Transforming the Colonial State: Controlling the Bureaucratic Bourgeoisie

Abstract

Many people assumed that officials’ self-seeking behaviour reflected their low levels of personal morality. That, however, generally led to bromides: ‘In the passage of time, given steady economic progress, loyalties will gradually move from family, clan and tribe to nationstate,’ ‘the spread of education,’ ‘the evolution of public opinion,’ and ‘the rigorous enforcement of the laws’ (Wraith and Simpkins, 1963: 208). To curb inevitable official class tendencies towards goal-substitution, however, required more than simplistic cure-alls (Klitgaard, 1988). It called for restructuring the state (Nzongola-Ntalaja, 1987: 78).