From miracle to nightmare: an institutional analysis of development failures in Côte d'Ivoire

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Periodical article

Title:	From miracle to nightmare: an institutional analysis of development failures in Côte d'Ivoire
Author:	Klaas, Brian
Year:	2008
Periodical:	Africa Today
Volume:	55
Issue:	1
Pages:	109-126
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ivory Coast - Côte d'Ivoire
Subjects:	political conditions economic conditions institutional change
External link:	http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v055/55.1.klaas.pdf
Abstract:	Once touted as the 'Ivorian miracle', Côte d'Ivoire has become a development nightmare. For two decades after obtaining independence, its economic growth and unwavering political stability baffled economists and inspired other fledgling African States to imitate its development model. Now, almost fifty years later, Côte d'Ivoire is a model of failed development. Recently emerging from a civil war, its economy stands in shambles, and an ongoing political stalemate threatens to reignite the violence. This article couples Elinor Ostrom's institutional analysis-and-development framework with Claude Ake's development paradigm to highlight the institutional roots of the crisis. It shows that local mismanagement, severely flawed structural adjustment programmes and a premature transition to democracy inevitably turned a miracle into a nightmare. The article suggests how institutional transformation may be used to prod the nation to wake up and again become the 'Ivorian miracle'. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]