3 - Globalization and State–Society Relations in Africa
Corresponding Author(s) : Kidane Mengisteab
Africa Development,
Vol. 33 No. 2 (2008): Africa Development
Abstract
The post-colonial African state has long been viewed as a major culprit in Afri- ca’s socioeconomic crisis. Its failure to coordinate policy with broad social inter- ests and to reconcile its governance system with the institutions and cultural values of its citizens is a major factor. This paper examines if new globalization and its liberalization policies have begun to narrow the discrepancy between policy and social interests and to facilitate the reconstitution of the state by shifting the balance of power between state and society in favor of society. The findings suggest that, despite the apparent spread of democratization during the era of post – Cold-War globalization, the policy mechanisms of globalization have notably worsened the disjuncture between policy and social interests and exacerbated the antagonisms between the state and society in the African continent.
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- Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, 2001, ‘The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation’, American Economic Review, 91 (December): 1369–1401.
- Adedeji, Adebayo, 1999, ‘Comprehending African Conflicts’, in Adebayo Adedeji, ed., Comprehending and Mastering African Conflicts: The Search for Sustainable Peace and Good Governance, London: Zed Books, pp. 3–33.
- Adepoju, Aderanti, 1993, The Impact of Structural Adjustment on the Population of Africa, London: UNFPA, Heinemann and James Currey.
- African Development Bank, 2002, Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Progress, Prospects, and Policy Implications (June).
- Ake, Claude, 1996, Democracy and Development in Africa, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
- Amin, Samir, 2001, ‘Imperialism and Globalization’, Monthly Review, 53(2)(June): 6–24.
- Amnesty International, 2003, Amnesty International Report 2003.
- Artadi, V. Elsa and Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2003, The Economic Tragedy of the XXth Century: Growth in Africa, Discussion Paper #0203-17, Department of Economics, Columbia University, New York (May).
- Ayittey, George, 1998, Africa in Chaos, New York: St Martin’s Press.
- Ayoade, John A.A., 1985, ‘State without Citizens: An Emerging African Phenomenon’, in Donald Rothchild and Noami Chazan, eds, The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 100–118.
- Barro, Robert and Jong-Wha Lee, 2002, ‘IMF Lending: Who is Chosen and What Are the Effects?’ Mimeo, Harvard University (April).
- Bentsi-Enchill, Nii, 1992, ‘NGOs Widen Anti-Adjustment Action’, Africa Recovery, 6(3)(November): 26–27.
- Bienefeld, Manfred, 1994, ‘The New World Order: Echoes of New Imperialism’, Third World Quarterly, 15(1): 31–48.
- Bussmann, Margit and Gerald Schneider, 2003, ‘The “Peace Dividend” of Globalization: Foreign Economic Liberalization and Internal War’, Paper presented at the 44th annual ISA convention, Portland, Oregon (25 February– 1 March).
- Callaghy, Thomas, 1984, The State–Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective, New York: Colombia University Press.
- Centre for Development Research, 1985, Structural Adjustment in Africa: A Survey of the Experience, Copenhagen (March).
- Chase-Dunn, Christopher et al., 1994, ‘Hegemony and Social Change’, Mershon International Studies Review, 38(2)(October): 361–376.
- Clapham, Christopher, 1982, Private Patronage and Public Power: Political Clientelism in the Modern State, London: Pinter.
- Cornia, G., R. Jolly, and F. Stewart, eds, 1987, Adjustment with a Human Face, 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- De Soysa, Indra, 2001, ‘New World (Dis)Order? Testing the Effects of Trade and FDI on New Models of Civil Conflict, 1989–1999’, Paper presented at ISA Meeting on Globalization, Hong Kong (26–28 July).
- Easterly, William, 2001, ‘The Lost Decades: Developing Countries’ Stagnation in Spite of Policy Reform 1980–1998’, Journal of Economic Growth, 6 (June): 135–157.
- Easterly, William, 2005, ‘What Did Structural Adjustment Adjust? The Association of Policies and Growth with Repeated IMF and World Bank Adjustment Loans’, Journal of Development Economics, 76(1)(February): 1–22.
