Development policy making in Tanzania 1962-1982 : a critique of sociological interpretations

This thesis uses documentary and interview data to advance a new interpretation of the development policies of the Tanzanian state. These policies are not a function of the interests of bureaucratic or other social classes acting in a context of national 'dependence', but rather the product of political-institutional factors which encourage beliefs that development problems are fundamentally 'political' and that external constraints are the principal causes of policy failures. The new explanation combines an analysis of Tanzania's political institutions in terms of a tripartite system of policy-making (Party, Government and Presidency) with an analysis of the policy-makers' conceptions of development. Three themes are investigated: -the relationship between Party and Government, the views of development held in the three organs of the state, and the consequences of a 'political' approach for the development process. Part One examines the emergence of two opposing views of development and the changing arrangements for policy formulation and policy implementation during the period 1962-66. It is argued that the division of labour created by the 1965 Constitution introduced great uncertainties into the development process. Part Two analyses the complex and changing relations between the three elements of the tripartite system during the years since 1967. In one sub-period (1969-74) the three organs of the state adopted views of development which had a common underlying theme, giving greater emphasis to political goals than to present economic constraints. Part Three investigates three major policy-areas: private capital, internal trade, and agriculture and rural development. The findings illustrate various ways in which Government and Party operated at cross-purposes with the Presidency alternating its support from one organ to the other. The practice of formulating policies without reference to economic considerations is shown to be a frequent cause of policy failure