Structural Adjustment, Authoritarianism and Human Rights in Africa

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Volumn 19, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 137-167

  Ibhawoh, Bonny ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AUTHORITARIANISM; HUMAN RIGHTS; STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT;

AFRICA;

EID: 0346334477     PISSN: 1089201X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/1089201x-19-1-158     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. World Bank, Making Adjustment Work for the Poor - Framework for Policy Reform in Africa: A Policy Agenda (Washington DC, 1988), p. 2. Also see African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program, The Social Dimensions of Adjustment (Washington DC, 1990), p. 5.
2. World Bank, Making Adjustment Work for the Poor - Framework for Policy Reform in Africa: A Policy Agenda (Washington DC, 1988), p. 2. Also see African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program, The Social Dimensions of Adjustment (Washington DC, 1990), p. 5.
3. World Bank, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead (Washington DC, 1994) p. 3.
4. J. Barry Riddell, "Things Fall Apart Again: Structural Adjustment Programmes in Sub Saharan Africa," Journal of Modern African Studies, 30, 1 (1992), pp.57-58.
5. See, for example, Marcia Burdette, ed., Rethinking Structural Adjustment in the 1990s, (London, 1992); B. K. Campbell and J. Loxley, eds., Structural Adjustment in Africa (London, 1989); Andrea Giovanni Cornia, Richard Jolly and Frances Stewart, eds., Adjustment with a Human Face, 2 Vols., (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987); Elaine Zuckerman, Adjustment Programmes and Social Welfare (Washington DC, World Bank, 1989): Michael Lipton, The Poor and the Poorest: Some Interim Findings, (Washington DC, World Bank, 1988).
6. See, for example, Marcia Burdette, ed., Rethinking Structural Adjustment in the 1990s, (London, 1992); B. K. Campbell and J. Loxley, eds., Structural Adjustment in Africa (London, 1989); Andrea Giovanni Cornia, Richard Jolly and Frances Stewart, eds., Adjustment with a Human Face, 2 Vols., (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987); Elaine Zuckerman, Adjustment Programmes and Social Welfare (Washington DC, World Bank, 1989): Michael Lipton, The Poor and the Poorest: Some Interim Findings, (Washington DC, World Bank, 1988).
7. See, for example, Marcia Burdette, ed., Rethinking Structural Adjustment in the 1990s, (London, 1992); B. K. Campbell and J. Loxley, eds., Structural Adjustment in Africa (London, 1989); Andrea Giovanni Cornia, Richard Jolly and Frances Stewart, eds., Adjustment with a Human Face, 2 Vols., (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987); Elaine Zuckerman, Adjustment Programmes and Social Welfare (Washington DC, World Bank, 1989): Michael Lipton, The Poor and the Poorest: Some Interim Findings, (Washington DC, World Bank, 1988).
8. See, for example, Marcia Burdette, ed., Rethinking Structural Adjustment in the 1990s, (London, 1992); B. K. Campbell and J. Loxley, eds., Structural Adjustment in Africa (London, 1989); Andrea Giovanni Cornia, Richard Jolly and Frances Stewart, eds., Adjustment with a Human Face, 2 Vols., (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987); Elaine Zuckerman, Adjustment Programmes and Social Welfare (Washington DC, World Bank, 1989): Michael Lipton, The Poor and the Poorest: Some Interim Findings, (Washington DC, World Bank, 1988).
9. See, for example, Marcia Burdette, ed., Rethinking Structural Adjustment in the 1990s, (London, 1992); B. K. Campbell and J. Loxley, eds., Structural Adjustment in Africa (London, 1989); Andrea Giovanni Cornia, Richard Jolly and Frances Stewart, eds., Adjustment with a Human Face, 2 Vols., (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987); Elaine Zuckerman, Adjustment Programmes and Social Welfare (Washington DC, World Bank, 1989): Michael Lipton, The Poor and the Poorest: Some Interim Findings, (Washington DC, World Bank, 1988).
10. Bjorn Beckman, "Empowerment or Adjustment? The World Bank and the Politics of Structural Adjustment," in Peter Gibbon et al., eds., Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment in Africa. The Politics of Economic Reform in Africa (Uppsala, 1992), p. 87.
11. World Bank Policy Research Report, Adjustment in Africa, Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead, p. 1.
12. Ibid., p. 3
13. World Bank Policy Research Report, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms Results and the Road Ahead, pp.1 and 58. Several critical studies of this Word Bank report have been undertaken by scholars of development economics. One such critique is by Sayre Schatz. He concludes that the evidence in the report fails to support the claim of the World Bank that adjustment macro-economic reforms have promoted economic growth and that on the contrary, there are grounds for a "critical hypothesis" that these reforms have actually impeded economic growth. See Sayre P. Schatz, "Structural Adjustment in Africa: A Failing Grade So Far," Journal of Modern African Studies, 32, (1994), pp.679-692.
