Rethinking survival tactics of the poor states in the post-cold war world: the case of Tanzania

This study seeks to answer the question as to how the poor states in the post cold war world have managed to survive under the intense global competition for markets, raw materials and cheap labour. While focusing on Tanzania, which is a typical poor state, the study is premised on the belief that the international system is anarchic and therefore a state does whatever it takes to increase its power position so as to further its interests. The key assumption of the study is that the more intense the global competition becomes the more adaptive the poor countries become through adoption of new survival tactics. The study focuses on the analysis of survival tactics, which include government policies decisions and actions. The study therefore involves analysis of the major milestones in the foreign policy decisions of Tanzania. The period under study is divided into two-the cold War period, 1960s and Post Cold war period, 1985 onwards. To conceptualize the survival, Tactics we have made use of Hirschman’s state response model with three options. Exit voice and loyalty. The findings have confirmed our assumption about state adaptability in changing circumstances. Foreign policy decisions taken by the government became softer and less influential as time went on. They changed from tough foreign policy decisions of Mwalimu Nyerere during the cold war period to the soft and compliant ones under Mwinyi and Mkapa during the post -cold war period. The study concludes that there has been a great shift in the thinking on survival tactics from a strict, confrontational type to a more accommodative approach. This has been influenced by the ideological change from socialism and self-reliance to what is referred to as the New Economic Diplomacy, which is the new Foreign policy of Tanzania. While the former stood for principles, protection of national integrity and self-reliance, the latter has accepted whole- heartedly the tenets of a free-market economy. The new diplomacy embraces dependency under the liberalist conditionalties of the multilateral and bilateral donors. It is further suggested that the government needs to rethink some of its foreign policy decisions. For example, the study has established that privatization, as a tactic, will not necessarily bring about economic growth by attracting Foregn Direct Investment (FDI) as it is generally assumed, let alone the shame of alienating the people from their country ‘s resources.