No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Silent Revolution in Africa: Debt, Development, and Democracy
Abstract
Argues that the crisis in Africa is not primarily the result of natural factors such as drought and famine, but of the misguided strategy of export-led development. Using case studies of Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Zambia, the author demonstrates deteriorating economic and social conditions, and dismisses recent plans and prescriptions for African recovery as blueprints for the recolonisation of the continent. The development of the "informal' economy is seen as a logical and praiseworthy alternative to the machinations of the IMF and undemocratic African rulers. The solution to Africa's problems must come from the knowledge and energies of African people, not as another "import' of free-market ideology from the West. The institutions most involved with adjustment in Africa, it is argued, are attempting to ensure the repayment of debts rather than to strengthen independent African development. Recommends collective default and greater democracy and participation in decision making as the preconditions for any real improvement. -M.Amos
... In theory, establishing export industries in the Third World brings in foreign currency to buy products and services necessary for a modern, industrial culture. The Newly Industrialized Countries (Cheru, 1989). ...
... In 1983, an average of 25% of export earnings were used to service debt. Tanzania, Sudan, and Zambia were applying over 100% of export earnings towards debt servicing (Cheru, 1989). ...
... Export-led development initiated by First World corporations and multilateral institutions has not been successful. FantuCheru (1989) describes a continent controlled by the forces of a Northern market and a people in which "development has always meant the progressive modernization of their poverty." Rather than build capital from development aid, Africa became a net exporter of capital in the 1980's. ...
... In discussing the future of Africa, Cheru (1989) contends that the failure of African leaders to implement the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA), which recommended "economic self-reliance, regional integration and partial disengagement from the West's unequal terms of trade" was without doubt, indicative of the unwillingness of African leaders to democratize the political and economic structures of African states. There is a perception among a good number of Africans that post-independence governments have failed to meet their needs, rendering them irrelevant. ...
... To this end, Cheru (1989) suggests that every step or decision to ensure Africa's development must be designed and structured by Africans, not Western institutions and organizations. In this regard, much emphasis is placed on the ability of Africans to recognize and accept their cultural identity as a critical part of their development or progress (Cheru, 1989, pp. ...
... The main challenges for the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) stem from the organisation's structure and unclear mandates (Jiboku, 2015:9). Despite widespread acceptance of regionalisation, little progress has been made in terms of economic and political integration (Cheru, 1989). Cheru went on to say that Africa's economic cooperation was hampered by dysfunctional infrastructure, underdeveloped monetary and banking systems, and a lack of human capital. ...
... Shaw (1983:332) the Lagos action plan can express a shared fear of decline and chaos, both nationalist and internationalist, in addition to existing notions of hierarchy north-south and a theory dependency. Cheru (1989) rejects and defines the Afro-initiated LPA as a blueprint for Africa's recolonization, which has no significant advantage for ordinary Africans, rather than its indirectly imposed worst manifestations development program. ...
The integration process associated with postcolonial African unification resulted in the establishment of several Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and two continental organisations, ranging from the Organization of African Unity to the African Union. This thesis begins with the premise that the integration approach has thus far been unsuccessful, encountering structural impediments in every facet of its political, economic, and sociocultural framework. Similarly, the structure of regional economic communities (RECs) has made little difference in terms of empowering African peoples, developing intra-African trade, or accelerating the unification project to its desired heights. Additionally, it appears as though the RECs are not structured or mandated to address the socioeconomic challenges confronting populations, to restore African identity, or to promote economic interdependence among member countries. As a result, many aspects of the original vision of free movement, free trade, open borders, and Africa-wide integration remain a pipe dream. This thesis argues that a narrow focus, as well as a lack of a common philosophy and model compatible with African socioeconomic and political aspirations in an African context, is at the heart of the continent's failed unification project. Despite numerous efforts since 1963, postcolonial Africa continues to suffer from balkanisation as a result of arbitrary borders, a phenomenon that has resulted in numerous, frequently protracted intra-national conflicts, economic stagnation, and governance challenges. In essence, the majority of African regional integration scholarship focuses exclusively on economic integration, omitting critical variables such as the political, sociocultural, and philosophical contexts for regional unification. Subsequently, there is a dearth of literature focusing on the restoration of African unity through a holistic approach. As evidenced by the research, I contend that focusing solely on the integration model underpinned by economic integration will not result in Africa's full unification. Additionally, this thesis responds to calls for contemplation of what an indigenous alternative architecture might look like in order to forge a common bond and responsibility based on shared consanguinity in order to reverse colonial architecture and reintroduce the African value system. The study employs a qualitative research approach to examine the challenges to Africa's unity. The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of an alternative African unification theory based on indigenous knowledge systems, using the Horn of Africa as a case study.
... As basic consumer goods and food were pushed out of reach of "ordinary citizens" (Cheru, 1989), living standards deteriorated sparking demonstrations and riots throughout the capital and the Copperbelt -the two most populous and urbanized regions of the country. These so-called "IMF riots" killed over 15 people and in December 1986 thenpresident Kenneth Kaunda suspended the structural adjustment reforms (Simutanyi, 1996, p.9). Abrahamsen (2000) argues that it was economic desperation as much as desire for democracy that drove the mass movements for a return to multi-party democracy in the late 1980s. ...
... Rather, trade liberalization and massive privatization of the public service and parastatal sectors sped ahead, regardless of the impacts on Zambian labour and industry. The Bretton Woods institutions and governments of the global North had employed foreign aid and assistance to gain "political leverage" in Zambia, reducing the state"s ability to respond to the needs and demands of its citizens (Abrahamsen, 2000;Cheru, 1989). The newly elected Movement for Multiparty Democracy, faced with crippling debt and donor dependency, deepened the market"s rule at the expense of popular interests (Abrahamsen, 2000;Bond, 2005). ...
