Colonial domination and the origins of state capitalism: The case of Algeria. An economic and sociopolitical analysis of colonialism and its impact on the emergence of a bureaucratic-military oligarchy in independent Algeria (1962-1965)

This dissertation analyzes the relationships which exist between the colonial social formation and the rise of state capitalism in independent Algeria (1962-1965). This dissertation does not intend to analyze all aspects of state capitalism in Algeria, but rather it focuses on the historical conditions that set in motion the processes of class and state formations. The theories of dependency, non-capitalist way and state capitalist development failed to give a viable approach that explain the socio-political and economic nature of the colonial mode of production and its impact on the formation of the state. Therefore, we propose an alternative approach which consist of analyzing the type of capitalism introduced in Algeria and its impact on the formation of the state and the rise of a bureaucratic-military oligarchy.;To materialize our approach, we started by identifying the prevalent socio-political and economic structure of precolonial Algeria. We discovered that the state was relatively dominant, but not to the extent of controlling the communitary socio-economic organization which proved to be an obstacle for the complete and rapid development of colonial capitalism. Second, we approached the question of the development of capitalism in dividing it into two distinct periods, i.e, the periods of primitive capital accumulation, and capital accumulation. In the first period, capitalism established the conditions for its development through the process of expropriations (1830-1880). Then, capitalism developed exclusively in agriculture, and especially with the production of wine and citrus fruits. We demonstrate that the type of articulation that took place between the precapitalist and the capitalist modes of production resulted in a radical transformation of the social structure, and created the conditions for the rise of the national movement of liberation. Finally, we analyze the process of class struggle among the different factions of the bureaucracy and the military, and we conclude with the analysis of self-management arguing that state capitalism is the product of class conflict. In other words, the process of class struggle determined the type of development presently pursued in Algeria, which is capitalist development in form and essence.