- The Economist, 2000, ‘The Heart of the Matter’ (11 May).
- Findlay, Ronald and Stanislaw Wellisz, 2003, The Theory of the State, Discussion Paper No. 0203-25, Department of Economics, Columbia University, New York (May).
- Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri, 2000, Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Human Security Center, 2005, The Human Security Report, 2005, University of British Columbia.
- Jackson, Robert and Carl Rosberg, 1982, Personal Rule in Black Africa: Prince, Autocrat, Prophet, Tyrant, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Kawewe, Saliwe and Robert Dibie, 2000, ‘The Impact of Economic Structural Adjustment Programs [ESAPs] on Women and Children: Implications for Social Welfare in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, XXVII(4) (December): 79–107.
- Keller, Edmund J., 1991, ‘The State in Contemporary Africa: A Critical Assessment of Theory and Practice’, in Dankwart A. Rustow and Kenneth Paul Erikson, eds, Comparative Political Dynamics: Global Research Perspectives, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, pp. 134–159.
- Liese, Bernhard and Gilles Dussault, 2004, The State of the Health Workforce in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence of Crisis and Analysis of Contributing Factors, Washington, DC: Africa Region, The World Bank.
- Mengisteab, Kidane, 2004, Africa’s Intrastate Conflicts: Relevance and Limitations of Diplomacy, African Issues, 32(1 & 2): 25–39.
- Mkandawire, Thandika and Charles Soludo, 2003, ‘Introduction: Towards the Broadening of Development Policy Dialogue for Africa’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 1–15.
- Musah, Abdel-Fatau and J. Kayode Fayemi, eds, 2000, Mercenaries: An African Security Dilemma, London: Pluto Press.
- Newbury, Catharine, 2002, ‘States at War: Confronting Conflict in Africa’, African Studies Review, 45(1)(April): 1–20.
- OECD, Economic Outlook 1997–2000.
- Ogot. B.A., 1999, General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Abridged Edition, Paris: UNESCO.
- Olukoshi, O.A., 2003, ‘The Elusive Prince of Denmark: Structural Adjustment and the Crisis of Governance in Africa’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 229–273.
- Oyejide, Ademola, 2003, ‘Trade Liberalization, Regional Integration, and African Development in the Context of Structural Adjustment’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 73–101.
- Petras, James and Henry Veltmeyer, 2001, Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st Century, Halifax, Nova Scotia and London: Fernwood Publishing and Zed Books.
- Przeworski, A. and J.R. Vreeland, 2000, ‘The Effects of IMF Programs on Economic Growth’, Journal of Development Economics, 62: 385–421.
- Robinson, William, 2004, ‘From State Hegemonies to Transnational Hegemony: A Global Capitalist Approach’, in Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, ed., Globalization, Hegemony and Power, Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, pp. 54–73.
- Rupert, Mark, 2000, Ideologies of Globalization: Contending Visions of a New World Order, London and New York: Routledge.
- Samatar, Ahmed and Abdi Samatar eds, 2002, The African State: Reconsiderations, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
- Silver, Beverly and Arrighi, Giovanni, 2005, ‘Polanyi’s “Double Movement”: The Belles Epoques of British and U.S. Hegemony Compared’, in Jonathan Friedman and Christopher Chase-Dunn, eds, Hegemonic Declines: Present and Past, Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, pp. 153–182.
- Sklair, Leslie, 2006, ‘Capitalist Globalization: Fatal Flaws and the Necessity for Alternatives’, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, XIII(1) (Fall/Winter): 29-37.
- Sklar, Richard, 1987, ‘Developmental Democracy’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 23(4): 686–714.
- Soludo, Charles Chukwuma, 2003, ‘In Search of Alternative Analytical and Methodological Framework for an African Economic Development Model’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 17–71.
- Taylor, Kate and Peter De Young, eds, 2004, Business and HIV/AIDS: Who Me? A Global Review of the Business Response to HIV/AIDS, 2003–2004, World Economic Forum and UNAIDS.
