Nowadays, urban-rural connections are accelerating in sub-Saharan Africa resulting in agricultural transformations, which in turn lead to the transformation of rural livelihoods. This paper... Show moreNowadays, urban-rural connections are accelerating in sub-Saharan Africa resulting in agricultural transformations, which in turn lead to the transformation of rural livelihoods. This paper examines agricultural transformations in the Dodoma Region, Tanzania, and their impact on local rural livelihoods. Triggered by transportation development and rising demand for agricultural produce on the national and international level, the transformation of rural livelihoods on the village level entails: the application of more advanced methods and organisation of agricultural production; the increased use wage-labour; considerably higher agricultural revenues; a distinct rise of livelihoods partly or exclusively based on small-scale industry, petty trade and other businesses; and a distinctively higher level of incomes and consumption. Show less
Even if 'good governance' goals have dominated public policy in postcolonial polities in the last decades, their politics and public administration often continue to be marked by authoritarianism,... Show moreEven if 'good governance' goals have dominated public policy in postcolonial polities in the last decades, their politics and public administration often continue to be marked by authoritarianism, nepotism and corruption - the very practices good governance policy was to eradicate. In this article, we try to account for this apparent intractability of 'poor' and, occasionally, outright 'bad' governance. First, we argue that what appears as 'bad' governance to those embracing conventional, essentially Weberian, 'good governance' conceptions, may in fact be 'good' governance after all. Practices of political clientelism or patronage may reflect and accord with widely shared cultural beliefs about good and legitimate governance. Second, we show that the predominance of personalism and unofficial relationships that characterizes political clientelism may combine with modern bureaucracy in ways that drastically subvert the type of 'good governance' embodied by traditional moral economies of patronage. We dissect the logics of neopatrimonialism, a type of regime in which ruling elites use the state for personal enrichment and profit from a public administration that is patently unstable, inefficient, nontransparent and that fails to distribute public resources to large segments of the population. Third, we argue that the pragmatic survival strategies to which 'ordinary' citizens resort in response to such neopatrimonial neglect often, and ironically, entail the direct engagement with - rather than an outright distancing from -neopatrimonial politics. Show less
This working paper examines the changing lifestyle in rural Sukumaland, Kwimba District, Tanzania. It shows that farming in Sukumaland constitutes an economic livelihood and a social identity. The... Show moreThis working paper examines the changing lifestyle in rural Sukumaland, Kwimba District, Tanzania. It shows that farming in Sukumaland constitutes an economic livelihood and a social identity. The value of man is in food production and land is distributed at the family level through the traditional land tenure system. However, land has inceasingly become scarce due to population pressure and migration flows of people to other areas are on the increase. Investment is no longer directed at building up livestock and farms which traditionally were a source of pride and prestige. Among youth, investment is largely directed towards better housing and trade rather than to cattle and farming. The attitudes of youth to farming are a clear indicator of the shrinking agricultural sector, at least in terms of investments and labour allocation. Show less
