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

Abstract

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”.

Résumé Cet article rend compte des transformations de l'Etat en Mauritanie entre 2003 et 2011 par le biais des pratiques concrètes de la gestion des politiques économiques. Il questionne le rapport à l'Etat dans un contexte où l'informalité est massive et où le contournement des règles et l'arnaque sont des répertoires politiques majeurs. Néanmoins, mon constat indique qu'il est intéressant de décrypter la manière dont les règles et procédures formelles, étudiées au concret, structurent les rapports de pouvoir en Mauritanie, et que cette analyse peut servir à interroger les transformations de l'Etat. Je propose une relecture de la trajectoire politique nationale au prisme des pratiques concrètes de gestion de l’économie. Il en ressort que, même lors des importants mensonges sur les chiffres macroéconomiques, dévoilés en 2005, l'action technocratique a pu se maintenir dans un « océan de transgression ».

Keywords:

• informality
• numbers
• macroeconomic management
• political economy
• Africa

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Centre d’Études et de Recherches Internationales (CERI, Sciences-Po Paris) and the Fonds d'Analyse des Sociétés Politiques (FASOPO) who financed my fieldwork in Mauritania in 2011. This article also draws on extensive personal experience in Mauritanian economic and financial administrations during 2003–2007.

Biographical note

Boris Samuel holds a PhD in political science from Sciences-Po Paris (2013), and a Master's degree in economics and statistics from the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Economique (ENSAE) in Paris. He has worked for 10 years as an expert in statistics, public finance and macroeconomics for various international organisations and governments in Africa. His research examines in detail technocratic practices across Africa and the Caribbean, to provide a historicised analysis of modes of government and power relations. Samuel is the General Secretary of the Fonds d'Analyse des Sociétés Politiques (FASOPO).

Notes

1. On the role of deceit and informality in Mauritania, see the work of Zekeria Ould Ahmed Salem (1999, 2001).

2. The monopoly was finally dismantled in 2006 under a strong pressure from the European Commission, which regarded it as a hindrance to transport development.

3. See, of course, the seminal work by Jean-François Bayart on “the politics of the belly” (Bayart 2009). See also the works on the neopatrimonial state, for example (Chabal and Daloz 1999) or analysis by political economists (Van de Walle 2001; Hibou 2011a).

4. The article 11 of the Legal order of 25 July 1991 on freedom of the press.

5. A growing gap between the official and parallel rates of foreign currencies (that is, the rates on the illegal market) is a sign of speculation and indicates that the country is running short of currencies.

6. According to a former Central Bank official, personal communication, Nouakchott, July 2011.

7. For an excellent analysis of the IMF's methods from a social science perspective, see Richard Harper (2007).

8. According to a former Central Bank official, personal communication, Nouakchott, April 2011

9. We can relate this with Jerven's reflection on the “production boundary”, which shows the role of methodological choices in building an economic narrative (Jerven 2013)

10. Many studies have shown this in non-African cases (Porter 1995; Desrosières 2003; Terray 2003).

11. Indonesia offered support with the production of models in 2006 in the frame of the Projet d'appui à la gestion de l’énergie et du pétrole.

12. The MEMAU was created with the support of the German cooperation in the mid-1990s.

13. Until the year 2014, the Wikipedia page devoted to him has continuously mentioned these various technocratic feats, notably in relation to modelling.

14. Many works have described the role of consultancy markets and firms in the reform of the state: for example, on the United Kingdom (Power 1999) or France (Pierru and Henry 2012).

15. But part of the MAED rather than the Ministry of Education.

16. As in the case of the controversial fishing contracts with the Chinese company Poly Hondone (Quotidien de Nouakchott 2011b).

17. Personal communications, Nouakchott, January and April 2011.

18. On the link between “formalities” and “informalities”, see the seminal work of Michel de Certeau (1984), and Hibou (2011b).