Economic calculations, instability and (in)formalisation of the state in Mauritania, 2003–2011

Boris Samuel ()
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Boris Samuel: CERI - Centre de recherches internationales (Sciences Po, CNRS) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This article describes the transformations of the state in Mauritania in 2003–2011 in terms of the concrete practices of economic policy management. It questions the relationship to the state in a context of massive informality and where circumvention of the rules and misappropriation are major political repertoires. Nevertheless, my observations suggest that it is useful to study the rules and formal procedures in concrete terms in order to decode the way that they structure power relations in Mauritania, and that this analysis can be used to investigate the transformations of the state. I propose a reinterpretation of Mauritania's political trajectory seen through the prism of the concrete practices of economic management. This reveals that, despite major deception in relation to macroeconomic figures revealed in 2005, technocratic activity continued in an "ocean of transgression".

Keywords: informality; numbers; macroeconomic management; political economy; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-04
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03460325
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Published in Revue canadienne d'études du développement / Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 2014, 35 (1), pp.77 - 96. ⟨10.1080/02255189.2014.877878⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03460325

DOI: 10.1080/02255189.2014.877878

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