- Tshibaka, Tshikala, 2003, ‘Economic Policy Reforms, External Factors, and Domestic Agricultural Terms of Trade in Selected West African Countries’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 275–304.
- UNCTAD, 2001, Economic Development in Africa: Performance, Prospects and Policy Issues. New York and Geneva: United Nations.
- UNCTAD, 2002, Escaping the Poverty Trap: The Least Developed Countries Report 2002, New York and Geneva: United Nations."
- United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 1989, African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation, Addis Ababa: UNECA, E/ECA/CM.15/6/Rev. 3.
- United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2005, The Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Progress and Challenges, Addis Ababa, Economic Commission for Africa.
- USAID, 2003, The Health Sector Human Resource Crisis in Africa: An Issue Paper, Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, Bureau for Africa, Office of Sustainable Development (February).
- Versi, Anver, 2004, ‘Formula for Africa’s Rapid Growth’, African Business (August) Wallerstein, Immanuel, 2004, The United States in Decline? in Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, ed., Globalization, Hegemony and Power, Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, pp. 19–34.
- Waltz, Kenneth N., 1999, ‘Globalization and Governance’, PS: Political Science and Politics (December).
- Western, Bruce, 1995, ‘A Comparative Study of Working-Class Disorganization: Union Decline in Eighteen Advanced Capitalist Countries’, American Sociological Review, 60: 179–201 (April).
- Wood, Ellen Meiksins, 1998, ‘Capitalist Change and Generational Shifts’, Monthly Review, 5(5) (October).
- World Bank, 1994, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- World Bank, 1999, Health Expenditures, Services, and Outcomes in Africa: Basic Data and Cross-National Comparisons, 1990–1996, Washington, DC: World Bank (July).
- World Bank, 2001, World Development Indicators 2001, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- World Bank, 2002, African Development Indicators 2002, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- World Bank, 2002, World Development Indicators 2002, Washington, DC: World Bank.
- World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, 2004, A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All, Geneva: International Labour Organization (24 February).
- World Health Organization, 2002, The World Health Report, 2002, Rome: World Health Organization.
- World Health Organization, 2003, The World Health Report, 2003, Rome: World Health Organization.
- Young, Crawford, 1994, The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective, New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
- Yuri, Dikhavov, 2005, Trends in Globalization Income Distribution, 1970–2000 and Scenarios for 2015, Occasional Paper, UNDP Human Development Report Office, No. 2005/8.
References
Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, 2001, ‘The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation’, American Economic Review, 91 (December): 1369–1401.
Adedeji, Adebayo, 1999, ‘Comprehending African Conflicts’, in Adebayo Adedeji, ed., Comprehending and Mastering African Conflicts: The Search for Sustainable Peace and Good Governance, London: Zed Books, pp. 3–33.
Adepoju, Aderanti, 1993, The Impact of Structural Adjustment on the Population of Africa, London: UNFPA, Heinemann and James Currey.
African Development Bank, 2002, Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Progress, Prospects, and Policy Implications (June).
Ake, Claude, 1996, Democracy and Development in Africa, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
Amin, Samir, 2001, ‘Imperialism and Globalization’, Monthly Review, 53(2)(June): 6–24.
Amnesty International, 2003, Amnesty International Report 2003.
Artadi, V. Elsa and Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2003, The Economic Tragedy of the XXth Century: Growth in Africa, Discussion Paper #0203-17, Department of Economics, Columbia University, New York (May).
Ayittey, George, 1998, Africa in Chaos, New York: St Martin’s Press.
Ayoade, John A.A., 1985, ‘State without Citizens: An Emerging African Phenomenon’, in Donald Rothchild and Noami Chazan, eds, The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 100–118.
Barro, Robert and Jong-Wha Lee, 2002, ‘IMF Lending: Who is Chosen and What Are the Effects?’ Mimeo, Harvard University (April).
Bentsi-Enchill, Nii, 1992, ‘NGOs Widen Anti-Adjustment Action’, Africa Recovery, 6(3)(November): 26–27.