... egative consequences, such as the erosion of local industries and increased vulnerability to global market fluctuations. (Rodrik, Dani. 2011). 8. impact on health and education: Spending cuts required by the IMF have sometimes resulted in reduced access to essential services like health and education, adversely affecting human capital development. (Cheru, Fantu. 1989). ...
... With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, so went this leverage, and IMF/World Bank loans increasingly became tied to the conditionalities of economic liberalisation in the name of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), which were not only rammed down the throats of African leaders, but also required them to use force to implement. SAPs ran counter to the legitimate interests of the masses and, insofar as they were negotiated in closed-door boardrooms and needed force to implement, were inimical to genuine efforts at creating responsive and accountable governance in Africa (Cheru 1989;Mkandawire and Olukoshi 1995;Mkandawire and Soludo 1999;Murunga 2007). Scholars of this research orientation argue the case for Africans to retake the initiative in the SAP debate, otherwise the processes of political democratisation, economic liberalisation and the simultaneous determination of Africa's economic policies by international financial institutions amount to shifting from political dictatorship to authoritarian economism (Nasong'o 2004). ...
The premise of this article is that there has been a dialectical duality to the political science study of Africa, in terms of scholars and focus. The duality of scholars is represented by African scholars both on the continent and in the diaspora, on one hand, and Africanist scholars (non-African scholars who study Africa), on the other. Much of the political study of Africa has focused on the problematic of development. This political science research focus on the problematic of development gives epistemological priority to generating empirical political knowledge research. In contrast, research emphasis on the problematic of emancipation from oppression and exploitation prioritises an epistemological conception of knowledge that facilitates radical change as it grapples with evaluative moral-ethical issues. The purpose of the article is to examine the dialectical nexus of development- and emancipatory-focused political study of Africa, and the impact and relevance of the corpus of political science epistemologies thus generated. The central argument is that the relevance and implications of political science epistemologies generated via normative and critical approaches have been more profound than those generated via strictly positivist and empirical approaches. Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o, Professor of International Studies, Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Email: nasongos@rhodes.edu
... African countries were forced to open up their markets, dismantle many aspects of the African state and institute minimal democratic procedures essential for the wellfunctioning of the market. 19 In the process, what was left of 'development welfarism' of the 1960s and 1970s was completely erased from the economic reform package. 20 So, policymaking, an important aspect of sovereignty, has been wrenched out of the hands of the African state. ...
Text of the Inaugural Thandika Mkandawire Annual Memorial Lecture presented at the 3rd edition of the Social Policy in Africa Conference convened virtually from 22–24 November 2021. Fantu Cheru, Emeritus Professor of International Political Economy, American University, Washington, DC. Email: cherufantu@gmail.com
... Los precios de los productos básicos, fundamentales para las economías africanas, van a caer, mientras que las manufacturas van a encarecerse, empeorando las condiciones de intercambio para los países africanos. La reducción drástica en los ingresos va a traducirse en un endeudamiento externo, al no poder devolver los préstamos con los ingresos provenientes de las exportaciones, dado el descenso radical de los precios de los productos primarios, y la falta de diversificación de las economías africanas A pesar de que en 1980 los países africanos diseñaron un nuevo proyecto colectivo de desarrollo, bajo el Plan de Acción de Lagos, la petición de nuevos préstamos y el aumento de las tasas de interés a partir de la crisis de 1979 conllevaron consecuencias desastrosas para los países africanos, manifestadas en la crisis de la deuda de los años ochenta y noventa (Cheru, 1990;Colom Jaén, 2007). ...
En el presente artículo analizamos la evolución del continente africano durante los últimos sesenta años, desde el momento de la descolonización y las independencias africanas, hasta la actualidad, centrándonos en las transformaciones más importantes experimentadas en el ámbito del desarrollo económico y político, con el objetivo de sentar las bases para una comprensión general de los principales procesos desarrollados en el continente en las últimas décadas. Con el objetivo de ofrecer una visión comprehensiva de las principales cuestiones políticas y económicas, se explicitan tanto las dinámicas internas como los intereses y las interacciones externas que subyacen en los procesos coloniales y poscoloniales. El artículo aborda dos grandes temas de los estudios africanos, la trayectoria política del Estado africano poscolonial y la economía política del desarrollo africano, antes de esbozar la reciente y progresiva rivalidad de las principales potencias por los recursos e influencia en el continente africano, y por último se procede a realizar unas conclusiones generales. La coyuntura actual en África, con protestas y movilizaciones multitudinarias de africanos que aspiran a generar cambios decisivos en sus países, muestra que es un momento clave para la reflexión y un punto de inflexión hacia una eventual transformación estructural del continente, no obstante los desafíos.
... According to this view, democracy embodies a far-reaching and wide-ranging movement comprising the liberation of the citizenry from local cabals, despots, and tyrants. It frees women and children from domestic and social servitude, and nations from covert and overt foreign domination and exploitation (Wilmot 1986;Anyang' 'Nyong'o 1987Cheru 1989;Ake 1994Ake , 1995Chole and Ibrahim 1995). It is an undisputable fact that democracy, along with other important concerns such as health, development, and peace, has become one of the core and foremost preoccupations of today's world. ...
... As a researcher of IR, I understand the historical contexts of exploitation, colonialism, expropriation of land, resources, and labor without compensation, cultural imperialism, and contributions of colonized peoples in the advancement of the West. I also understand the context of "global apartheid" (Cheru 1989) and the global "color line" (DuBois 1903(DuBois /1989) that shaped IR, and the integration of "global poor relief" and "global riot control" (Cox 1995;Duffield 2001) in global production. But at the same time, it is difficult to observe how many communities in the Global South are put in daily contact with the possibility of insecurity and death. ...
