African economies and the politics of permanent crisis, 1979-1999

Abstract

This book explains why sub-Saharan African remains mired in a devastating economic crisis despite two decades of efforts to renew economic growth. It focuses on the manner with which political authority is exercised in the region, the dynamics of interaction with international forces, and the effect of past efforts at economics reform. By comprehensively examining contemporary African political economy, this study shows that there has been little societal opposition to reform in Africa and that the dominant obstacles to reform lie not in interest group pressures on the state, as others have argued, but within the state itself;that donor supported structural adjustment programs strengthen the status quo rather than promote reform;that aid does not advance the interests of international capital but is a substitute for foreign private capital;and that the legacies of past reform failures continue to influence the dynamics of present efforts at reform.