Since the mid-1980s and the emergence of the structural adjustment policies (SAPs) and
the Washington Consensus3
(WC) in Tanzania, there have been changes in the scope of State
sovereignty in Tanzania as elsewhere in the Global South. The limitations of State sovereignty
have been particularly apparent vis-à-vis the mining sector. The Tanzanian government has
shown visible trends that suggest ‘it is operating under considerable pressure’ from external
forces as it responds more to the Canadian corporate interests.
Employing Marxist theoretical framework, and theoretically relying on the earlier works
of Marx & Engels (1848/1968), Miliband (1969), Fanon (1963/2004), Rodney (1972/1981),
Harvey (2005) and Poulantzas (1980) etc., this Major Paper presents empirical exploratory
research on the ‘imperialistic’ elements of mineral-based trade relations between Tanzania,
Canada and Canadian multinational mining corporations (MMCs) operating in Tanzania.
It explores the historical colonial as well as cultural/ethnic leadership and governance
structures which could factor in the contemporary – neoliberal trade ‘collaboration’ between the
Tanzanian government, the Canadian government and the Canadian multinational mining
companies (MMCs) operating in Tanzania. This research looks at the mineral-based trade
relations between Tanzania, Canada and Canadian MMCs operating in Tanzania and highlights
the impacts of the Canadian MMCs operations in Tanzania. The research concludes that even
though clothed in the language of neoliberal ‘sustainable’ development discourse, the mineralbased
relations between Tanzania, Canada and Canadian MMCs embodies the tenets of
European-dominated imperialist practices, and is fundamentally imperialistic