Burkina Faso Under the Presidency of Thomas Sankara – A Post-Developmental State ?

Thomas Sankara, one of the most celebrated African idols, was president of Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassination in 1987. The politics he realized with his government were vanguard in more than one regard: The country’s feminist politics queried patriarchy by promoting equal rights and duties for women and men in several different domains; along with the country’s citizens, migrants could participate in policy-making and thereby shape politics; redistribution was made a political goal aspiring to overcome class differences; protectionist economic policies led the country to food sovereignty and many more impressive projects were realized at the time. In a nutshell, the overall goal of the revolution was the pursuit of an endogenous African way of a good and dignified life. Thinking Thomas Sankara’s vision and politics together with Post-Development theory, the author explores whether Burkina Faso at that time can be considered an alternative to “development” and then likewise a post-developmental state. As a novel concept, the latter is extensively discussed and operationalized by the author, before being applied on concrete different policy fields of the case study. The research strives after understanding the potential transformation Post-Development could achieve on a state level, while simultaneously cautioning against along-going risks.