Reviewer: Aikande Kwayu

An interest on Co-operatives and their positive role in rural development is re-emerging in Tanzania. The passing of new Cooperative Societies Act (Tanzania) in June 2013 is powerful evidence to this. The Poverty and Human Development Reports (Tanzania) of 2007 onwards also speak about cooperatives. The reports acknowledge the need and potential role of farmers associations in improving productivity and welfare of farmers’ hence rural development. Poverty in Tanzania is a rural phenomenon and much related to agriculture. More than 70% of the population dwells in rural areas. The main economic activity is small-scale agriculture. The impressive rising economic growth, which has been 7% average over the last decade, has not trickled down to rural areas. Poverty rates remain high. 67.9% of population still lives under the poverty line (UNDP, 2013).

 With such a gloomy paradoxical picture, development-loving people in Tanzania have been asking a question, what can be done?  This is the source of the renewed interest of Co-operatives in Tanzania.

 Strikingly, Zakia Meghji, Clement Kwayu, and Ramadhan Meghji realized the potential of co-operatives in driving rural development 30 years ago. In this book, they rightly argue that ‘…stability and development. The lubricant for the levers is the co-operative’ (p.91).

 The most impressive aspect of the book is its focus on women. Literature and research has it that women are the champions of development. This book uniquely links two drivers of development- women and co-operatives. The book demonstrates how participation of women in co-operatives leads to improvement in economy of households, family stability, and development in general.

The authors are experts of cooperatives. They worked as lecturers at the Co-operatives College in Moshi (now MUCCOBS) and researchers at the International Cooperative Alliance. The book is thus rich in insight. They collected case study data from Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. In this respect, the book is rich of case studies from different countries. In that light, it gives a comparative picture, which strengthen the analysis of why certain cooperatives were successful and why others were not.

 The cases and analyses above were not done in vacuum. The first chapter of the book provides an excellent theoretical framework substantiated by theories of development and feminism.  The chapter also provides a historical background of pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial Tanzania.  Following that were the rich case analyses giving details of different co-operatives societies in Tanzania, Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, and Swaziland. The analyses were interdisciplinary. Carefully, the authors consider various variables from economic, social, and political perspectives that could explain women participation and success.  For example, it was evident that the policies of mid 1970s in Tanzania were not favorable for cooperatives and that could partly explain challenges that cooperative societies faced during that period and after. The authors also looked at the issues of governance and value systems on the side of cooperative officers and related departments. Interesting also, was the fact that the authors presented cases of different types of cooperatives, such as agricultural marketing cooperatives, workers cooperatives, saving and credit cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, production cooperatives (poultry, tailoring, and handicrafts cooperatives). Such examples are eye opener to different opportunities of establishing a cooperative society.

 The final chapter of the book gives a way forward towards more and better participation of women in cooperatives. This chapter is relevant to this renewed debate on cooperatives. The issue of low women participation in cooperatives as presented in the book is still a problem in existing cooperatives societies. If we want rural development to happen and be sustainable women have to be actively engaged. This is especially the case with agriculture marketing cooperatives where the man is a principle member while it is often the woman who works on the farm to produce that cash crop. The cases of Botswana show that due to greater degree of independence among women in Botswana cooperatives were relatively better than in other countries such as Swaziland. We all know how well Botswana is doing economically and I am pretty confident that the independence of women may have been a significant contributory factor to its economic development.  The book ends with   a clause ‘ Let the woman of Africa come forth and Africa will blossom’ (p. 126).

 As much as the book was written in 1985, it is contents are still extremely relevant to our debates in cooperatives. I urge all development loving people in Tanzania to read this book if they want to engage women in rural development efforts and actually to reach that goal!

At one time in my life I had developed a keen interest on diplomacy. That is now more than 10 years ago. I was an undergraduate student majoring in IR and all that I dreamt of had something to do with being a diplomat. I enjoyed lectures and seminars on diplomacy. I was conversant with diplomatic immunities and privileges as articulated in the Vienna Convention of 1961. My best friend, Anne Keah, and I would discuss diplomacy day and night telling each of our future ambitions to represent our countries in high levels meetings. As ever, I was very patriotic with Tanzania and we even agreed that we would always defend our countries without getting personal or ending our friendship. I created new email accounts in hotmail and Gmail with IDs ‘diplomataika’. It was a love affair. I went on to do an MA in IR with more electives on diplomacy. We had lots of U.N. simulation exercises. However, during the MA studies I gradually lost interest on diplomacy. Instead, I wanted to do research on foreign policy. Thus moving from the practice to the academia. My wish was now to pursue more studies and research on foreign policy. In particular I wanted to understand the nexus between foreign policy and religion. So I ended up enrolling in a PhD program, which culminated into analyzing religion and international development policy. I delved into that and my brain seemed to forget my heart’s former desire. (Anne, on her side, pursued diplomacy as a career. She was posted and represented her country at the very heart of global diplomacy-Geneva. Visiting her was my enjoyable reliefs from hard and haunting PhD research. She always treated me so well with a touch of diplomacy). Nevertheless, one cannot really separate diplomacy and international development policy. International development encompasses a whole lot of things that are integral to diplomacy. One aspect of this, are the UN Millennium Goals, which were negotiated over years under the context of diplomacy. Foreign aid is often used as a diplomatic tool. In that light, my interest on diplomacy did not die. It was hidden somewhere in the subconscious part of my beautiful brain.

 Perhaps that is partly what triggered me to buy Henry Kissinger’s book titled ‘On China’.  As many would know, Kissinger is one the most known and successful 20^th & 21^st centuries diplomats… ‘On China’ is one other proof of that. Well, can you guess what the book did to me?  It rejuvenated my ‘near obsession’ to diplomacy. It gave me another impression of diplomacy and what it can achieve.

