Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Presently, the relationship between nation states in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and bilateral/multilateral development and aid agencies in the continent is being influenced by the good governance agenda. The good governance project which emphasises efficiency, transparency and rationality in the governance process is being promoted as the silver bullet that would improve the social well being of the people of SSA (see Kifle, 1997; DFID, 2002). The good governance project also promotes the uptake of neo-liberal economic policies and the adoption of a legal-rational Weberian political system. The discourse of the good governance project initiators in the North is full of assurances that this is the silver bullet that would set SSA on the path to attaining the international development targets (IDT) including halving income poverty by 2015 (see Collier and Dollar). However the reality on the ground in SSA nation states indicates that the North's expectations is at best wishful thinking or at worst a covert attempt to reinforce its political and economic hegemony over the nation states of SSA (see White, 2001; Chang, 2002; Kelsall 2002). Given the fact that each development paradigm that has influenced the relationship between the North and SSA has arguably served to economically enrich the North and consequently reinforce its political hegemony over SSA (see Escobar, 1995; Corbridge, 1999), there is ample room to infer that the good governance agenda being promoted today would do the same. A decade ago, while celebrating the end of the cold war, Fukuyama (1992) did maintain that the uptake of neo-liberal economic policies and adoption of the legal-rational political system by nation states everywhere is the North's inevitable and just reward for winning the cold war. Evidence from Cameroon (see Wells et al., 2002; DFID, 2002) and from Tanzania (see Kelsall, 2002) reveals that governments of SSA are being compelled against their wishes to adopt the good governance agenda. Financial inducements and or sanctions (including the Highly Indebted Poor Country [HIPC] initiative) from multilateral/bilateral development and aid agencies are the primary instruments of compulsion being used to ensure that the good governance agenda is top priority in SSA. Thus the North's considerable financial and or economic might is being used to reinforce its political hegemony over SSA. While not dismissing the need for good governance in SSA, commentators including Chang (2002) note that such a process initiative is not the most pressing need of the developing world. White (2001) also argues that such process initiatives 'results in top-heavy projects? dominated by foreign experts? in response to commercial pressures'. There has to be real changes in the global political and economic structures if the social well being of the world's poor has to be significantly improved. However recent events including the war in the gulf indicates that this is not likely to happen anytime soon. References: o Chang H., 2002. Kicking Away the Ladder? – Policies and Institutions for Economic Development in Historical Perspective, Anthem Press, London o Collier P. and Dollar D., 1998. Aid Allocation and Poverty Reduction, Policy Research Working Paper no. 2041, World Bank: Washington DC. o Corbridge S., 1999. 'Development, Post – Development and the Global Political Economy' in Cloke P., Crang P. and Goodwin M. (eds.) Introducing Human Geographies, London: Arnold, pp. 67-75 o DFID, (2002) Cameroon Country Strategy Paper, UK: DFID o Escobar A., 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press o Fukuyama F., 1992. The End of History and the Last Man, London: Penguin o Kelsall T., 2002. Shop Windows and Smoke-Filled Rooms: Governance and the Re-Politicisation of Tanzania, Journal of Modern African Studies 40(4): 1-23 o Kifle, H., (ed.) 1997. A New Partnership for African Development: Issues and Parameters, Stockholm, Nodiska Afrikainstitutet o Wells A., Schreckenberg K., Tuomasjukka T., Liss B-M., Roby A. and Oksanen T., 2002. Negotiating Partnerships for Governance Reform: the Draft Code of Conduct for Forest Sector Development Corporation, ODI Forestry Briefing Number 2, ODI: UK o White H., 2001. Will the New Aid Agenda Help Promote Poverty Reduction?, Journal of International Development 13: 1057-1070