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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | International political economy: some African applications |
Author: | Collier, Paul |
Year: | 2008 |
Periodical: | Journal of African Economies |
Volume: | 17 Supplement |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | January |
Pages: | 110-139 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | world Africa |
Subjects: | political economy international economic relations Politics and Government Economics and Trade international relations |
External link: | https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/suppl_1/110.full.pdf |
Abstract: | Modern theories of political economy analyse the sources of political power and their use for economic ends. The key instruments of political power are the provision of public and private goods financed by taxation, and the regulation of private economic activity. Although international political economy treats States as the unit of analysis, the number of States is endogenous. This is highly pertinent for Africa, which has far more States relative to its population than other regions. Africa's many small States face acute difficulties of supplying the core public good of enforced justice. By applying the new economics of lawlessness developed by A. Dixit (2004), the author demonstrates the consequences of this for the African continent, viz. a situation of lawlessness where agents lack reliable recourse to the public good of enforced justice for the purposes of economic transactions. He argues that due to the difficulties of supplying this key public good from within the State, Africa needs to have more recourse to international provision, both through inter-State cooperation within the region, and through global provision. Bibliogr., ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |