Neocolonialism, economic dependence and political change: a case study of cotton and textile production in the Ivory Coast 1960 to 1970

Abstract

Political and economic change in the Ivory Coast between 1960 and 1970 reflects the contradictions of capital accumulation in post‐war metropolitan France, transferred to the periphery. The weakness of the French textile industry after the war led to the need for overseas expansion and for State support. The role of the French colonial and Ivorian ‘independent’ states has been to strengthen the basis of the textile companies and their associates, the colonial trading houses, through legislation which gives the industry various tax concessions and protection against competing Far Eastern textile imports. The State has also carried out policies designed to increase cotton production for the companies and this has resulted in a decline in food production. The industry produces high priced goods which are beyond the reach of local pockets and has also replaced local artisanal production in some cases. Further the companies have expatriated their super‐profits abroad. While there are emerging contradictions between more advanced sections of the industry which are now manufacturing raw cloth in the Ivory Coast, and the old style ‘assembly’ companies which import semi‐finished cloth from France, it can be expected that the State will try to resolve these contradictions in favour of foreign capitalist interests as a whole.