The article argues that academics navigate and occupy various localities, spaces, and identities, which allows them to be self-reflexive in understanding the inherent challenges in diversifying the discipline. Using personal narratives as a methodological and theoretical tool, this article situates plural experiences and contexts of a woman of color, working in precarity in academia. The intersection of multiple identities reveals various sites of privilege and oppression, and inclusion and exclusion. Unsettling and dismantling binaries and identities reveal complex entanglements and connections that provide more nuanced understandings of IR. This article further discusses ways the discipline of IR has excluded diverse theoretical and empirical knowledges and regions, including critical approaches and the Global South. This disciplinary exclusion and erasure is reproduced in everyday academic practice and can serve as an entry point to understand why diverse communities are underrepresented in IR. Further, academia is not immune from the functions of power and social and economic hierarchies in society, and those hierarchies are manifested in various forms of asymmetry observable in academia, especially toward diverse communities and academics working in precarity.
... According to Diamond the larger the state-the greater the proportion of resources it controls and economic activity it regulates-the greater will tend to be the level of political corruption [46]. The African states" character also contributed to theorizing of the state as "The Politics-of-the-Belly State [48,49]; The Predatory State [50][51][52][53], Rentier State [54,55,40]; the Shadow State [56][57][58]; the Warlord State [57,59,30]; the Class State [61][62][63][64][65][66][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67]; the development State [17,37,70,59,[71][72][73][74]; the privatized State [75,59,76,77]; the resource state [78,79,[80][81][82][83]. Critically important to this paper is the theory of the corrupt African state. The theory of the corrupt African state by definition examines the character and policies of African governments where the state serves as the arena for corruption. ...
... In total terms, that expanding is evaluated at 100 million individuals or more. Kid and maternal death rates will remain to a great degree high, and the spread of pestilence sicknesses will keep on undermining development endeavors [28] ". chance that the development rates of the late 1990s hold on, by 2025 city inhabitants will dwarf those living in rustic territories and the continent's urban populace will practically treble in estimate [29] ". identities with respect to urban migrants [30] " . " Urban farming is practiced widely in numerous African urban areas, with the result that the economic and social contrasts amongst city and rustic ranges have turned out to be obscured [31] "." Remittances are vital parts of numerous rural economies and family survival instruments, giving a basic wellspring of capital. ...
ABSTRACT
With regards to urban advancement in African nations, the many reasons or troublesome difficulties have confronted African nations in the course of recent decades: the debasement in people in general part, urban debacles and reproduction methodologies, insufficiencies in framework and fundamental administrations, expanding urban-rustic lopsidedness, destitution, expanding ruralization of urban communities and informalization of the economy, developing wellbeing and natural emergency. As urbanization is expanding in many nations of the locale, the issue of deficient framework administrations and the debasement of the urban condition are gigantic. Subsequently, the general point of this review is to clarify why, how and to what degree do a few causes assume an imperative part in impacting the urban advancement in Africa. This review utilized descriptive deductive approach in undertaking the research. Governmental reports, statutes and laws were likewise hotspots for essential information in this review. Optional information was fundamentally from scholastic works, for example, books, diary articles, and theses. The discoveries of the review demonstrate that the political, economic and social challenges have added to decay of urban improvement in Africa. This review gives data and recommendation on how economical urban improvement in Africa can fill in as an empowering influence in achieving the coveted auxiliary change, expanded prosperity and peaceful co-existence.
... As African urban areas keep on growing both spatially and demographically under states of financial stagnation and institutional fall. They go up against a greater amount of the characteristics of their rustic hinterlands: expanding significance of urban agribusiness by defying prohibitive land-utilize controls-preparing for more assorted utilization of urban space; the unconstrained development of illicit settlements and petty commodity production; and the upkeep of provincial economic links and local and social identities with respect to urban migrants (31) . Urban farming is practiced widely in numerous African urban areas, with the result that the economic and social contrasts amongst city and rustic ranges have turned out to be obscured (32) ." ...
Abstract
With regards to urban advancement in African nations, many reasons or troublesome difficulties have confronted African nations in the course of recent decades: the debasement of people in general, urban debacles and reproduction methodologies, insufficiencies in framework and fundamental administrations, expanding urban-rustic lopsidedness, destitution, expanding ruralization of urban communities and informalization of the economy, developing wellbeing and natural emergency. As urbanization is expanding in many nations of the locale, the issue of deficient framework administrations and the debasement of the urban condition are gigantic. Subsequently, the general point of this review is to clarify why, how and to what degree do a few causes assume an imperative part in affecting the urban advancement in Africa. This review utilized descriptive deductive approach in undertaking the research. Governmental reports, statutes and laws were likewise hotspots for essential information in this review. Optional information was fundamentally from scholastic works, for example, books, diary articles, and theses. The discoveries of the review demonstrate that the political, economic and social challenges have added to decay of urban improvement in Africa. This review gives data and recommendation on how economical urban improvement in Africa can fill in as an empowering influence in achieving the coveted auxiliary change, expanded prosperity and peaceful co-existence.
... On the other hand, the democracy may be seen as a solution to the excessive public debt accumulation. The relations between public debt and the level of democracy are widely analysed in the literature, even if not ambiguous (Feld, Kirchgässner, 2001;Holland, 2016;Stallings, Kaufman, 1988;Frieden, 1985: 300;Cheru, 1989), in some papers being restricted to precious legal analysis but not supported by quantitative proofs (Schragger, 2012), in other works being limited to singlecase analysis (Lindholm, 1946); (Chossudovsky, Ladouceur, 1994: 1506-1507. Also, contributions based on the statistical methods give ambiguous results, thus still require more attention. ...
