African states and the global economy
1945-1969
Developed countries felt they had 'a duty to assist' the developing. Thus initiating state development and economic growth using Keynes and Pignott theories so the African economic trajectory could depart from "doom and gloom".
By 1960 - rapid industrialisation, employment expansion, diversification and rising incomes.
1970 - 1980
instability within Africa led to economic crisis and drought
1970 African agriculture had fallen by 20%
It is considered that industrialisation was prioritised over sufficient sustainable agriculture in Africa which led to economic failure because African countries had no back bone to reach for in times of slow economic growth. African crops are also undesirable exports creating an additional challenge for stimulating economic growth through agriculture.
14/16 West African countries had fallen to military rule between 1970-80.
Explanation
Left: (Socialists) considered external factors should be blamed for the poor economic growth. For example, colonialism etc.
Right: wanted to blame internal factors as the causes for this, e.g. climate change, resource curse, bad governance, cultural ethnicity and institutions
1980's Neoliberalism
1981 Berg Report: Compared SE Asian countries with the world and blame economic crisis of 1970s to state failure (e.g. rents, corruption, neo-patrimonialism)
Washington Consensus introduced loan conditionality in order to relieve poor countries of economic crisis through structural reform. 10 policies to reduce economic intervention. IMF lent $70 Bn to 93 developing countries over the decade of 1980.
Shift also meant: the theoretical armour for the welfare sate disintegrated and affropessimism emerges. Globalistaion meant the market and state relationship needed revisiting.
2000's
Asian Miracles
Taiwan, Japan, South Korea = authoritarianism
Governance: 'the exercise of power to manage a nation's affairs'
Developmental State
establishes as its principal of legitimacy its ability to promote sustainable development, understanding by development the steady high rates of economic growth and structural change in the productive system, both domestically and in its relationship to the international economy. (Castells, 1992)
The Developmental State has the ability to deploy authority, credibility and legitimacy in a binding manner to design and implement policies for economic growth, transformation and increasing human capability.
Governing is essentially political
As neoliberalism is not key for the Developmental state or embedded economy (capacity + autonomy), there is space for deciding and implementing economic policy which is political.
The crisis of governance in Africa. Africa needs good governance (by whom? political?)
Evans (1995) questions the simplification of economic failure being a result of state intervention, but crucially also questions the ability of market forces to lead a state to development. His inquires lead to the developmental state, one where the state has a lesser but important role in economic growth for development to occur.
Kicking away the Ladder (Chang, 2009)
The cycle of virtuous growth was undercut by African state's failure to invest in industries and technologies which would diversify and develop their economy away from primary sector exports.
GPD
'the monetary value of all final goods and services produced in a country, in a given period'
Typical measure of development as economic growth is considered to represent welfare, however this is NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.
Bringing the social and political back into the economy is important because political and social aspects are neglected in the quantitative measures which are normally used e.g. GDP.
strongly influential social and political forces today include:
Technologies and communication
migration and transnational connections
Urbanisation
care and social provisioning
the politics of power
In order to make up for the neglectfulness of previous state analysis Nugent (2010) invites existing social and political structures to undergo analysis at all levels. e.g. neopatrimonialism's role in exacerbating inequality.
Comparative Case Studeis
Kenyatta's Big Man - in Kenya. Clientalism etc.
Impossibility Thesises
Dependence - Rostow's model of modernising. The linear model with exact stages which the West followed to development. But, leftist views considered this model not possible as they existed on the periphery so forces would be
Lack of ideology - where the African elite highjacked the development project for their own interest, reducing funds for the poor and building suitable recognition.
Softness of African states who are prone to capture by dominant actors or pressure groups
Lack of technical capability
changing environment prevent industrial policies
poor record of past performance
Long Duree Approach
By recognising the centrality of sovereignty in 4 ways:
delivering services to citizens, redistributing and mobilising resources domestically (taxes), focus on agriculture, rebuilding institutions
Democratic Developmental States
Mauritus
Botswana
Future:
It has been stated that debt removal is the best most viable option for relieving African countries off the deprivation cycle and caged nature of development.