Skip to main content

2014 | Buch

Development Policy in Africa

Mastering the Future?

insite
SUCHEN

Über dieses Buch

The author investigates the agenda for transformation in contemporary African development studies: policy studies, strategic studies, international relations and economic diplomacy. With a focus on the capacity dimension, he proposes critical policy and action-oriented recommendations on how to overcome present and future emergencies in Africa.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Introduction
Abstract
Globalisation has given rise to the mistaken perception that ‘fathomless’ capital is a manifestation of a ‘new world order’. It has, however, become apparent that the recent financial crisis resulted from more than mere fragility of the financial system — in turn, a product of limited or absent transparency — but rather a deep structural inability to respond to shocks. This book argues that Africa (which cannot be viewed as a homogeneous entity) — and has from time immemorial been battered by different forces of dislocation — will be enabled to develop only through its response to seismic shocks. The story begins with the 2008/2009 global economic crisis as the most recent of these shocks, and the consequent renewed need for restructuring. Africa needs to improve its capacity to respond to different pressures, from whatever source. Thus, the book maps a new development agenda for the continent.
George Kararach
1. Global Pressures and the Need for Africa to Reposition
Abstract
The world economy is in flux. Until 2008, a mistaken perception had arisen of a world of ‘fathomless’ capital, born out of globalisation. It soon became apparent that the financial crisis of that year was a product of the weakness engendered by the system’s lack of transparency. There is little understanding of how the financial markets work — not only in the developing world where skills are in short supply — but also more importantly by officials in the OECD bloc, despite the fact that these countries make up 80 per cent of global GDP (EEAG, 2013). Many European Union (EU) countries grew uncompetitive, unprepared for the consequences of the global economic downturn.
George Kararach
2. Macroeconomic Policy Challenges in Africa
Abstract
Macroeconomic instability was one of the major difficulties undermining the development of African countries in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The character of the macroeconomic framework has implications for economies in terms of not only economic outcomes but also the subsequent social configuration following a ‘macroeconomic event’ (Fischer, 1991). A relevant macroeconomic framework is the basis of any social development agenda. It is arguable that Africa’s macroeconomic reform ‘project’ of the 1980s and 1990s has failed primarily because their theoretical premises generalise macrodynamics simplistically in terms of market clearing adjustments to achieve stability. Any consideration of macroeconomic policy must distinguish between long-term factors affecting economic growth rates (e.g. low savings/investment rates) and shorter-term macroeconomic management issues. The over-emphasis on market-based adjustments is misplaced as state involvement in the choice of the type of adjustment remains a major consideration. This chapter describes the character of the market in Africa, which has imperfect information and staggered adjustments, and suggests how economic decisions are more or less based on a rule of thumb, with disproportionate effects on different socio-economic groups. More importantly, macroeconomic policy processes tend to be resolved through institutional conflict mechanisms in that poverty is more likely to decline faster in countries that pay attention to the restoration of macroeconomic balance with equity objectives in mind.
George Kararach
3. Migration, the Youth Bulge and Population Dynamics
Abstract
In addition to being a source of shock, population dynamics provides considerable development opportunities for the African continent. As the World Development Report, 2013 asserts: ‘Demographic shifts can be massive, but they do not always go in the same direction. The most populous countries in the world have experienced very large increases in their labour force: nearly 8 million new entrants a year in China and 7 million a year in India since the early 1990s. These rates are now decelerating rapidly, particularly in China. Many smaller countries face large relative increases, even if the absolute numbers are less astounding. In other countries, the overall population and the labour force are shrinking. For example, Ukraine’s labour force is estimated to decrease by 0.75 per cent annually, the equivalent of approximately 160,000 fewer people every year’ (World Bank, 2012a).
George Kararach
4. Infrastructure and Connectivity
Abstract
Infrastructure output is both a final good, providing services directly to consumers (e.g. power for television sets) and an intermediate input that enters into the production of other sectors, in turn raising their productivity (e.g. power as an input into manufacturing) as well as a mechanism that may define institutional and governance arrangements (Herbst, 2000). One could make the distinction between ‘economic’ infrastructure (roads, dams, etc.) and ‘social’ infrastructure (health and education platforms, etc.) or ‘physical’ and ‘soft’ infrastructure. The availability of an efficient infrastructure network/framework can stimulate new investment in other sectors or even strengthen state legitimacy, as infrastructural services are seen as fulfilment of the social contract. Conversely, shortage of infrastructure or its over-expansion in certain areas can raise costs and create disincentives to investment, as well as socio-political disharmony.
George Kararach