... The urban poor are organizing themselves to meet their shelter needs, mobilize funds to build roads, clinics, and their own rotating credit systems to start up a whole range of businesses, including urban agriculture, in spite of the fact that formal municipal regulations try to outlaw these activities. In many cities, the poor have begun to diversify their earnings by engaging in urban agriculture, defying restrictive land-use controls, and paving the way for more diverse use of urban space; the spontaneous growth of illegal settlements and of petty commodity production; and the maintenance of rural economic links and regional and cultural identities on the part of urban migrants (Cheru, 1989;Jamal and Weeks, 1988:271-292). As a result, the economic and cultural differences between city and rural areas have become blurred (Vitkovic and Godin, 1998). ...
... As cities grow both spatially and demographically under conditions of poor planning, economic stagnation and institutional collapse, they tend to take on more of the qualities of their rural communities: increasing importance of urban agriculture by disobeying restrictive land-use controls -paving the way for more diverse use of urban space; the spontaneous growth of illegal settlements and of petty commodity production (Cheru, 1989). The situation is not different in Accra where urban agriculture is practiced extensively with the result that the economic differences between city and its peri-urban zones have become blurred (Farvacque-Vitkovic and Godin, 1998). ...
This paper assesses qualitatively, the presence of PBDEs in ashes, soils and vegetables found at the Agbogbloshie e-waste recycling site in Accra, Ghana. The motivation for the study was not only because the area serves as a major food center of the city where vegetables are cultivated extensively but additionally, a place where informal e-waste recyclers incinerate wires to harvest copper for survival. The dilemma is how to ascertain the safety of foods coming from the area since vegetables for example, are known to be very susceptible to contamination by ubiquitous lipophilic organic compounds including PBDEs which can be health threatening. Moving beyond speculative considerations that have characterized prior reports, this paper employs the EI Gas chromatography mass spectrophotometric method to analyse the presence of PBDEs in the ashes, soils and vegetables found at the site. The intent is to contribute to the debate and literature on how livelihood strategies impact food security. The results confirm the presence of five different PBDEs (BDE-1, BDE-7, BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99 or BDE-100) in all the samples, indicating a propensity of the e-waste recycling activities to disrupt food coming from the area and possibly affect human health. The paper calls for a more comprehensive study that will help create a set of converging policies and strategies that can reconcile the need for access to livelihood strategies – such as e-waste recycling, despite its health and environmental risks – and the right to healthy working conditions, a clean environment and safe food in Accra.
... It is not intended to detail these policies here, since they have been endlessly reviewed in the literature (e.g. see Loxley, 1990;Jamal and Weeks, 1994;Adepoju, 1993;Weeks, 1992;Cheru, 1990;Sparr, 1993;Dixon, Simon and Narman, 1995); the significant point for the purpose of this paper is that they deliberately targeted the urban sectors on the grounds that urban bias in past government policies had, and was still, leading to 'overurbanization', and excessively high urban wages and living standards. Part of the evidence supporting this view was the erroneous idea that rapid rural- urban migration was continuing unabated, and urban numbers were still soaring. ...
In many African countries, economic decline in the 1980s, and the impact of IMF structural adjustment programmes, combined to devastate the real incomes of a very large proportion of the urban population. The impact has not necessarily only been felt amongst those who were already poor, although undoubtedly they have tended to suffer the most. Many public sector workers, previously often considered to be part of the so-called 'labour aristocracy', were reduced to incomes which only covered a fraction of the absolute necessities of existence, or, worse still, lost their jabs. Urban service provision has also declined, often dramatically. The gap between real rural incomes and real urban incomes has often narrowed considerably. It appears that the rate of urban growth in some African countries has slowed considerably, and there is also some evidence that new forms of 'reverse migration' from urban to rural areas have occurred. An attempt will be made to assess this evidence, drawing on examples from different countries, including Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania.
... Critics condemn NEPAD 13 Even if one chooses to see development as nothing more than economic growth, it is surely not possible to understand the process of economic growth without reference to social, cultural and political factors. 14 For critical assessments of the role of SAPs in Africa see Adepoju (1993), Cheru (1989), Lipumba (1994), Mengisteab and Logan (1995), Mkandawire and Soludo (1999) and Van der Geest (1994). ...
... Those who have written on Africa's development situation in the 1980 and 1990 decades concur in observing that while Africa is the most underdeveloped continent. Since the 1980s, the continent has experienced a deep development crisis (Cheru, 1989;World Bank, 1990;Nyang'oro and Shaw 1992;Bloomstrom andLundahi, 1993 andMbatia, 1996). .The crisis is multidimensional as manifested in the economic, social, political, health, environmental and technological components of the African economies. ...
This paper examines the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in expanding opportunities in education and improving access to quality education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper observes that the application of ICTs has become the engine of chunge in emerging information societies of the new millennium. While development is increasingly ICT driven, Africa still has limited capacities and infrastructures that support ICT By use of secondary data, the conditions of ICT development and use in education in Africa are highlighted. The paper further illustrates the potential for improvement in performance of the education sector in Africa with appropriate application of ICT The conclusion drawn is that the application of ICTs would improve the education sector in Africa in three critical areas namely; Increased access to education, improved quality of teaching and learning and improved efficiency in administration and management of schools.
... As African cities continue to grow both spatially and demographically under conditions of economic stagnation and institutional collapse, they take on more of the qualities of their rural hinterlands: increasing importance of urban agriculture by disobeying restrictive land-use controls-paving the way for more diverse use of urban space; the spontaneous growth of illegal settlements and of petty commodity production; and the maintenance of rural economic links and regional and cultural identities on the part of urban migrants ( Cheru, 1989;Jamal and Weeks, 1988: 271-292). Urban agriculture is practiced extensively in many African cities, with the result that the economic and cultural differences between city and rural areas have become blurred (Vitkovic and Godin, 1998). ...
