Economic policy reform and political transitions in sub-Saharan Africa
Title:
Economic policy reform and political transitions in sub-Saharan Africa
Author:
Wieland, Carolina
Appeared in:
Democratization
Paging:
Volume 5 (1998) nr. 3 pages 127-155
Year:
1998
Contents:
This article examines the distributional consequences of neo-liberal economic reform during the contemporary era of political transition in the sub-Saharan African nations of Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia. It questions the conventional wisdom that reform, by imposing austerity, only produces economic 'losers' and subsequent political opposition which will derail reform programmes, particularly in transitional democracies such as those in present-day Africa. Indeed, it demonstrates that economically reformist politicians employ democratization as a strategy to rebuild support coalitions after initiating economic reform, as it allows them to disengage from old clients and to organize reform 'winners'. Therefore, taking the above-mentioned cases as a group, this article suggests that Africa's current economic and political reforms may be mutually reinforcing.
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