Neo-liberalism and the state: lessons from the Tanzania coffee industry

Abstract

Many scholars continue to link neo-liberalism with minimalist state dimensions such as limited regulation, state atrophy, and dispersed political and economic power. This article challenges this position by analyzing neo-liberal state formation in the Tanzanian coffee sector through the political logic of neoliberalization. It argues that the neo-liberal state is correlated with government intervention, expansion, and concentrated political and economic power. Neoliberal crises expose the state’s contradictory role as a facilitator and obstacle to capitalist development, and it constitutes a critical transition point for the state and re-organization of elite interests.

Keywords: Tanzania coffee market, neo-liberalism, the state, political economy of reform, African political economy.

Murrell L. Brooks,Assistant Professor, Virginia Wesleyan University E-mail: mbrooks@vwu.edu

Ambrose T. Kessy, Senior Lecturer, University of Dar es Salaam E-mail: akessy09@udsm.ac.tz