14. World Bank Policy Research Report, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms Results and the Road Ahead, pp.1 and 58. Several critical studies of this Word Bank report have been undertaken by scholars of development economics. One such critique is by Sayre Schatz. He concludes that the evidence in the report fails to support the claim of the World Bank that adjustment macro-economic reforms have promoted economic growth and that on the contrary, there are grounds for a "critical hypothesis" that these reforms have actually impeded economic growth. See Sayre P. Schatz, "Structural Adjustment in Africa: A Failing Grade So Far," Journal of Modern African Studies, 32, (1994), pp.679-692.
15. The World Bank has acknowledged the "social cost" of adjustment in several of its publications. In 1988 a Social Dimension of Adjustment Initiative was taken to address the problems of protecting poor and vulnerable groups from bearing undue hardship resulting from structural adjustment and economic reform. See L. Demery, et al., Understanding the Social Effects of Policy Reform, A World Bank Study, (Washington DC, 1991) and C. Grootaert, "The Evolution of Welfare and Poverty under Structural Change and Economic Recession in Cote d' Ivoire, 1985-1988," Policy Research Working Paper 1078, World Bank, (Washington DC, 1993).
16. The World Bank has acknowledged the "social cost" of adjustment in several of its publications. In 1988 a Social Dimension of Adjustment Initiative was taken to address the problems of protecting poor and vulnerable groups from bearing undue hardship resulting from structural adjustment and economic reform. See L. Demery, et al., Understanding the Social Effects of Policy Reform, A World Bank Study, (Washington DC, 1991) and C. Grootaert, "The Evolution of Welfare and Poverty under Structural Change and Economic Recession in Cote d' Ivoire, 1985-1988," Policy Research Working Paper 1078, World Bank, (Washington DC, 1993).
17. Kola Adesina, "The Debt Trap," West Africa, August 2-8, 1993, p. 1337.
18. Africa Research Bulletin, 2, 1984, 4, p. 7275. Also see Jane Carroll, "Tanzanian Economy," in Africa South of the Sahara, (London, 1985), p. 956.
19. Africa Research Bulletin, 2, 1984, 4, p. 7275. Also see Jane Carroll, "Tanzanian Economy," in Africa South of the Sahara, (London, 1985), p. 956.
20. Adebayo Adedeji, Sidig Rasheed and Melody Morrison, eds., The Human Dimension of Africa's Persistent Economic Crisis (UN Economic Commission for Africa, 1990).
21. UN ECA, African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation (AAF-SAP), Nairobi, 1989. Cited in Sigrun Skogly, "Human Rights and Economic Efficiency. The Relationship between the Social Cost of Adjustment and Human Rights Protection," in Peter Baer et al., eds., Human Rights in Developing Countries (Oslo, 1994), p. 47.
22. UN ECA, African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation (AAF-SAP), Nairobi, 1989. Cited in Sigrun Skogly, "Human Rights and Economic Efficiency. The Relationship between the Social Cost of Adjustment and Human Rights Protection," in Peter Baer et al., eds., Human Rights in Developing Countries (Oslo, 1994), p. 47.
23. th Session, Agenda items 12, 82, UN Doc. A/45/427 (1990).
24. While adjustment programs are not strictly speaking imposed, African debtor countries are often left with no alternative but to accept them, if only as a means of getting access to additional donor funds.
25. The authoritarianism of IFIs and the West towards African states has been given prominence by the former President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere. In 1985 he remarked that "The developed countries have a very large measure of control over the world economy. They act as a group and make decisions which they see as being their own interests...The IMF has become largely an institution for economic and ideological control of poor countries by rich ones," Julius Nyerere, "Africa and the Debt Crisis," African Affairs, 84, 337 (1995) pp.493-494.
26. For example, Y. Bagura, "Structural Adjustment and the Political Question," Review of African Political Economy, 37 (1986); B. Campbell, "Structural Adjustment and Repression in Africa," Paper at the African Studies Association Conference, Atlanta, 1989; E. Hutchful, "The Crisis of the International Division of Labor: Authoritarianism and the Transition to Free Market Economies in Africa," Africa Development, 12, 2 (1987).
27. For example, Y. Bagura, "Structural Adjustment and the Political Question," Review of African Political Economy, 37 (1986); B. Campbell, "Structural Adjustment and Repression in Africa," Paper at the African Studies Association Conference, Atlanta, 1989; E. Hutchful, "The Crisis of the International Division of Labor: Authoritarianism and the Transition to Free Market Economies in Africa," Africa Development, 12, 2 (1987).
28. For example, Y. Bagura, "Structural Adjustment and the Political Question," Review of African Political Economy, 37 (1986); B. Campbell, "Structural Adjustment and Repression in Africa," Paper at the African Studies Association Conference, Atlanta, 1989; E. Hutchful, "The Crisis of the International Division of Labor: Authoritarianism and the Transition to Free Market Economies in Africa," Africa Development, 12, 2 (1987).
29. These arguments have been put forward by several scholars. See, for example, T. M. Callaghy, "Towards State Capability and Embedded Liberalism in the Third World: Lessons for Adjustment," in J. M. Nelson, ed., Fragile Coalitions: The Politics of Economic Adjustment, (London, 1989); D. Lal, The Poverty of Development Economics, (London, 1983); and Peter Gibbon, "Structural Adjustment and Pressures Towards Multipartyism in Sub Saharan Africa", in Peter Gibbon et al., eds., Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment: The Politics of Economic Reform in Africa, (Uppsala, 1992), pp.127-168.
