Politics of State-Capital Relations in Africa: The case of ‘Big Sugar’ in Zambia

This article is a sharp analysis of how divergent outcomes from large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) in Africa stem less from ‘weak governance’ and more from the character of state– capital relations although they can reinforce each other. Theoretically, the article critiques the dominant scholarly emphasis on weak state/sector governance systems in explaining divergent investment related outcomes concerning land, industry development and proposes an alternative explanation that centres on the character of SCRs in the investment projects and sectors of concern. Empirically, we examine Zambia’s ‘big sugar’ (1998–2024), tracing how state-capital relations (SCRs) coalesce, enable, and govern sugar investment, and how LSLA firms build legitimacy by mobilising ties to the state through the joint pursuit of a marketisation and commercialisation agenda. Analysis is based on 25 state/industry, 17 community, and 12 household interviews, and 3 out‑grower focus group discussions (2020–23). Results show a complex, political, and multi-scalar (re)production of corporate legitimacy by a range of actors from business, national government and donors/international aid realms. We evidence that dominant agribusiness entities pursuing their LSLA agenda affects the state through their power and authority, territorial reach, relations with society, and scope of actions such as regarding conditions for foreign access to land, labour, and markets for sugar. By so doing, corporate actors can, within this process, at multiple levels (especially at the national level) make claims on the state to maintain a level of corporate and project legitimacy and affect state legitimacy in the process. The paper argues that the possibility of deleterious effects of LSLAs stems from the SCRs’ particularities, which render the state weak in serving its citizens and makes ‘win-win’ outcomes impossible. We conclude that analysis of foreign capital in Africa should pay yet more attention to the character and dynamics of SCRs and how these relations shapes state’s commitment to serve its citizens as well as agenda for national and local development.