Structural stability in an African context

Abstract

Structural Stability is a particular focus for reconceptualising developmental strategy and development aid and has provoked unfore-seen responses in the course of a recent, mainly German debate. This debate began late in 2000 when a number of prominent German scholars in African Studies initiated a policy dialogue through a widely circulated and publicly discussed "Afrika Memorandum" centred on the notion of structural stability. Its arguments are relevant not only to a German audience but offer stimulating and thought-provoking inputs into the debate in the wider European context on bilateral and multilateral relations with Africa. This Discussion Paper presents the revised contributions to a Consulta- tive Workshop on Structural Stability in an African Context that took place at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala on 31 March and 1 April 2003.

CONTENTS -- Economic Aspects of the African CrisisLow-Level Equilibria, Traps and Structural Instability/Robert Kappel -- Comments on Robert Kappel/Anders Danielson -- "Structural Stability"-A Leitmotiv for African Policies? Background and Ambition/Andreas Mehler -- The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NePAD) -- A Step Towards Structural Stability?/Henning Melber