Seminar: Eliter, produktion og fattigdom i Mozambique

TIME: Wednesday, 26 October, 14-16

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

TIME: Wednesday, 26 October, 14-16

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

Successful state interventions in productive sectors depend on four factors: (1) sustained political support by the government leadership; (2) changing the ‘rules of the game’ which govern the distribution of economic benefits and resources; (3) the existence of an embedded and mediating bureaucracy; and (4) the organization of industry actors and institutionalized interaction between industry and state actors.

This is shown by comparing state interventions in the sugar and small/semi-industrial fisheries sectors where combinations of these factors provide different political economy dynamics. So while the Mozambican government’s effort to rehabilitate the sugar industry was successful and also benefitted numerous smallholder cane growers, the attempt at creating a national semi-industrial processing industry for the fisheries failed.

Based on these analyses it will also be suggested why Mozambique, since the General Peace Accord in 1992, has not seen any productive economic transformation despite the impressive overall growth figures of around 8 percent.

The presentation will subsequently be published in an expanded version as a DIIS 2011 EPP Fall Seminar Series. These deal with the conceptual tools needed to understand the political economy of economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation and how these tools are applied to studies of state interventions in productive sectors in Bangladesh, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. The main finding is that it is the motivation of political elites to support state interventions in productive sectors and mutual interests between these elites and producers that matters for good outcomes ― rather than good governance, market driven development or empowerment of poor people.

The seminar will be held in English.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use the online registration form from the website no later than Tuesday, 25 October 2011 at 12.00 noon.

Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation.