Things Fall Apart Again: Structural Adjustment Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa

In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Band 30, Heft 1, S. 53-68

Abstract

International economics and global politics are unfamiliar territory for many. However, the operations of institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.) have profound impacts upon the countries with which they treat, and these extend beyond financial issues and geo-politics. This article indicates how the I.M.F. has imposed 'conditionalities' in sub-Saharan Africa as integral elements of Structural Adjustment Programmes (S.A.P.s) that affect not only the lives of all the inhabitants, but also the nature and landscapes of the nations concerned — their very geographical composition.