Bienefeld, Manfred, 1994, ‘The New World Order: Echoes of New Imperialism’, Third World Quarterly, 15(1): 31–48.
Bussmann, Margit and Gerald Schneider, 2003, ‘The “Peace Dividend” of Globalization: Foreign Economic Liberalization and Internal War’, Paper presented at the 44th annual ISA convention, Portland, Oregon (25 February– 1 March).
Callaghy, Thomas, 1984, The State–Society Struggle: Zaire in Comparative Perspective, New York: Colombia University Press.
Centre for Development Research, 1985, Structural Adjustment in Africa: A Survey of the Experience, Copenhagen (March).
Chase-Dunn, Christopher et al., 1994, ‘Hegemony and Social Change’, Mershon International Studies Review, 38(2)(October): 361–376.
Clapham, Christopher, 1982, Private Patronage and Public Power: Political Clientelism in the Modern State, London: Pinter.
Cornia, G., R. Jolly, and F. Stewart, eds, 1987, Adjustment with a Human Face, 2 vols, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
De Soysa, Indra, 2001, ‘New World (Dis)Order? Testing the Effects of Trade and FDI on New Models of Civil Conflict, 1989–1999’, Paper presented at ISA Meeting on Globalization, Hong Kong (26–28 July).
Easterly, William, 2001, ‘The Lost Decades: Developing Countries’ Stagnation in Spite of Policy Reform 1980–1998’, Journal of Economic Growth, 6 (June): 135–157.
Easterly, William, 2005, ‘What Did Structural Adjustment Adjust? The Association of Policies and Growth with Repeated IMF and World Bank Adjustment Loans’, Journal of Development Economics, 76(1)(February): 1–22.
The Economist, 2000, ‘The Heart of the Matter’ (11 May).
Findlay, Ronald and Stanislaw Wellisz, 2003, The Theory of the State, Discussion Paper No. 0203-25, Department of Economics, Columbia University, New York (May).
Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri, 2000, Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Human Security Center, 2005, The Human Security Report, 2005, University of British Columbia.
Jackson, Robert and Carl Rosberg, 1982, Personal Rule in Black Africa: Prince, Autocrat, Prophet, Tyrant, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kawewe, Saliwe and Robert Dibie, 2000, ‘The Impact of Economic Structural Adjustment Programs [ESAPs] on Women and Children: Implications for Social Welfare in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, XXVII(4) (December): 79–107.
Keller, Edmund J., 1991, ‘The State in Contemporary Africa: A Critical Assessment of Theory and Practice’, in Dankwart A. Rustow and Kenneth Paul Erikson, eds, Comparative Political Dynamics: Global Research Perspectives, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, pp. 134–159.
Liese, Bernhard and Gilles Dussault, 2004, The State of the Health Workforce in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence of Crisis and Analysis of Contributing Factors, Washington, DC: Africa Region, The World Bank.
Mengisteab, Kidane, 2004, Africa’s Intrastate Conflicts: Relevance and Limitations of Diplomacy, African Issues, 32(1 & 2): 25–39.
Mkandawire, Thandika and Charles Soludo, 2003, ‘Introduction: Towards the Broadening of Development Policy Dialogue for Africa’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 1–15.
Musah, Abdel-Fatau and J. Kayode Fayemi, eds, 2000, Mercenaries: An African Security Dilemma, London: Pluto Press.
Newbury, Catharine, 2002, ‘States at War: Confronting Conflict in Africa’, African Studies Review, 45(1)(April): 1–20.
OECD, Economic Outlook 1997–2000.
Ogot. B.A., 1999, General History of Africa: Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century, Abridged Edition, Paris: UNESCO.
Olukoshi, O.A., 2003, ‘The Elusive Prince of Denmark: Structural Adjustment and the Crisis of Governance in Africa’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 229–273.
Oyejide, Ademola, 2003, ‘Trade Liberalization, Regional Integration, and African Development in the Context of Structural Adjustment’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 73–101.