Most of the literature on cities and globalization has so far been focused on the cities of developed countries that have had their economic bases greatly enhanced by globalization, namely, New York, London and Tokyo (Sassen, 1991). There have been very little systematic studies of cities in less developed countries where the benefits of globalization are less obvious or are absent despite two decades of donor-mandated economic reform programs by developing countries in an effort to integrate them better to the world economy. Even less known is about the effect of globalization on the relationships between capital cities that serve as the nerve center of global accumulation and the hundreds of small towns and provincial capitals that have been untouched by economic globalization in a meaningful way. This paper will examine how globalization has affected the provision of public goods—water, sanitation and infrastructure—services that were the domain of governments until recently.
... African cotton sector restructuring has its roots in the sweeping structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) imposed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the governments of Africa and other developing regions in the 1980s and 1990s. The SAPs in turn were the outcome of the generalised global restructuring following the collapse of the Bretton Woods institutions, the oil crisis of the early 1970s, the rise of TNCs and the ballooning African debt (see Lawrence 1986;Cheru 1989;Onimode 1989;McMichael 1994;Friedmann 1994). ...
... With the crisis of the development project, this mimetic moment unravels, generating movements of cultural identity and informalization in a general withdrawal from the state (Cheru, 1989;Rau, 1991;Latouche, 1993). While political instability and chronic impoverishment often accompany these movements, it is also the case they can be grounds for renewal of local rights, claims and community politicsas the recent1? ...
The agrarian question, like most questions about the trajectory of (capitalist) development, was framed as a national question about a national process. This article critiques the latter assumption, arguing, as Karl Polanyi did, that the classical agrarian question was a national interpretation of a global process. It also argues that the current processes of globalization crystallize the agrarian question in new and challenging ways. The key to these arguments is that the capitalist organization of agriculture is a political process, and is central to the dynamics of an evolving state system (including supra-statal institutions). The discussion contextualizes agricultural developments within the contradictory dynamics of the two main periods of world capitalism over the last century: the national (developmentalist) and the global movements. The crisis of developmentalism coincides with the crisis of the post-Second World War food regime. It is currently generating new social movements that combine original and tenure questions with food and green questions, reversing the anti-agrarianism of the development, or productivist, paradigm.
... As Mihevc (1995) argues, the structural adjustment programs (SAPs) engineered by these organizations represent a new form of fundamentalism with many similarities to fundamentalist religions. Cheru (1989) suggests that: ...
Missionaries, monetary funds, and marketers make strange bedfellows. The paradisal visions that they promote appear quite distinct. It seems to slander some more than others to label all three as pimps. And despite the phenomenon of serial addictions, the religious zealots, impoverished wretches, and compulsive consumers of the world seem to form mutually exclusive, if not mutually hostile, groups. Nevertheless, missionaries, international monetary funds, and other marketers all strive to incite passionate longing toward something far better, for which those seduced must pay a price. All three seek to fan the fires of fanaticism with promises of a future paradise, immediate or distant. And all three threaten hellish punishments for those who reject these promises. There are, I contend, more similarities than differences among the conversion tactics and promises of these three panderers to human fears and longings. By examining the overlapping manner in which each purveys promises of paradise, we may better understand the tap roots of human emotion that each seeks to incite.
... Demand management policies, which are central in structural adjustment programmes, have had a regressive impact by reducing the amount of foreign exchange available to purchase necessary imports, leading to severe import strangulation, depriving industry and agriculture of needed inputs. In the social sector, debt servicing and the adjustment policies pushed to free up foreign exchange needed to service the debt have worsened social welfare in the areas of health, education and poverty reduction (Cheru, 1989; Beckman, 1992: 83–105). ...
Today in much of Africa economic growth has slowed and living standards for the majority have suffered in the face of rising unemployment and mass poverty, resulting in incomes that are presently below the 1970 level. One problem that has been the focus of much attention and contention over the past 20 years is the huge foreign debt owed by African countries to bilateral donors and multilateral institutions. Debt servicing is consuming a disproportionate amount of scarce resources at the expense of the provision of basic services to the poor. In order to receive help in servicing their debts, countries must agree to implement structural economic reforms. This often entails drastic cuts in social expenditures, the privatisation of basic services, and the liberalisation of domestic trade consistent with WTO rules. These policy decisions have had a direct impact on the capacity of African countries to promote, fulfill and protect the right to health of their citizens. This is further compounded by ill-conceived privatisation of basic services such as water and health services, without any regard for the ability of the poor to access these essential services at a cost they can afford. Finally, adherence to WTO trade rules, which often comes as an extension of liberalisation policy, hampers the capacity of African governments to produce or purchase less expensive generic drugs for their citizen without fear of retaliation from the developed countries.
... While the deleterious impacts of SAPs have been well described (cf. Körner et al., 1986;George, 1988;Cheru, 1989;Mamdani, 1991;Gibbon et al., 1992;Lall, 1992;Stein, 1992a;Mosley and Weeks, 1993) the theoretical outlines of alternative approaches embedded in Africa's geography and political economy have been less well developed. This article is an attempt to trace the outlines of such a theory. ...
Structural adjustment in Africa is based on neo‐classical economic principles derived from the experience of industrialisation in Britain and the United States. Neo‐classical economics claims that unregulated markets maximise output across contexts. However, this naturalisation of markets neglects that they are actively constituted by actors with different capabilities and levels of power. Structural adjustment has failed because comprehensive liberalisation has led to the autonomous development of the trade and financial sectors, to the detriment of production. Appropriate development strategies must recognise the necessity of regulating trade and finance in order to channel resources towards production, as in the developmental states of East Asia. However, in order to be successful, such strategies must be embedded in Africa's political economy. Development will require a remaking of both African states and the international financial institutions which dictate their economic policies.
