| Abstract: | Between 1978 and 1990 no less than 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa agreed to restructure or reform their economies under one or another form of adjustment programme recommended by the World Bank and the IMF. The World Bank consistently argued that the structural adjustment programme (SAP) would bring about stability and provide the catalyst for the economic transformation of underdeveloped countries. The policy prescriptions of the World Bank and the IMF included reliance on market forces, trade and exchange liberalization, and devaluation of domestic currency, among others withdrawal of subsidies. The author examines these prescriptions and their effectiveness in overcoming underdevelopment in sub-Saharan Africa. He challenges the philosophical assumptions underlying SAP and notes that the international capitalist system is partly responsible for the economic crisis in the underdeveloped world. The orthodox SAP of the IMF/World Bank will need to be transcended if the underdeveloped world hopes to overcome dependency and regain the initiative in determining its political and economic future. Ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
AfricaBib 
Periodical article
Leiden University catalogue
WorldCat