Togo – 2010: Domestic politics, foreign affairs, and socio-economic development

Dirk Kohnert

A chapter in Africa Yearbook Volume 7: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara in 2010, 2011, pp 190-198 from ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics

Abstract: Non-violent presidential elections paved the way for another five-year mandate for Faure Gnassingbé in Togo in 2010. Although marked by considerable irregularities, the voting was considered largely credible by the international community, which enhanced the legitimacy of the incumbent. An important cause of the defeat of the major opposition party was the growing internal divide between the ‘old guard’ and the ‘young Turks’, which led to a split in the ‘Union des Forces du Changement’ (UFC). Its leader Gilchrist Olympio, the generation-long adversary of the Gnassingbé regime, saw his hopes dashed and entered the government of national reconstruction, while the party's presidential candidate, together with the majority of its faction within the UFC founded a new radical opposition group. The EU and the international community followed a ‘laissez-faire' approach in the interests of stability and their own national interests in dealings with the country. A World Bank review of the economy revealed a remarkable shift in exports caused by the ailing phosphate and cotton sectors, along with an enduring lack of good governance.

Keywords: Togo; Africa Yearbook 2010; domestic policy; foreign affairs; socio-economic development; period under review 2010 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F35 F54 N47 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
Note: Author's version
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/301797/1/K ... s-version.edited.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:eschap:301797

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in EconStor Open Access Book Chapters from ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().