Tripp's innovation in Changing the Rules is to link James Scott's explanations of resistance and moral economy to Goran Hyden's work on the implications for the state of having a peasantry that successfully evades state control (Scott, 1976, 1990 and Hyden, 1980). In so doing she broadens this literature to include a specific urban focus, while also expanding upon our understanding of the informal economy as a form of resistance. At the core, resistance springs from a breakdown in the tacit agreement between the government apparatus and the governed. In Tanzania's case, this rupture could be traced to the failures of Ujamaa which led to the impoverishment of millions of Tanzanians. Using extensive interviews, Tripp expands our understanding of resistance by first establishing parallels between the "safety first" orientation, sacrificing short-run maximization for long-run sustainability, and the tactical strategies of Scott's Malay villagers. She elaborates this argument by showing how the informal economy grew, and to become a weapon of resistance. Consequent to the inability of urban residents to sustain themselves, an explosion of informal economic activity ensued, directly contravening the extant juridical framework and its clear prohibitions on most private enterprise (p. 137). In resorting to extra-legal ventures, this resistance elicited changes in the both the legal framework of government and the mindset of many within the ruling party. Tripp's argument here is cogent and logical and the array of evidence she has marshaled to support the argument portrays serious scholarship. The defect in this research, and it is a slight one, is that her respondents who were engaging in projects of self-employment activities were essentially self-selecting and thus there is a slight lingering question as to whether her data is broadly applicable to all workers in Dar es Salaam or just to those engaged in projects.
To appreciate the events occurring during this period, one must also have a sense of the concurrent struggle between party and government in the mid 1980's. This latter contention was centered on the basic question of the proper boundaries of party power over government. Post-independence cohesion was already unraveling by the mid 80's when Julius Nyerere stepped down as President, retaining his chairmanship of the party and in so doing exacerbating the fray, which by then, had increasingly become centered on the question of liberalization (p.83). The jockeying was further complicated by Nyerere's sudden U-turn from opponent to proponent of the economic changes, in contradiction to past statements. As it played itself out, the struggle was fought between party members, who owed their political careers to the party and the party's control over economic decision-making, and the cabinet, supported by importers and exporters (p.89). Left unclear in this discussion is why bureaucrats, many of whom also owed their success to using the system, abandoned a system which had served them personally well in favor of liberalization and greater transparency. Paradoxically, the people, including the urban poor, who might have sided with the party in an attempt to forestall the austerity measures (such as eliminating price subsidies) accompanying liberalization, instead quietly acquiesced to reforms. This complicity reflected both a desire for the sanctioning of private activities that remained illicit in the face of massive disobedience as well as a weary recognition, borne of the pressing struggle for daily survival, that regardless of the victor, neither contestant could do much to improve the plight of the poor and the middle classes (pp.100-1).
Arguably two developments have been the most prominent features of the changing Tanzania circa 1985-1995. The first of these has been the increasing reliance placed by families upon the incomes earned, particularly by women, from "projects" or microenterprises. In many families, dependence has shifted from family members to the wage earner (p. 105). Thus, the roles and the importance of women were reexamined. For women with successful projects, the physical and financial independence earned by this hard work was an important byproduct of the struggle for survival. The second noteworthy development has been the increase in the strength of associational life as manifested in an enervated civil society flourishing with small associational groups such as Upato savings societies or Sungu Sungu self defense groups (pp.199-200). If civil society is understood as a critical component of the governance realm, the achievements of these small groups in extracting demands from the government must be construed as a valuable boost to governance. By concentrating her attention on these two areas, Tripp makes a significant contribution toward raising our awareness of two factors which have not always received the attention that they merit.
Changing the Rules tackles a crucial question in many countries: 'how did individuals, in the face of diminishing or absent salaries, manage to survive?' Tripp's answer begins with the organic causes of crisis and the external factors that precipitated the widespread resort to entrepreneurship and petty trading in an effort to survive. In so doing, these individuals also became the catalysts of change as the political structure was forced to adjust to new realities in an attempt to retain legitimacy. This explanation of change is a compelling argument for how, and why, changes occurred, and on the whole is an important contribution toward increasing our understanding of informal economies in urban areas.
References
Hyden, Goran 1980. Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry. London: Heinemann.
Scott, James C. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance. New Haven: Yale University Press.
______ 1976. The Moral Economy of The Peasant. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Christopher Johnson
Department of Political Science
University of Florida
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