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Development Solutions for Africa: The Need for Policy Reform and Good Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Kempe Ronald Hope
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Extract

With few exceptions, economic development in the African states has generally been elusive and the people in sub-Saharan Africa remain among the poorest in the world. From 1970 to 1990, GDP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa grew in real terms by only US$80 and the region’s aggregate GNP per capita was only US$340 in 1990. In terms of annual percentage change, the region registered a 1.8 percent annual growth from 1970-77, an annual decline of 3.0 percent from 1978-84, and an annual increase of 2.4 percent from 1985-90. However, for the entire period of 1970-90, growth was statistically insignificant. During the period 1980-92 the annual growth rate of GNP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa was recorded as -1.83.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , 1997 , pp. 35 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1997 

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Footnotes

*

Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr., is a United Nations Chief Technical Adviser to the Government of Botswana and Professor of Development Studies at the University of Botswana. The views he expresses here are private and do not necessarily represent the views of the United Nations, the Government of Botswana, or any other organization with which he was formerly or is currently affiliated. His next book, Development in the Third World: From Policy Failure to Policy Reform, is forthcoming from M.E. Sharpe Publishers.

References

Notes

1. See World Bank, World Development Report 1994, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994 Google Scholar.

2. World Bank, Status Report on Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa 1994: The Many Faces of Poverty, (Washington, DC: World Bank, 1994), pp. 4–5 Google Scholar.

3. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report 1995, (New York, Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 195 Google Scholar.

4. World Bank, Status Report on Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa 1994, op. cit., p.6.

5. Ibid, p.9.

6. See Sr.Kempe Ronald, Hope, “Development Theory and Policy in the Third World,” South African Journal of Economics, Vol. 60, No. 4, 1992, pp. 333-53Google Scholar.

7. Very good arguments on this point can be found in Sr.Hope, Kempe Ronald, Development in the Third World: From Policy Failure to Policy Reform, Armonk, NY, M.E. Sharpe, ForthcomingGoogle Scholar; and David, Ostefeld, Prosperity Versus Planning: How Government Stifles Economic Growth, New York, Oxford University Press, 1992 Google Scholar.

8. See Sunita, Kikeri, John, Nellis, and Mary, Shirley, Privatization: The Lessons of Experience, (Washington, DC: World Bank, 1992), pp. 22–24 Google Scholar.

9. Charles, Humphreys and William, Jaeger, “Africa’s Adjustment and Growth,” Finance and Development, Vol. 26, No. 2, 1989, pp. 6–8 Google Scholar; and also World Bank, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results, and the Road Ahead, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994 Google Scholar.

10. See Ishrat, Husain, The Macroeconomics of Adjustment in Sub-Saharan African Countries: Results and Lessons, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1994 Google Scholar.

11. Nicolas, Van de Walle, “Political Liberalization and Economic Policy Reform in Africa,” World Development, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1994, pp. 483–500 Google Scholar.

12. For a much more exhaustive definition of good governance see Edgardo, Boeniger, “Governance and Development: Issues and Constraints,” in Summers, L.H. and Shah, S. (eds), Proceedings of the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1991 Google Scholar; and John, Healey and Mark, Robinson, Democracy, Governance and Economic Policy: Sub-Saharan Africa in Comparative Perspective, London: Overseas Development Institute, 1992 Google Scholar.

13. This point is well developed in Mancur, Olson “Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 87, No. 3, 1993, pp. 567-76Google Scholar.

14. The evidence on this point can found in Sr.Kempe Ronald, Hope, “The Growth and Impact of the Subterranean Economy in the Third World,” Futures, Vol. 25, No. 8, 1993, pp. 864–876 Google Scholar.

15. Sr.Kempe Ronald, Hope, “Administrative Corruption and Administrative Reform in Developing States,” Corruption and Reform, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1987, pp. 127-47Google Scholar.

16. Gerald W., Scully, “The Institutional Framework and Economic Development,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 96, No. 3, 1988, pp. 652-62Google Scholar.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. See, for example, UNDP, Human Development Report 1990, New York, Oxford University Press, 1990 Google Scholar.

20. See World Bank, Annual Report 1990, Washington, DC: World Bank, 1990 Google Scholar; and World Bank, World Development Report 1991, New York: Oxford University Press, 1991 Google Scholar.