The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly

The State in Africa is one of the important and compelling texts ofcomparative politics and historical sociology of the last twentyyears. Bayart rejects the assumption of African 'otherness' basedon stereotyped images of famine, corruption and civil war. Insteadhe invites the reader to see that African politics is like politicsanywhere else in the world, not an exotic aberration.



Africans themselves speak of a 'politics of the belly' - anexpression that refers not only to the necessities of survival butalso to a complex array of cultural representations, notably thoseof the 'invisible' world of sorcery. The 'politics of the belly'attests to a distinctively African trajectory of power that we needto understand as part of a long-term historical development.



While acknowledging the insights of Western social scientists fromWeber to Foucault, Bayart never loses sight of the realities ofAfrican politics and social life and he is careful to allow Africanvoices - from the 'small boy' in the street to the 'big men' in thepresidential palaces - to speak for themselves.



This new edition of Bayart's classic book includes a newintroduction on Africa in the world today.



This book has established itself as an indispensable text on thestate and politics in Africa. It also provides a nuanced reading ofwhat we have come to call 'development' and opens the way for amore general reflection on the invention of politics in African andAsian societies.

• Criminalization of the State in Africa (African Issues)
• The Wretched of the Earth
• On the Postcolony (Studies on the History of Society and Culture)
• Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument (African Issues)
• The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge (African Systems of Thought)
• Markets and States in Tropical Africa: The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies
• Orientalism
• The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time
• Global Democracy, Social Movements, and Feminism
• Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History)