THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF IVOIRIAN EXCEPTIONALISM - RURAL SOCIETY AND STATE FORMATION

Ivory Coast is anomalous. In contrast to the bureaucratic regulation o f rural society in much of Africa, it has adopted relatively ''hands-o ff'' strategies of exploitation and governance. The explanation of thi s anomaly lies in the socioeconomic structure of peasant society. The article offers a structuralist critique of statist and neopluralist mo dels of state-society relations. By arguing for the social determinant s of state structures, it contradicts the view that African states are simply artifacts of colonialism with no organic links to society.