The 'new' international division of labour and the Sahel of the 1970s
Copans, J.
Labour, Capital and Society 14(2): 6-28
1981
Document Number: 355214
It is suggested that the present crises (in food and in the social and political situations) in the Sahel are not due simply to the decade of drought but rather to inadequate development strategies and thinking. The forms of development research pursued are criticized and some alternative approaches are proposed. Parts II, III and IV examine the special geographical, historical and developmental features of the Sahel, including the disruptive effects of colonialism; the importance of the organization, transformation and control of the labour force in all past and present policies for the Sahel; and the process of proletarianization applied to the region. It is concluded that, being unable to adopt new technologies, to overcome problems relating to the division of labour, and to direct the process of proletarianization nationally or regionally, the Sahelian states (and international investors) are returning to old methods of unequal development -- to exports, including exports of labour to the cities and non-Sahelian zones, to imports of food, and to aid.