This handbook presents the latest theoretical and applied thinking on state capitalism, i.e., the institutional, policy, and ownership arrangements that reflect the direct influence of the state on the economy and firm behavior. It is a timely volume given the worldwide changes regarding the role of the state in the economy. Starting in the 1980s, there was an apparent process of retrenchment from earlier statism that had dominated most world economies since the 1940s, with state-owned enterprises becoming partially and fully privatized, industries becoming deregulated, and economies becoming liberalized by governments. However, in the 2010s the process saw a reversal, both in advanced economies (with governments regulating industries and nationalizing banks and firms to deal with the aftermath of the Great Recession that started in 2008) and in emerging economies (with governments using domestic firms as extensions of economic policy and supporting the international expansion of state-owned firms). This trend has resulted in new and more complex realities of the influence of the governments on firms. This volume explores the processes through which state capitalism has emerged and is sustained, and what sets new state capitalism apart from the old. State capitalism is approached in this volume through a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history, political economy, finance, public administration, sociology and law.
James Buchanan and Richard Wagner in their famous book “Democracy in Defi cit” note that democracy has not enough fi scal discipline because the citizens’ representatives are chosen in the election and they take the budgetary decisions seeking the re-election. Th eir theory of public choice may suggest the existence of a positive relationship between the democracy’s quality and the public debt level
refl ecting the long-lasting consequences of the budgetary decisions of policy-makers. Th us, we formulate the following research question: Is democratic system harmful for public fi nance? To operationalize the democratic system, we use fi ve democracy indices (i.e., electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian), and the public debt to operationalize the threat for public fi nance. Conclusions put in a new light the theory, as fi rst the study confi rmed that there are statistically signifi cant relationships between democracy’s quality and public debt and, however not in case of every democracy index and every European country.
At independence, Africans believed that they would be able to reconstruct the non-democratic state captured from the colonialists and develop more effective governance structures. The hope was that proper constitution making would provide the African people with the appropriate foundation to build transparent, accountable, and participatory governance structures. Unfortunately, the constitutional rules adopted at independence were weak, inefficient, and not particularly viable. In addition to the fact that they were easily subverted by interest groups seeking ways to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of the people, they allowed the new leaders to turn governmental structures into instruments of plunder to generate benefits for themselves. Like their colonial counterparts the neo-colonial governance structures were exploitative, undemocratic, and not designed to maximize wealth creation or popular participation. Instead of engaging their populations in proper constitution making in the post-independence period to reconstruct the neo-colonial state and design more effective laws and institutions, the new African leaders undertook opportunistic institutional reforms that significantly enhanced their ability to monopolize political power and the allocation of resources. What emerged were one-party political dictatorships that endangered peaceful coexistence and had a devastating effect on the creation of wealth, and subsequently on the alleviation of poverty. By the mid-1970s, government in many African countries had degenerated into a corrupt, patrimonial system in which civil servants regularly sold access to lucrative monopoly positions created by state regulations. As a result of changes that took place in the global political economy in the late 1980s. Africans now have another opportunity to engage in state reconstruction to provide themselves with more effective governance structures and economic systems that enhance the ability of entrepreneurs to create wealth. As the experiences of Benin and South Africa indicate, a bottom-up approach to constitution making that enfranchises the people and provides them with the facilities to participate effectively in the process should allow Africans to provide themselves with institutional arrangements that enhance peaceful coexistence and maximize the participation of entrepreneurs in wealth creation.
Taking a critical and historical view, this text explores the theory and changing practice of international development. It provides an overview of how the field has evolved and the concrete impacts of this on the ground on the lives of people in the Global South. Development Theory and Practice in a Changing World covers the major theories of development, such as modernisation and dependency, in addition to anti-development theories such as post-modernism and decoloniality. It examines the changing nature of immanent (structural) conditions of development in addition to the main attempts to steer them (imminent development). The book suggests that the era of development as a hegemonic idea and practice may be coming to an end, at the same time as it appears to have achieved its apogee in the Sustainable Development Goals as a result of the rise of ultra-nationalism around the world, the increasing importance of securitisation and the existential threat posed by climate change. Whether development can or should survive as a concept is interrogated in the book. This book offers a fresh and updated take on the past 60 years of development and is essential reading for advanced undergraduate students in areas of development, geography, international studies, political science, economics and sociology.
Informal trade continues to thrive between India and Pakistan despite recent measures undertaken by the two countries to normalize trade and reduce transport impediments. This calls for an in-depth analysis of India’s informal trade with Pakistan. This study (i) identifies factors determining informal trade, (ii) prepares estimates of India's informal trade with Pakistan (iii) examines the modalities of informal trade (iv) analyzes the transaction cost incurred in trading formally and informally and (v) proposes recommendations needed to shift informal trade to formal channels.
The analysis, carried out on the basis of an extensive survey conducted in India and Dubai estimates informal trade to be US$ 4.71 billion. Of this, India’s exports to Pakistan are estimated to be USD 3.99 billion and imports from Pakistan USD 0.72 billion. The study concludes that informal traders in India and Pakistan have developed efficient mechanisms for contract enforcement, information flows, risk sharing and risk mitigation. Further, even though the transaction costs of trading in the informal channel are significantly higher than the formal channel, traders prefer to trade through the informal channel since it is more efficient than the formal channel. An important policy implication is that unless the environment of the formal trade improves, informal trade will not only continue to coexist with formal trade, but it will also impact its potential magnitude in the coming years.
This article focuses on the political economy of Ethiopia since the ruling party EPRDF came to power in 1991 and argues that the country has seen the rise of oligarchy during this period. The party claims that its development strategy has reduced poverty, but it is evident that the country’s inequality has been growing in the past decade. The briefing identifies the mechanisms of oligarchisation, most notably privatisation, land expropriation, phoney shareholding and corruption. The conclusion is that Ethiopia’s growing inequality is related to the process of oligarchy formation.
