THE ROLE OF THE STATE IN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION AND CLASS FORMATION IN ZAMBIA

This research on the political economy of Zambia has been based on the hypothesis that in a developing economy such as Zambia, where private capital plays a negligible part in the process of capital formation, the state plays a pivotal role as a vehicle for capital accumulation. This research also has been based on the complementary hypothesis that in an economy in which the public sector is dominant, the economic role of the state is central to the process of class formation. Other hypotheses particularly germane to the study have guided our analysis. These are that no economic policy as a mode of state intervention can be properly analyzed without taking into account its class content, and that the state is neither a neutral instrument nor a monolithic weapon in the service of the ruling class. The purpose of this study is threefold: First, to analyze and measure the macroeconomic impact of state intervention in the economy. This calls for analysis of the operations of the parastatal sector as a whole, and of individual enterprises therein with sufficient weight to exert perceptible impact on macroeconomic parameters. Second, to analyze and measure the macroeconomic effects of Zambia's integration into the international division of labor in the face of the inherent centrifugal tendencies of modern capitalism. Third, to determine the class characteristics of the Zambian State and to analyze the impact of its economic intervention on the processes of class formation. The results of the research support the hypothesized centrality of the Zambian State as a vehicle for capital accumulation and class formation. In this connection, no evidence has been found to suggest that the Zambian State is a simple instrument used by the ruling class to protect its economic interest. Instead, the Zambian State is found to have its own dynamics. Its real relationship with local and foreign class forces is largely an empirical question dictated by historical conjunctures. Finally, the results of the research also stress the importance of exogenous factors in determining the effectiveness of state intervention in the economy as a result of Zambia's integration into the new global economy.