 Kissinger’s analysis and account of the U.S.A and Chinese diplomatic efforts to restore relationship was a loving reminder of the romantic nature of diplomacy. His analysis is objective with evidence from scripts of live conversations between him and Chinese leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. He has also included scripts of conversations between the U.S.A presidents with Chinese counterparts. For the reader, reading the conversations was like moisture on the thick skin required in the execution of foreign policy as analyzed in the book.

 Impressively, the book’s first chapters give a rich account of Chinese history and culture. These were crucial in understanding the next chapters in particular on areas of foreign policy formulation, execution and interactions between the Chinese leaders and their U.S.A counterparts. In the preface, for example, Kissinger noted that ‘American exceptionalism is missionary…China’s exceptionalism is cultural’ (p. xvi).  This phrase is almost a summary of the two countries’ foreign policies. In general, every chapter of the book builds on another one. To understand a chapter properly, you’d have to read the previous chapter. In this respect, Kissinger is a teacher as much as he is a diplomat.

 The book composes of analytical chapters discussing and explaining the politics and dynamics of Vietnam War, Korean Wars, among other major conflicts engraved within the Cold War. If anything, the book has allowed me to understand intricate relationships and what went behind the scene during the Cold War. Many people would think ideology was enough to separate the East and West but there was more than ideology. That is why China, although a Communist country, re-established its relationship with the USA mostly to counter the Soviets. The book provides a perfect picture of ‘Realism’ as practiced by states during the Cold War.  However, I wish Kissinger had gone a bit far to show how developing countries were a battle field for the Cold War…the war was only cold between the major powers but very hot, intense, and real in many developing countries including African countries such as Angola and to a great extent DRC (the former Zaire). Effects of the Cold War are still felt to this point in Africa.

 To understand Chinese contemporary rhetoric, behaviors, and practices in the international community, one needs to understand her history, culture, and founding ideas. Although the Cultural Revolution tried to destroy Confucianism, the spirit of Confucian and its ideals did not die. They were so embedded in China in that they were easy to revive after the death of Mao. Arguably, Mao himself, consciously or unconsciously, retained and sustained that spirit. He was a keen reader of the Confucian writings and that must have had an influence on his thinking. The people that Mao pushed aside for ‘re-education’ purposes during the Cultural Revolution are those who came back to power. Such is Deng Xiaoping, the man who is credited for Chinese great economic success. Ideas are thus key variables in policy decision-making.

 As much as Kissinger is a realist and focuses on state, his analysis shows that he is not blind to other factors that inform international affairs. In particular he gives considerable attention to culture and values. He demonstrates how the U.S.A democratic and human rights value affect its foreign policy and at times national interests. This is especially due to the strong public opinion on such issues. Similarly, Kissinger shows the influence of values, ideas and history in Chinese foreign policy.

In connection to that, Kissinger’s last chapters and in particular the epilogue and the afterword are must read for students of IR and anyone interested in understanding international relations. The chapters can also be considered as policy recommendations for USA and China foreign policies.  In that, Kissinger goes beyond ‘Classical Realism’ thinking and advocate for something more practical. Here is an extract from the book that catches the advice: “ The simplest approach to strategy is to insist on overwhelming potential adversaries with superior resources and materials…but this is not feasible in the contemporary world for either the United States or China. Inevitably each side will continue as an enduring reality for the other. Neither country can entrust its security substantially to the other- no great power does so deliberately- and each will continue to pursue its own interests, sometimes at the relative expense of the other. But both sided have the responsibility to take into account each other’s nightmares, and both would do well to recognize that their rhetoric, as much as their actual policies, occasionally-perhaps even accidentally- feeds into the other’s suspicions.”(p. 540)

 In light of that Kissinger gives an unbiased advice on how the two great powers should behave in the interests of themselves and for the entire world. He is not blind to the difficulty of doing so. So he argues, “this book does not predict that the United States and China will necessarily transcend the ordinary operation of great power rivalry or of ideological disagreement. It argues that the two countries owe it to themselves and the world to attempt to do so” (p. 547).

 Bringing back the reflections of ‘On China’ on my country Tanzania, I can’t think of a better motivation to our development. China was a poor country facing famine and hardships mainly due to what Paul Krugman would call ‘Zombie policies’. Such were the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Since poverty in China was not natural, Deng Xiaoping managed to turn around the situation. He did that by being visionary, pragmatic, determined, and serious. Interestingly, Deng used diplomacy not only to change the image of China but also to attain Chinese interests. He strategically visited other countries and learnt from them. His trip to the United States was a landmark and he used it for the development of China. Kissinger explains that ‘throughout the visit, Deng stressed China’s need to acquire technology and develop its economy…at his request, he toured manufacturing and technology facilities…Deng avowed his desire to ‘learn about your (USA) advance experience in the petroleum industry and other fields’ (p.361). There are many lessons from that. Above all is that, Deng put aside pride to pursue what was crucial to his country. We, in Tanzania, are blessed with diplomatic skills and international acceptance. Thus we need to tap more into the many diplomatic opportunities we have for the development of our economy. We need to be visionary and pragmatic. Just as Deng changed China’s economy, it is possible to significantly reduce poverty in Tanzania and change our country’s situation. If we decide and put right policies in place, we can lift millions of Tanzanians out poverty. We can be the giants, not only in the East Africa region, but also in the entire continent and world. China did it, and we can do it…we have all the potential, C’mon my fellow citizens!