5. Food Security and African Development
Abstract
Since the 1990s the number of people living in extreme poverty fell in all regions of the world except Sub-Saharan Africa, where population growth exceeded the rate of poverty reduction, increasing the number of extremely poor people from 290 million in 1990 to 356 million in 2008 (World Bank, 2012d). Food price spikes can prevent people from escaping extreme poverty, and the spikes in 2008 kept or pushed 105 million people below the poverty line. Sudden, unexpected increases in food prices impose particularly severe shocks on livelihoods as many households need time to adjust to higher prices. This tends to decline over time as production increases and the income of the poor in rural areas rises, but it is usually not large enough to offset the initial negative impact on poverty (ibid.).
George Kararach
6. Energy Security, Poverty and Development Policy in Africa
Abstract
Poor supply of clean, reliable, affordable energy stifles economies, makes people — in particular women — sick as they inhale smoke from firewood, and damages the environment (Kenny, 2012). The pricing and supply of oil, one of Africa’s main sources of energy, has influenced the development trajectory as far back as the late colonial era. Since 1999 the international oil price has increased from US$25 per barrel to more than US$100, with a persistent upward trend in prices from mid-2010 to early 2011 (Bolton, 2012). The so-called Arab Spring coincided with further price rises, and the Libyan war caused prices to rise even faster, to around US$125 per barrel by late April 2011, the highest prices since July 2008. Cold weather across much of Europe in early 2012 and tension between Iran and the West caused prices to escalate to more than US$120 per barrel by February of that year.1 The political instability in Arab countries has been one of the most important factors driving the oil price upwards (Massa et al., 2012). The countries affected had to bear a high cost in terms of declining GDP and disruption to livelihoods and human security. For African countries — especially those that import oil — this has also meant a rise in their import bills.
George Kararach
7. Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability in Africa’s Development
Abstract
Climate change is a major source of impediment to sustainable growth and development in Africa, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of its over dependence on rain-fed agriculture, compounded by factors such as widespread poverty and weak capacity for climate-smart agriculture (CS A). The main longer-term impacts of climate change include changing rainfall patterns affecting agriculture and reducing food security; worsening water security; decreasing fish resources in large lakes due to rising temperatures; increasing vector-borne diseases; rising sea levels affecting low-lying coastal areas with large populations and increasing water stress.
George Kararach
8. R&D and Innovation
Abstract
Commentators agree that the primary objective of economic development programmes is to improve the quality of life of the general population. In Africa, there exists the increasingly widespread phenomenon of ‘jobless growth’ (see Léautier and Hanson, 2012; Kararach et al., 2011) where economic growth rates have risen in recent years, unaccompanied by any significant improvement in most of the indicators of human development. The implications of increasing unemployment on human development are obvious. The growing gap between Africa, and especially Sub-Saharan Africa, and most of the rest of the world, is entrenching this decoupling of economic growth and human development.
George Kararach
9. Integration for African Development: The Numbers Count
Abstract
Since independence, the imperative of regional integration has been central to the political and economic vision of Africa’s leadership. Kwame Nkruamh, Julius Nyerere and Sekou Toure were all desirous for Africa to be a single country, The United States of Africa, but the majority of leaders preferred the idea of sub-regional groupings, which would, in time, coalesce into a united Africa. The phenomenon of globalisation has re-ignited the pan-African vision. Challenges that call for a regional approach include food insecurity, infrastructure, energy, climate change, communicable diseases, R&D and innovation as well as the need for strategic industrial policy, conflict resolution, demographic pressures and migration.
George Kararach
10. Institutions, Incentives, Adaptability and Development
Abstract
Globalisation has the potential to alter the growth trajectories of countries, with implications for poor people that directly or indirectly affect their access to assets and markets. Many African countries, however, are yet to translate any of the opportunities offered by globalisation into increased poverty reduction (von Braun and Mengistu, 2009). Moreover, for those that have, integration into global markets has some risks in the sense that these countries become more susceptible to global trends. Many global economic pressures — such as the recent global cycles of growth and downturn; levels and terms of trade; inflation, interest rates and exchange rates; export subsidies in developed countries and food and other commodity prices — affect country growth rates (Díaz-Bonilla, 2009). Additionally, other emerging global challenges such as climate change and international migration are now affecting the status of the poor.
George Kararach
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Development Policy in Africa
verfasst von
George Kararach
Copyright-Jahr
2014
Verlag
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN
978-1-137-36059-5
Print ISBN
978-1-349-47193-5
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137360595