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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The economic context of democratic transition in Africa |
Author: | Ndongko, Wilfred A. |
Year: | 1996 |
Periodical: | Africa Insight |
Volume: | 26 |
Issue: | 4 |
Pages: | 375-380 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Africa |
Subjects: | democracy economic policy |
Abstract: | By and large, African leaders found that 20 years after independence the political fragility of the continent was compounded by its economic, social and cultural decay. The marginalization of the African people in the decisionmaking process has further aggravated the scope and depth of Africa's socioeconomic decline in the 1980s, leading to a crisis which has damaged the entire fabric of the African society and threatened the very foundations of the continent's long-term development prospects. Because of the failure of domestic economic policies to contend with the growing crisis, many IMF and World Bank-initiated and sponsored short-term structural adjustment and stabilization programmes were introduced in over 30 African countries. These programmes have produced untold hardship for the population at large and exposed the weakness and grossly undermined the legitimacy of the African State. In a sudden change of direction, international financial institutions and bilateral aid donors have now shifted towards a position that links structural adjustment programmes (SAP) with the process of political liberalization. Creating a fresh impetus for Africa's long-term development will depend on strengthening the role of popular participation in the economic, social and political life of the African people. Note, ref. |