Suchergebnisse

[This book] describes the emergence and nature of the prevailing African political and economic institutions in two periods. In the first, most African countries adopted political and economic institutions that funneled significant levels of political and economic power to the political elites, usually through one- or no-party (military) political systems, inward-oriented development policies, and/or state-led--and often state-owned--industrialization. In the second period, most countries adopted institutions that diluted the averarching political and economic power of ruling elites through the adoption of de jure multiparty electoral systems, more outward-oriented trade policies, and the privatization of many state-owned or -controlled sectors, though significant political and economic power remains in their hands. The choices made in each period were consistent with prevailing ideas on governance and development, the self-interests of political elites, and the perceived availability of support or autonomy vis-à-vis domestic, regional, and international sources of power at the time. This book illustrates how these two region-wide shifts in prevailing political and economic institutions and practices of Africa can be linked to two prior global geopolitical realignments: World War II and the ensuing American- and Soviet-led bipolar system and the end of the Cold War with American primacy. Each period featured changed or newly empowered international and regional leaders with competing national priorities within new intellectual and geopolitical climates, altering the opportunities and constraints for African leaders in instituting or maintaining particular political and economic institutions or practices. The economic and political institutions of Africa that emerged did so as a result of a complex mix of contending domestic, regional, and international forces (material and intellectual)--all which were themselves greatly transformed in the wake of these two global geopolitical realignments. -- Back cover

According to the author most African countries after independence opted for state owned enterprises in the export-producing sectors that led to inward-looking policies of economic development. He tries to show from case studies with data from 1960 to 1986 that this was the reason for poor economic growth in most African countries. For him state ownership is negatively related to income. Insinuating that his analysis applies to present-day Africa the author ignores that most countries were forced by IMF and the World since mid-1980s to privatise parastatals and to follow outward-looking economic policies - without convincing results in the growth and poverty-reducing field. (GIGA-Sbd)

[...] 6. (No) helping hands: external factors affecting the conclusion of the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone / Freida Ibidunt M'Cormack