Suchergebnisse

General introduction -- Bureaucratic and political corruption : definitions and measurement -- Corruption in Africa: an overview of causes and country experiences -- The impact of corruption on the African economies -- The international dimension of corruption -- Corruption cleanups in Africa : traditional approaches -- Corruption cleanups in Africa : lessons from public choice theory -- Corruption cleanups in Africa : the role of institutions -- Corruption cleanups in Africa : public financial management -- Corporate governance and corruption -- Corruption cleanups in Africa : a critique of advice from institutional experts -- Democratic constitution making and state reconstruction in Africa : challenges and prospects

The struggle to develop Africa : the failure of development theory -- The struggle to develop Africa : lessons from public choice theory -- The African economies today : an overview -- The state and a legacy of perverse economic policies -- Structural adjustment programs, the Bretton Woods institutions, and development in Africa -- Perpetuating poverty in Africa : official development assistance -- Raping Eden : property rights and the destruction of Africa's environmental resources -- Preparing Africa for the new millennium and beyond -- Institutions, structure of the constitution, and development in Africa

Africa's struggle against mass poverty and deprivation is examined using a constitutional political economy approach. It is argued that the failure of many African countries to deal effectively with poverty is due to the fact that since independence, these countries have not been able to engage in democratic constitution making to provide themselves with institutional arrangements that guarantee the rule of law. Such institutions must adequately constrain civil servants and political elites, enhance peaceful coexistence, and provide an enabling environment for the creation of wealth. The process to reconstruct and reconstitute African states has been on going since decolonization. The Arab awakening, which began in North Africa, and the pro-democracy demonstrations of the mid-1980s and early-1990s, are a continuation of this effort to secure the laws and institutions that enhance the creation of wealth and provide an enabling environment for the eventual eradication of poverty. Unless the African countries provide themselves with institutional arrangements that guarantee the rule of law, poverty will remain pervasive.

The study critiques the development literature's neglect of the role played by institutions in development, with special emphasis on corruption cleanups. Such neglect is especially problematic in view of the fact that corruption is a major constraint to wealth creation and economic growth in Africa. The policy limitations of traditional development models with respect to corruption can be remedied by incorporating insights from the theory of public choice into the design and execution of new anti-corruption programs. Such insights include the introduction of new and more relevant rules, reform of existing laws and institutions, provision of more effective and relevant incentive structures, and enforcement mechanisms to reduce the profitability of opportunism.