However, the processes of globalisation have led to qualitative changes in the role and significance of the post-colonial state, bringing them under the influence of the transnational capital once again in an incremental manner.
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