Debt and the One-Party State in Zambia

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Periodical article

Title:	Debt and the One-Party State in Zambia
Author:	Good, Kenneth
Year:	1989
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:	27
Issue:	2
Period:	June
Pages:	297-313
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Zambia
Subjects:	external debt one-party systems Politics and Government international relations Economics and Trade
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/160852
Abstract:	In the debate over debt relief for Africa and the Third World, the situation of dictatorial, corrupt, and mismanaged regimes is often subsumed with the rest. Such an approach ignores the not uncommon situation of sometimes unrestrained and self-interested debt accumulation by formal or actual dictatorships. The Zambian case offers cautionary evidence to those who suggest that big debt concessions to African governments are either the cure-all or the essential first measures in the crisis affecting much of the continent. Indebtedness has for some time been rife inside a political economy that is characterized by gross mismanagement and waste. Zambia's acute malaise is a consequence chiefly of internal factors derivative of the single-party State and Kaunda's personal rule. As things stand, debt concessions and additional foreign aid would worsen rather than improve this situation, since it would strengthen and encourage an inefficient and authoritarian regime without bringing benefit to the majority of the people. Notes, ref.