The political economy of urbanization in Tanzania
Creators: name: Brain, Alan Richard Leonard
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2010

description: A theory of contemporary urbanization in Tanzania is elaborated. The underlying explanatory mechanism for this is an analysis of the generation and allocation of economic surplus. It is argued that the towns are a result of, and in some senses a physical expression of, the interaction of the economic substructure and the social superstructure. Their historical origins are shown to be largely the result of economic and political forces emanating from abroad. Towns were a key part of the colonial economy that was set up, being the places where the main commercial and administrative functions were concentrated. The principal directly productive sectors of the contemporary economy are described and analyzed, and agriculture shown to be the main productive base on which all else rests. The structure of the economy is such that it is primarily geared to exporting agricultural raw materials and importing manufactured goods. The state sector has expanded since Independence and now encompasses most medium and large-scale economic activity. An analysis of the way it allocates surplus shows that the effect of its expenditure in many different fields is to greatly concentrate economic surplus in urban areas. The state invests and spends very unevenly, and since the state sector is so large, this causes very uneven development. The overall effect of government policies is to ensure that most growth takes place in the urban-located sectors of the economy. Economic growth in rural areas has been much more limited. In establishing a particular sort of economy, colonialism created an entirely new social structure. The post-colonial modification of this is analyzed, and it is shown that the balance of class forces results in a following of policies that continue dependence on the international capitalist system and ensure that the economic structure does not change, radically. The inherited urban framework, and the type of economy that such towns presume, has not been seriously questioned. The towns do not contain enough directly productive activities to maintain their physical infrastructure and social structures, and they rely for this on appropriation from agriculture and, to some extent, on financing from abroad. Surplus concentration in urban areas leads to migration from the rural areas because of the income opportunities such concentration creates. The towns are very inegalitarian in their physical lay-out and, in the provision of housing in particular, state expenditure on "modern" facilities ensures that a large proportion of urban residents are left to their own devices to live in inadequate, and often illegal, accommodation. Government urban policies consume a large amount of the surplus that the economy generates, and necessitate dependence on foreign finance and planners. This, and the fact that the most politically powerful classes benefit from the privileged urban facilities, ensures that there is no restructuring of the economy that would be sufficient to change the present direction of urbanization. It is argued that probably only economic restructuring on the scale (though not the type) of the introduction of colonialism itself could alter the lines along which urban growth is occurring. The balance of political forces from different classes would seem to ensure that this will not happen, and therefore one can expect Tanzania's urban population to grow, for the foreseeable future, at a rate that represents at least a doubling per decade.