As the World Bank famously put it back in 1989, 'underlying the litany of Africa's development problems is a crisis of governance.' This is a collection of authoritative essays bringing together prominent Africanists in political science and public administration to look at the role of governance in African development. The goal of the book is to move beyond the status quo debates about 'structural adjustment' and to look at all the public and civic institutions which are likely to play a critical role if Africa is to overcome its economic crisis.
Autorentext
NICOLAS VAN DE WALLE is a Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University, USA and a Fellow at the Centre for Global Development. He has published widely on African political economy and issues relating to democratization. He is the author of African Economics and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979-1999 (2001), as well as the co-author of three books Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspectives (1997), Improving Aid to Africa (1996), Of Time and Power: Leadership Duration in the Modern World (1991). NICOLE BALL is a Professor at the University of Maryland, USA. VIJAYA RAMACHANDRAN is a professor at Georgetown University, USA.
Zusammenfassung
The book starts with the premise that Africa's economic renewal will require moving beyond the narrow bounds of structural adjustment reform and promoting the greater effectiveness of the region's public institutions. Economic reform will not be successful unless the central states in the region develop more productive relationships with the other institutions that inevitably condition economic relations and the context in which development takes place. This institutional debate is particularly important because the recent democratization of African public life has resulted in a rapidly evolving institutional landscape, with the emergence of significant new actors. Each of the chapters in this book examines these relationships and attempts to define the appropriate developmental role of the different institutions that can play a prominent role in Africa's economic future.
Inhalt
Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction: The State and African Development; N.Van de Walle Financing Africa's Development: Towards a Business Plan?; I.Elbadawi & A.Gelb Tax Reform and Democratic Accountability; L.Rakner & S.Golpen Problems and Prospects of Civil Service Reform; D.Olown Forging Developmental Synergies Between States and Associations; A.M.Tipp Democratic Decentralizationof Natural Resources: Institutional Choice and Discretionary Power Transfers; J.Ribot Foreign Aid and State Administrative Capability; A.Goldsmith Governance and the Private Sector; L.Cotton & V.Ramachadran Governance and Private Investment; J.Emery Governance in the Security Sector; N.Ball, J.Kayode Fayemi, F.Olonisakin, M.Rupiya & R.Williams