Democratization and the implementation of economic reform in Africa

Richard Sandbrook
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Richard Sandbrook: University of Toronto, Postal: University of Toronto

Journal of International Development, 1996, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: There is a vast gap between the rhetoric and the reality of economic reform in sub-Saharan Africa. Donors and scholars have therefore devoted increasing attention to mitigating the politico-administrative constraints on policy implementation. Proponents of economic adjustment now believe that democratization will provide the most conducive framework for better governance and sustained implementation. Yet democratic transitions in sub-Saharan Africa remain limited in number and impact. Those that occur involve a transition from weak authoritarianism to weak and fragile democracy. Nonetheless, new democracies, will all their limitations, perform no worse, and probably somewhat better, than the regimes they displace in the implementation of economic adjustment. But donors, in seeking to create the political and administrative, as well as economic, conditions for Africa's recovery, have assumed unprecedented responsibilities.

Date: 1996
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:8:y:1996:i:1:p:1-20

DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1328(199601)8:1<1::AID-JID285>3.0.CO;2-M

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