Book Review: Capital Violence — Wavinya Makai’s Provocative Reframing of Africa’s “Development” Narrative

In her incisive new book Capital Violence, Kenyan author Wavinya Makai delivers a blistering critique of how “development” has been conceptualised and pursued in Africa. Through sharp cultural analysis and economic history, Makai argues that the continent’s prevailing development discourse has become a political and psychological apparatusthat keeps Africa in a permanent state of deferred promise — a “futuristic dream” that perpetually lies just beyond reach.

Makai’s central thesis is bold: poverty in Africa is not merely a by-product of history or governance shortcomings, but a deliberate architecture of economic relations that undermines dignity, agency and self-determination.

The Core Argument: Development as Deferred Expectation

Makai questions why “development” is always spoken of in the future tense, as though progress is something to be awaited rather than experienced. In her view, development has become a linguistic promise that placates citizens while shielding entrenched economic structures from meaningful reform. She writes that this “delay tactic” is the essence of what she terms capital violence — a structural force that inflicts real harm under the guise of neutral market logic.

Rather than a neutral toolkit for growth, Makai suggests development functions as a control mechanism, keeping African nations locked in cycles of dependency and external validation.

Mapping Capital Violence: Structural Barriers to Dignity

In Capital Violence, Makai reframes familiar economic concepts through a critical lens:

• The Debt Trap: Many African governments allocate a substantial share of national revenue to servicing external debt, leaving limited fiscal space for health, education and social protection. Makai highlights how this dynamic constrains sovereign policy choices and reinforces reliance on foreign lenders.

• The Resource Curse: Natural resources — from Zambia’s copper to Kenya’s tea and horticulture — are framed as wealth generators, yet much of the value addition occurs off-continent. Profits flow abroad while local economies bear environmental and social costs, perpetuating inequality rather than alleviating it.

• Cultural Erasure: Imported economic frameworks often marginalise indigenous knowledge systems and community-based models of cooperation and innovation. By dismissing local practices as “backward,” Makai argues, development orthodoxy erodes cultural assets that could otherwise inform equitable growth.

Contesting the Narrative: From GDP to “Dignity Metrics”

A central contribution of Capital Violence is its call to transcend conventional metrics like GDP, which Makai views as inadequate measures of human wellbeing. She proposes alternative indicators that foreground dignity: access to clean water, quality education, food security, healthcare accessibility and meaningful participation in economic life.

This shift, she argues, is not merely semantic. It reorients policy toward what people actually need in the present, rather than what distant forecasts or global rankings suggest they might achieve in the future.

A Mirror for Kenya’s Contradictions

For Kenyan readers, Makai’s points resonate with everyday realities. The country’s macroeconomic indicators often show robust growth, yet ordinary citizens contend with high food prices, housing costs and service delivery gaps. Makai uses this juxtaposition to question development orthodoxy: how can a nation post strong growth figures while essential needs remain unmet for millions?

Toward an Africa That Serves Its People

Now

In its clarion call, Capital Violence does not merely critique; it urges contestation, deconstruction and reconstruction of the economic language and systems that shape policy. Makai challenges Africans to reclaim agency in defining progress, insisting that systems should serve present human needs, not abstract future ambitions.

Her work is neither pessimistic nor defeatist; rather, it reframes the struggle for economic justice as one rooted in dignity, choice and structural transformation.

Final Thoughts

Capital Violence is a compelling and timely contribution to African political economy and development discourse. It invites scholars, policymakers and citizens alike to reflect on whether development has become a self-fulfilling inertia rather than a tangible reality. By reorienting the conversation around dignity and immediate wellbeing, Makai offers a framework that pushes beyond conventional thinking toward an Africa where progress is lived today, not postponed indefinitely.