The discursive traverses of “precarious work” invoke a wide range of meanings, from a political frame of reference for new labor and social movements to conceptualizations framing scholarly inquiries and institutional policymaking. Often, the notion is simultaneously registered along both descriptive and analytic planes. It consequently generates a certain amount of ambiguity, flitting between different levels of analysis. Quite paradoxically, however, the terms “precarious work” and “precarity” over the last decade or so have generated a potentially stable frame of reference for labor politics against the tide of neo-liberal policies and practices. How do we go about conceptualizing “precarious work” within specific, historical contexts and arrive, from such instances, at a more historicized understanding of the notion? What does such an exercise in conceptualization reveal about its contemporary salience among labor scholars, activists and policymakers in different contexts? These questions motivate the paper. In addressing them, the central argument of the paper alludes to a world-historical approach in tracing parallel concerns between contemporary scholarly discussions on “precarious work” and “informal labor.” It claims that the proliferating usages of “precarious work” beyond their original scope of reference in European contexts indicate tensions through which ongoing world-historical processes are mediated in shaping relations of social (re)production today.
For decades, Africa has grappled with conflicts, non-democratic regimes, under-development amongst other malaises. To address this and put Africa towards the growth path, several initiatives were developed, some by Africans and others through the multilateral institutions. Of all these initiatives, scholars agree that, in its inception, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) captured the imaginations of international community and it was well received by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the donor community.
This essay reviewed the existing literature as well as developments in the African continent, so that it could assess successes of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) in embedding democracy, good governance and conflict resolution in Africa.
Based on the reviews, it is argued that the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) have not been successful in embedding democracy, good governance and conflict resolution in Africa. A case in point being poor governance practices as demonstrated in the performance of African countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International, lack of transparent and proper democracies as demonstrated by irregularities in elections as well as ongoing conflicts in areas such as the Darfur region, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Somalia.
The aim of this chapter is to take stock of the evolution of development thinking and policies in Africa since independence in the early 1960s, and to assess their success and shortcomings, and explore alternative pathways for Africa’s structural transformation and long-term growth in the context of rapid globalization and technological revolutions. Taking a retrospective view and prospective view, the chapter examines the internal and external factors that contributed to the demise of the African “nationalist project” of the 1960s, and in moving forward, it explores sound and feasible alternatives on how to harness Africa’s development potential in order to an inclusive development agenda.
There is a general consensus on the important position of macroeconomics in the debates associated with the development of poorer economies be it in Africa or the rest of the world. At the core of the debates on macroeconomic reforms in Africa – especially in the 1980s and 1990s – was the character of the state in these countries and its involvement in the macroeconomic policy making process. The nature of the engagement of these states very much reflects a range of configurations of socioeconomic and political forces that are ranged against it. As such the state is not per se neither irrelevant nor is it largely a source of economic inefficiency. The character of the politics, as of the economies, does influence policy outcome in these countries. It is imperative to jointly examine the character of the state and market in Africa when designing development policy. This is the true basis from which any macroeconomic policy decisions should be made rather than some theoretical framework espousing free markets which do not reflect reality.
If the 1970s were characterised by the widespread success of the armed liberation struggle in Africa, the 1980s might have been billed as the lost development decade for the continent. Many sub-Saharan African countries witnessed either stagnation or a reversal of the gains of the 1960s and 1970s. The 1990s, which ushered dramatic changes in the world, starting first with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, are unlikely to bring better economic and political prospects for most countries in the continent.1 Grinding poverty is so extensive that the major international organisations are predicting more hard times for Africa. Many countries may descend into a desperate spiral of anarchy, looting, famine and self-destruction. The scourge of the AIDs epidemic, ethnic conflicts, ecological degradation and economic mismanagement will continue to have a profound impact on the future directions of Africa’s democratisation. These developments are taking place against the background of unprecedented changes in global economic and political relationships in which Africa will have only a marginal role to play.
Informal trade continues to thrive between India and Pakistan despite recent measures undertaken by the two countries to normalize trade and reduce transport impediments. This calls for an in-depth analysis of India’s informal trade with Pakistan. Studying the informal aspect of the trading relationship would offer insights into the functioning of the bilateral economic relationship and help provide policy inputs into the trade normalization process. In this context the study (i) identifies factors determining informal trade, (ii) prepares estimates of India’s informal trade with Pakistan, (iii) examines the modalities of informal trade, (iv) analyzes the transaction cost incurred in trading formally and informally, and (v) proposes recommendations needed to shift informal trade to formal channels. The analysis carried out on the basis of an extensive survey conducted in India and Dubai estimates informal trade to be US$ 4.71 billion. Of this, India’s exports to Pakistan are estimated to be USD 3.99 billion and imports from Pakistan USD 0.72 billion. The study concludes that informal traders in India and Pakistan have developed efficient mechanisms for contract enforcement, information flows, risk sharing, and risk mitigation. Further, even though the transaction costs of trading in the informal channel are significantly higher than the formal channel, traders prefer to trade through the informal channel since it is more efficient than the formal channel. An important policy implication is that unless the environment of the formal trade improves, informal trade will not only continue to coexist with formal trade, but it will also impact its potential magnitude in the coming years.
Karl Polanyi made a distinction between formal and substantive economics. Formal economics is the body of deductive reasoning about behaviour in conditions of scarcity derived from a postulated rational and supposedly universal homo economicus. Substantive economics is the study of how specific historical societies have organised themselves to satisfy their material wants. Polanyi devoted himself to the latter. He was suspicious of the universalist claims of formal economics. To abstract the economy from society and to place it in dominance over social relationships would generate a Hobbesian war of all against all.
