DEVELOPMENT POLICY-MAKING IN TANZANIA 1962-1982: A CRITIQUE OF SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

In the 1960s 'African Socialism' emerged as the most popular political philosophy of the newly independent African countries. Though interpreted in diverse and contradictory ways, it was adoØted by the governments of countries as far apart as Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Kenya, Guinea, the Congo and Tanzania. As Ahmed Mohidden aptly states: To be an African Socialist or to espouse 'African Socialism' during that period was one of the most respectable things for any African leader to do. Nyerere's Ujamaa -the Basis of African Socialism, written in 1962, can be seen as part of this early post-independence euphoria. It was not tfntil 1967, when Nyerere proclaimed the policy of Socialism and Self-Reliance in the form of the Arusha Declaration, that Tanzania's socialist policies began to be taken seriously by the outside world. The policies of the Arusha Declaration (AD) excitedboth the interest and the imagination of Western radicals. Various reasons account for this Tanzaniophilia. First, the Arusha Declaration was followed by the immediate nationalisation of the major sectors of foreign capital in the country. Secondly, its egalitarian ideals were implemented in the Leadership Code which aimed to reduce the gap between the leaders and the led. This showed that the Tanzanian leadership was serious about socialism. Thirdly, Tanzania's expressions of self-reliance and its elaboration in the policy of Ujamaa Vijijini (rural socialism) stressed the need for a type of development that was rural-based and derived its dynamism from internalsources and communal production by peasants