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Big Man or Boogey Man? The concept of the Big Man in political science
Journal of Modern African Studies ( IF 1.3 ) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 , DOI: 10.1017/s0022278x20000579
Barry Driscoll

The Big Man has attracted considerable attention from social scientists, both as an explanatory force as well as a phenomenon to be explained. But the concept has become unmoored from its original meaning. Once used to refer to an apex figure within a patrimonial regime, today Big Men are often described as dictators or thieves. I show this using an original dataset covering discussions of Big Men in leading African Studies journals since 1980. I find that authors, especially political scientists, overemphasise theft and underemphasise accountability of Big Men. Then, drawing on my research with Ghanaian local politicians, I show how Big Men are constantly under pressure from their supporters. The paper concludes with a modest call to put the Big Man back in his place as powerful but also empowered, and thus indebted, to those beneath him.

中文翻译:

大个子还是布吉人?政治学中的大人物概念

大人物作为一种解释力和一种有待解释的现象,引起了社会科学家的极大关注。但是这个概念已经脱离了它的原始含义。曾经用来指代世袭政权中的顶级人物,如今大人物经常被描述为独裁者或小偷。我使用原始数据集展示了这一点,该数据集涵盖了自 1980 年以来主要非洲研究期刊中大人物的讨论。我发现作者,尤其是政治科学家,过分强调盗窃,而低估了大人物的责任。然后,根据我对加纳当地政客的研究,我展示了大个子如何不断受到支持者的压力。这篇论文的结尾是一个温和的呼吁,要让这位大个子重新回到他的位置,因为他既有权势又有权势,因此对他下属的人表示感激。
更新日期:2021-02-03
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