For more than a century and a half, the most powerful national governments have created institutions of multilateral governance that promise to make a more inclusive world, a world serving women, working people, the colonized, the 'backward', the destitute, and the despised. This groundbreaking book is a study of that promise, and of the real impact of this world government. It discusses what systems global institutions have, and have not done to keep their promise, and examines whether the system will serve the world's least-advantaged, or marginalize them further. This book focuses on whether it is the 'economists and political philosophers of the rich', or the social movements of the disadvantaged that are most likely to influence the world's lawmakers, and the processes by which they will complete the next generation of multilateral institutions. An innovative study, this book is important reading for anyone with an interest in international political economy, global governance, development and the politics of north-south relations.
Efforts to build stable states in Africa have often been conditioned by ideological and policy debates about the right approach for enhancing freedom and social wellbeing. Since independence, African countries have experimented with unorthodox variants of liberalism and socialism. However, neither of these has enhanced African states. This article examines the shift from orthodox neoliberalism in the international approach to state-building in Africa and raises questions about the feasibility of an international development approach that fuses neoliberalism with a human development approach. The article advances the notion of people-centered liberalism as the latest approach to international state-building in war-torn African countries. It uses the internationally-driven postwar reconstruction plans for Sierra Leone and Liberia to demonstrate people-centered liberalism.
Bevlyne Sithole is a lecturer in the Centre for Applied Sciences and has worked on various projects focusing on institutions for natural resources in forestry, and the water sector. Her key focus has been participation, power relations among actors, differentiation and micro-politics of natural resources use. Abstract: 1 One aspect of water reform in Zimbabwe is increased stakeholder participation in water management through catchment boards. This paper uses discourse analysis to explore relationships among different stakeholders in consultative meetings facilitated to achieve wider participation among all stakeholders. Consultation over the water allocation system provides a case for the analysis of interfaces where multiple stakeholders meet and interact. Though inclusive of a wide range of stakeholders, catchment boards are far from being democratic organisations. Water democracy without water development is difficult to achieve, while water democracy that ignores the present dualism in access to resources perpetuates differentials in participation by all stakeholders.
In October 2001, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) was released as the blueprint for addressing Africa's development crisis. In the period since its release NEPAD has faced the curious dilemma of being hailed as a visionary document, especially in the West, and being severely criticised by a range of African civil society institutions. Much of the criticism of NEPAD has focused on procedure — the lack of consultation in its drafting — and its neoliberal policy orientation. The latter underscores the sense of betrayal that comes through much of the civil society resistance to NEPAD. The question though is this: Why would a group of African leaders, who seem genuine in their concerns, take responsibility for such a policy framework?
We argue that the explanation lies in the complex interaction between a set of developments since 1980: the neoliberal hegemony at the level of state policy-making, the internal policy atrophy, the coercive power of compliance, but equally the new constituencies (class forces) that have been thrown up in the last two decades — within the state, economy, and importantly the civil society in sub-Saharan Africa. It is in this sense that we speak of the structural adjustment of African politics and civil society. Much of the latter is premised on the ‘death of the emancipatory project’ and the dominant politics of the petty bourgeois class in Africa. These constitute the class and ideological premises of NEPAD and the need to understand NEPAD as a class project.
Not only multinational corporations but also small-scale firms are recognized as part and parcel of global commodity production. Most of this production is destined for western economies but not all commodities of industrial production end up in these countries. There is a high volume of trade taking place between developing regions. This article aims to highlight industrial production for the shuttle trade in the Laleli market of Istanbul and the central role that women's and immigrants' labour plays in this production. Garment ateliers producing for the Laleli market are usually operated as family establishments in which tapping into cheap female and immigrant labour through kin networks has been a main form of survival for the ateliers and has generated a successful internationally trading industry.
There is hardly an international forum or publication that has not discussed some aspect of the third world debt crisis since 1982. Much of the discussion is devoted to understanding what caused the crisis and what can be done about it. There is shortage neither of diagnoses nor of prescriptions. Most of the suggested solutions, however, treat the crisis as one of liquidity and not as one of solvency. The main thrust of the prescriptions tends to be towards ‘managing’ the crisis in the hope that over time, the countries will regain their liquidity and be able to service their debts. Although crisis management of this kind is essential, it is also important that fundamental problems, if any, be addressed so that the crisis does not repeat itself.
Good governance is a value-laden concept that is characteristically nebulous; it can mean different things to different people, depending on the context in which it is used. The same applies to leadership. Concepts, as Pauw (1999a, 465) puts it, are ‘tools of thinking’ and contexts are ‘the environments or frameworks in which they [concepts] operate’. Lucidity in the meanings of concepts is fundamentally important for shaping debate and enriching discourses. To maintain their power, concepts must be used in their proper contexts. This necessitates an understanding of the art of contextual discourse. Good governance is used in NEPAD as a principle and emphasised as a sine qua non for sustainable development in Africa. On the other hand, NEPAD premises Africa's re-birth or Renaissance on good governance and leadership, with a vision and commitment to repositioning the continent in global power balances. In this article good governance and leadership are considered as concepts. NEPAD is a textual context within which the two key concepts are used and should, consequently, be engaged. The article attempts a critical review of African scholarship engagement with good governance and leadership within the NEPAD context to determine the extent to which contextual discourse is practised. It further grapples with the immediate historical background to scholarship on Africa's development between the 1960s and early 1990s. The exercise reveals that much of the accumulated body of African scholarship and scholarship on Africa's development reviewed does not suffciently contextualise discourse on good governance and leadership within NEPAD, and its key assessment and monitoring device, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), and offers an alternative framework.
The contribution of a major aid agency, UNICEF, to the social sector in three African countries is reviewed and important lessons are drawn for developing the social sector in South Africa. UNICEF's commitment to children and women and its substantial development expertise bestow many advantages on developing bilateral relations with UNICEF. It is equally important to develop sound social policies and adequate community‐based programmes in which UNICEF's expertise and resources can be incorporated. Guidelines are formulated for reducing dependence and vulnerability to donor assistance in the social sector.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.