African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999

African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999

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  • Author: Nicolas Van de Walle
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 9780521008365
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 300

This Book explains why African countries have remained mired in a disastrous economic crisis since the late 1970s. It shows that dynamics internal to African state structures largely explain this failure to overcome economic difficulties rather than external pressures on these same structures as is often argued. Far from being prevented from undertaking reforms by societal interest and pressure groups, clientelism within the state elite, ideological factors and low state capacity have resulted in some limited reform, but much prevarication and manipulation of the reform process, by governments which do not really believe that reform will be effective.


Beyond Structural Adjustment

Beyond Structural Adjustment

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  • Author: Nicolas Van de Walle
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISBN: 1403981280
  • Category : Political Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 310

As the World Bank famously put it back in 1989, 'underlying the litany of Africa's development problems is a crisis of governance.' This is a collection of authoritative essays bringing together prominent Africanists in political science and public administration to look at the role of governance in African development. The goal of the book is to move beyond the status quo debates about 'structural adjustment' and to look at all the public and civic institutions which are likely to play a critical role if Africa is to overcome its economic crisis.


Democratic Experiments in Africa

Democratic Experiments in Africa

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  • Author: Michael Bratton
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press
  • ISBN: 9780521556125
  • Category : History
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 336

Appendix: The Data Set.


Poor Numbers

Poor Numbers

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  • Author: Morten Jerven
  • Publisher: Cornell University Press
  • ISBN: 0801467616
  • Category : Political Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 208

One of the most urgent challenges in African economic development is to devise a strategy for improving statistical capacity. Reliable statistics, including estimates of economic growth rates and per-capita income, are basic to the operation of governments in developing countries and vital to nongovernmental organizations and other entities that provide financial aid to them. Rich countries and international financial institutions such as the World Bank allocate their development resources on the basis of such data. The paucity of accurate statistics is not merely a technical problem; it has a massive impact on the welfare of citizens in developing countries. Where do these statistics originate? How accurate are they? Poor Numbers is the first analysis of the production and use of African economic development statistics. Morten Jerven's research shows how the statistical capacities of sub-Saharan African economies have fallen into disarray. The numbers substantially misstate the actual state of affairs. As a result, scarce resources are misapplied. Development policy does not deliver the benefits expected. Policymakers' attempts to improve the lot of the citizenry are frustrated. Donors have no accurate sense of the impact of the aid they supply. Jerven's findings from sub-Saharan Africa have far-reaching implications for aid and development policy. As Jerven notes, the current catchphrase in the development community is "evidence-based policy," and scholars are applying increasingly sophisticated econometric methods-but no statistical techniques can substitute for partial and unreliable data.


Unlocking Africa's Business Potential

Unlocking Africa's Business Potential

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  • Author: Landry Signé
  • Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
  • ISBN: 0815737394
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 361

Africa welcomes business investment and offers some of the world’s highest returns and impacts Africa has tremendous economic potential and offers rewarding opportunities for global businesses looking for new markets and long-term investments with favorable returns. Africa has been one of the world’s fastest-growing regions over the past decade, and by 2030 will be home to nearly 1.7 billion people and an estimated $6.7 trillion worth of consumer and business spending. Increased political stability in recent years and improving regional integration are making market access easier, and business expansion will generate jobs for women and youth, who represent the vast majority of the population. Current economic growth and poverty-alleviation efforts mean that more than 43 percent of the continent’s people will reach middle- or upper-class status by 2030. Unlocking Africa’s Business Potential examines business opportunities in the eight sectors with the highest potential returns on private investment—the same sectors that will foster economic growth and diversification, job creation, and improved general welfare. These sectors include: consumer markets, agriculture and agriprocessing, information and communication technology, manufacturing, oil and gas, tourism, banking, and infrastructure and construction. The book’s analysis of these sectors is based on case studies that identify specific opportunities for investment and growth, along with long-term market projections to inform decision-making. The book identifies potential risks to business and offers mitigation strategies. It also provides policymakers with solutions to attract new business investments, including how to remove barriers to business and accelerate development of the private sector.


Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-dependent Countries

Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-dependent Countries

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  • Author: Nicolas Van de Walle
  • Publisher: CGD Books
  • ISBN:
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 136

In this book, Nicolas Van de Walle identifies 26 countries that are extremely poor and grew little if at all in the 1990s. His sample excludes North Korea and countries where civil war explains some of their failure to grow (Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tajikistan and others). The 26 countries have limited infrastructure and human capital and the small size of their markets deter private savings and investment. Aid was meant to help overcome these problems, and these countries received a lot. Yet they have failed to grow. What is wrong? Is foreign aid a solution or part of the problem? What changes might make aid more effective? Given these countries require the financial and technical resources of the West, why haven't aid programs made a difference? Van de Walle blames their economic failure mostly on the venality and incompetence of their political leadership. He analyzes the contradictions and tensions faced by the aid community in poorly run countries, providing a sobering analysis of the perverse effects of aid where the politics is all wrong. Too often, resources provided by foreign aid keep the wrong government in office, and undermine adoption of economic as well as political reforms. Bad government combined with aid, in short, hurts poor countries - and particularly the poorest people in those countries. Despite good intentions, little progress has been made in implementing announced "reforms" of the aid business itself. A constituency for reform is lacking, in the donor countries and in the recipient countries, where those in power benefit from the status quo.


Our Continent, Our Future

Our Continent, Our Future

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  • Author: P. Thandika Mkandawire
  • Publisher: IDRC
  • ISBN: 155250204X
  • Category : Political Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 192

Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.


Extracting Profit

Extracting Profit

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  • Author: Lee Wengraf
  • Publisher: Haymarket Books
  • ISBN: 1608468763
  • Category : Political Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 300

Extracting profit explains why Africa, in the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, has undergone an economic boom. This period of “Africa rising” did not lead to the creation of jobs but has instead fueled the growth of the extraction of natural resources and an increasingly-wealthy African ruling class.


States and Power in Africa

States and Power in Africa

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  • Author: Jeffrey Herbst
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press
  • ISBN: 9780691010281
  • Category : Political Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 296

Theories of international relations, assumed to be universally applicable, have failed to explain the creation of states in Africa. There, the interaction of power and space is dramatically different from what occurred in Europe. In his groundbreaking book, Jeffrey Herbst places the African state-building process in a truly comparative perspective, examining the problem of state consolidation from the precolonial period, through the short but intense interlude of European colonialism, to the modern era of independent states. Herbst's bold contention--that the conditions now facing African state-builders existed long before European penetration of the continent--is sure to provoke controversy, for it runs counter to the prevailing assumption that colonialism changed everything. In identifying how the African state-building process differs from the European experience, Herbst addresses the fundamental problem confronting African leaders: how to extend authority over sparsely settled lands. Indeed, efforts to exert control over vast, inhospitable territories of low population density and varied environmental and geographical zones have resulted in devastating wars, millions of refugees, and dysfunctional governments perpetrating destructive policies. Detailing the precise political calculations of distinct African leaders, Herbst isolates the basic dynamics of African state development. In analyzing how these leaders have attempted to consolidate power, he is able to evaluate a variety of policy alternatives for dealing with the fundamental political challenges facing African states today.


Policy Signals and Market Responses

Policy Signals and Market Responses

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  • Author: Stuart John Barton
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISBN: 1137390980
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 285

The study presents archival evidence to show how President Kaunda raised political and economic exclusivity in Zambia in the early years of Zambia's independence, and how this retarded capital investment. Despite formal reforms and a new government, this institutional mechanism still dominates and constrains Zambia's political economy today.