Field:
    Comparative Politics, International Relations, African Politics

Dissertation Title:
    Coffee, Liberalization and Democratic Development in Tanzania: A Study in the Politics of Agriculture and Development in Transitional States

Committee:
    Michael F. Lofchie (Chair), Edmond J. Keller, Mark Q. Sawyer, and Edward A. Alpers

Date of Completion:
    June 2007

Contact Information:
    Murrell Lamont Brooks
    UCLA Political Science Department
    4289 Bunche Hall
    Los Angeles, California 90095-1472
    Phone: 310-825-4331
    Fax: 310-825-0778

Curriculum Vitae:
    Download PDF Version

Dissertation Summary:
    Throughout the 1990s several African governments implemented sweeping structural reforms aimed at liberalizing their political-economies by downsizing the writ of the state. Recently, however, much of the literature has argued that liberalization efforts have gone into reverse. This dissertation critically evaluates this assertion by analyzing the differences in the 1993 and 2001 Tanzania coffee market liberalization acts. The research found that the change from the 1993 to 2001 Coffee Industry Act was intended to strengthen the market positions of various local interests (the state bureaucracy, cooperatives , local estates) vis a via various foreign and local interests, within the framework of a market economy. These findings confirmed that liberalization had not gone into reverse, but that African governments began to pursue less aggressive market-based strategies, with more state involvement in shaping the distribution of winners and losers.

Research Interests:
    The Domestic Politics of International Trade, U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa, The Political Economy of Agro-fuel Production in Africa, Regime Change and Democratic Consolidation in Developing Nations, Commodity Markets and Political Change in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, The Politics of the African Diaspora, Africa-Asia Relations.

Teaching Interests:
    The Political Economy of African Nations, Comparative Politics, International Political Economy, American Foreign Policy, Political Economy of Developing Nations, The International Relations of Transitional States.