The elusive prince of Denmark : structural adjustment and the crisis of governance in Africa

Abstract

There has recently emerged a growing concern among scholars and policy makers to elaborate a connection between structural adjustment and governance in the Third World, due to a desire for market-driven economic reform in the adjusting countries. The governance is presented as the missing link for these economic reforms. This report challenges the intellectual premises of the governance project of the Bretton Woods twins in Africa. It argues that in the way in which it has been articulated, the World Bank/IMF governance reform agenda can hardly be expected to lay an enduring basis for a system of democratic governance in Africa. Nor can it be expected to create a framework for non-repressive economic reforms