On the Theory of Relative Inversion of the State

Abstract

This paper interrogates the interface between developmental crisis and the specificity of experience and character of the state in peripherial post colonial social formationss. In the main, the papert posits that typically, the state in peripheral post colonial social formation is relatively inversed, and that on account of this inversion, access to state power by the political elite appears to oftetimes guarantees access to economic power. While taking cognisance of the Marxian historical materialism and the place of the state in capitalist society, and also noting the Alavian observations on the state in peripheral capitalism, the paper provides insight into the inherent contradictions in the character of peripheral post colonial states. The main line of the postulation of the of theory of relative inversion of the state is that in typical postcolonial political ecosystem, given the wealthmine syndrome, the political superstructure determines the economic substructure in terms of who gets what and when. All these have profound implications, and largely accounts for Lumpendemocracy and wealthmine syndrome, as cogs in the wheel of genuine development.