| | Soon after independence, the Senegalese state assumed extended responsibilities for the maintenance of political stability and national unity. It introduced policy measures to accommodate foreign capital and created the conditions for indigenous capital accumulation through 'nationalisation' or 'indigenisation' policies, responding to nationalist pressures from the Senegalese petty bourgeoisie. This neo-colonial state creates the necessary conditions for continued capital accumulation and regulates the mechanisms for the allocation of surplus appropriation within the ruling elite. In general terms, it acts as a guarantor for the conditions governing the establishment, organisation, and reproduction of the national economy. In such a context, to put it in Kalplan's terms (1986), the neo-colonial state becomes the main producer, seller, and buyer of goods and services, the direct investor and supporter of private investments' as well as the main source of employment, given the existence of a very weak Senegalese bourgeoisie capable of developing an independent local market. |
