Easier said than done: Namibia's "declaratory" developmental state and the obstacles to successful industrial policy

In the decades after Namibia's independence in 1990, the Namibian state’s approach to economic development focused on macroeconomic stability and incentives to encourage foreign investment. Rhetoric around developmental states and industrial policy was nowhere to be found. But over the last decade - starting in earnest around 2012 - the Government has begun speaking seriously about "developmentalism" and the need for the state to play a more proactive role in the economy to drive structural transformation. Policy has been shifted, including via some landmark industrial strategies and trade policy efforts to protect Namibia’s infant industries. Nevertheless, a Namibian development state remains an ambition rather than a reality, with the country's industrial policy efforts having encountered a number of serious obstacles. This chapter - by looking at the balance of power in Namibia’s society and the country’s interactions with global forces and actors - seeks to understand the underlying factors behind the failures of Namibia's industrial policy drive. Describing Namibia's "system of accumulation", characterised by the interests of powerful sections of society, the chapter helps to understand issues around latent developmentalism within the global periphery.