Petras, James and Henry Veltmeyer, 2001, Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st Century, Halifax, Nova Scotia and London: Fernwood Publishing and Zed Books.
Przeworski, A. and J.R. Vreeland, 2000, ‘The Effects of IMF Programs on Economic Growth’, Journal of Development Economics, 62: 385–421.
Robinson, William, 2004, ‘From State Hegemonies to Transnational Hegemony: A Global Capitalist Approach’, in Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, ed., Globalization, Hegemony and Power, Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, pp. 54–73.
Rupert, Mark, 2000, Ideologies of Globalization: Contending Visions of a New World Order, London and New York: Routledge.
Samatar, Ahmed and Abdi Samatar eds, 2002, The African State: Reconsiderations, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Silver, Beverly and Arrighi, Giovanni, 2005, ‘Polanyi’s “Double Movement”: The Belles Epoques of British and U.S. Hegemony Compared’, in Jonathan Friedman and Christopher Chase-Dunn, eds, Hegemonic Declines: Present and Past, Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, pp. 153–182.
Sklair, Leslie, 2006, ‘Capitalist Globalization: Fatal Flaws and the Necessity for Alternatives’, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, XIII(1) (Fall/Winter): 29-37.
Sklar, Richard, 1987, ‘Developmental Democracy’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 23(4): 686–714.
Soludo, Charles Chukwuma, 2003, ‘In Search of Alternative Analytical and Methodological Framework for an African Economic Development Model’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 17–71.
Taylor, Kate and Peter De Young, eds, 2004, Business and HIV/AIDS: Who Me? A Global Review of the Business Response to HIV/AIDS, 2003–2004, World Economic Forum and UNAIDS.
Tshibaka, Tshikala, 2003, ‘Economic Policy Reforms, External Factors, and Domestic Agricultural Terms of Trade in Selected West African Countries’, in Thandika Mkandawire and Charles C. Soludo, eds, African Voices on Structural Adjustment, Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, pp. 275–304.
UNCTAD, 2001, Economic Development in Africa: Performance, Prospects and Policy Issues. New York and Geneva: United Nations.
UNCTAD, 2002, Escaping the Poverty Trap: The Least Developed Countries Report 2002, New York and Geneva: United Nations."
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 1989, African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation, Addis Ababa: UNECA, E/ECA/CM.15/6/Rev. 3.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2005, The Millennium Development Goals in Africa: Progress and Challenges, Addis Ababa, Economic Commission for Africa.
USAID, 2003, The Health Sector Human Resource Crisis in Africa: An Issue Paper, Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, Bureau for Africa, Office of Sustainable Development (February).
Versi, Anver, 2004, ‘Formula for Africa’s Rapid Growth’, African Business (August) Wallerstein, Immanuel, 2004, The United States in Decline? in Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, ed., Globalization, Hegemony and Power, Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, pp. 19–34.
Waltz, Kenneth N., 1999, ‘Globalization and Governance’, PS: Political Science and Politics (December).
Western, Bruce, 1995, ‘A Comparative Study of Working-Class Disorganization: Union Decline in Eighteen Advanced Capitalist Countries’, American Sociological Review, 60: 179–201 (April).
Wood, Ellen Meiksins, 1998, ‘Capitalist Change and Generational Shifts’, Monthly Review, 5(5) (October).
World Bank, 1994, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead, Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank, 1999, Health Expenditures, Services, and Outcomes in Africa: Basic Data and Cross-National Comparisons, 1990–1996, Washington, DC: World Bank (July).
World Bank, 2001, World Development Indicators 2001, Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank, 2002, African Development Indicators 2002, Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank, 2002, World Development Indicators 2002, Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, 2004, A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All, Geneva: International Labour Organization (24 February).
World Health Organization, 2002, The World Health Report, 2002, Rome: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization, 2003, The World Health Report, 2003, Rome: World Health Organization.
Young, Crawford, 1994, The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective, New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Yuri, Dikhavov, 2005, Trends in Globalization Income Distribution, 1970–2000 and Scenarios for 2015, Occasional Paper, UNDP Human Development Report Office, No. 2005/8.