Conflict and After: Primitive Accumulation, Hegemonic Formation and Democratic Deepening

Thinking about war and its aftermath through the lenses of some classical political economy and political ‘science’ may cast fresh light on the protracted relationship of war and development. Karl Marx’s idea of primitive accumulation warns us that ‘becoming capitalist’ is inherently violent. Max Weber’s notion of states’ monopoly over force is worth contemplation even as these organisations simultaneously emerge and fade away. Antonio Gramsci helps us grapple with the dialectic of coercion and consent whilst these processes unfold amidst universal desires for deepening democracy – while its dreams fade into nightmares in a new conjuncture of fear. This paper, prepared for Colombo’s Centre for Policy Analysis and the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium’s conference ‘Challenges of Post-War Development in Asia and Africa’ of 1 to 3 September 2014, also takes brief forays into some southern African empirical referents to these formulations to further illustrate their complexities and the complications of implementing productive peace in the interstices of the drawn out crises of capitalism’s initial stages in the ‘third world.