30. These arguments have been put forward by several scholars. See, for example, T. M. Callaghy, "Towards State Capability and Embedded Liberalism in the Third World: Lessons for Adjustment," in J. M. Nelson, ed., Fragile Coalitions: The Politics of Economic Adjustment, (London, 1989); D. Lal, The Poverty of Development Economics, (London, 1983); and Peter Gibbon, "Structural Adjustment and Pressures Towards Multipartyism in Sub Saharan Africa", in Peter Gibbon et al., eds., Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment: The Politics of Economic Reform in Africa, (Uppsala, 1992), pp.127-168.
31. These arguments have been put forward by several scholars. See, for example, T. M. Callaghy, "Towards State Capability and Embedded Liberalism in the Third World: Lessons for Adjustment," in J. M. Nelson, ed., Fragile Coalitions: The Politics of Economic Adjustment, (London, 1989); D. Lal, The Poverty of Development Economics, (London, 1983); and Peter Gibbon, "Structural Adjustment and Pressures Towards Multipartyism in Sub Saharan Africa", in Peter Gibbon et al., eds., Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment: The Politics of Economic Reform in Africa, (Uppsala, 1992), pp.127-168.
32. Yusuf Bagura and Peter Gibbon, "Adjustment, Authoritarianism and Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. An Introduction to Some Conceptual and Empirical Issues," in Peter Gibbon, ed., Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment, p. 17.
33. See John Rusk, "Structures of Neo-Colonialism: The African Context of Human Rights," Africa Today, 33, 4, (1986).
34. Claude Ake in Julius Ihonvbere, ed., The Political Economy of Crisis and Underdevelopment in Africa: Selected Works of Claude Ake, (Lagos, 1989), p.62.
35. The Ife Collective (a group of scholars based at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria), The Guardian (Nigeria), June 29, 1989, p. 15. Quoted in Pita Ogaba Agbese, "The State versus Human Rights Advocates in Africa," in Eileen McCarthy-Arnolds, et al., eds., Africa, Human Rights and the Global System, (London, 1994), p.160.
36. The Ife Collective (a group of scholars based at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria), The Guardian (Nigeria), June 29, 1989, p. 15. Quoted in Pita Ogaba Agbese, "The State versus Human Rights Advocates in Africa," in Eileen McCarthy-Arnolds, et al., eds., Africa, Human Rights and the Global System, (London, 1994), p.160.
37. E. Hansen, "The State and Popular Struggles in Ghana," in P. Anyang' Nyong'o, ed., Popular Struggles for Democracy in Africa, (London, 1987).
38. Bjorn Beckman, "Empowerment or Repression? The World Bank and the Politics of Adjustment," in Peter Gibbon et al., eds., Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment, The Politics of Economic Reform in Africa, (Uppsala, 1992), p. 94.
39. These arguments of Bjorn Beckman, in "Empowerment or Repression," are summarized in Yusuf Bagura and Peter Gibbon "Adjustment, Authoritarianism and Democracy in Sub Saharan Africa," op. cit., pp.33-34.
40. Ibid.
41. Centre for Development Research, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Structural Adjustment in Africa, A Survey of the Experiment, (Copenhagen, 1995), p. 19. The countries examined in this study are Burkina Faso, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
42. World Bank, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead, (New York, 1994), pp.429-430.
43. In Nigeria, the government inaugurated a series of public debates on whether the country should opt for an IMF loan to alleviate the country's economic crisis. These debates resulted in a unanimous rejection of the IMF loan and its conditionalities.
44. Goran Hyden, "State and Nation Under Stress," in Recovery in Africa: A Challenge for Development Cooperation in the 1990s, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (Stockholm, 1988), passim.
45. These countries included, as of 1989, Zaire, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Zambia, Togo, Burkina Faso and Kenya. Eight of these countries had also proceeded to hold multi party elections.
46. Pita Ogaba Agbese, "The State versus Human Rights Advocates in Africa: The Case of Nigeria," in Eileen McCarthy-Arnolds, et al., eds., Africa, Human Rights and the Global System, pp.147-148.
47. See A. Olukoshi, "The Politics of Structural Adjustment in Nigeria," Paper presented to the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Africa Workshop, (Uppsala, April, 1991).
48. Paul Mosely, "Policy Making Without Facts: A Note on the Assessment of Structural Policies in Nigeria, 1985-1990," African Affairs, 91, 363, (1992), p. 230.
49. Federal Government of Nigeria, The National Economic Recovery Program: Emancipation of a Nation, (Lagos, Federal Ministry of Information, 1989), pp.6-9.
50. Ibid.
51. Quoted in Pita Ogaba Agbese, "The State versus Human Rights Advocates in Africa," in Eileen McCarthy-Arnolds et al., eds., Africa, Human Rights and the Global System, p. 151.
52. Peter Lewis, "From Prebendalism to Predation: the Political Economy of Decline in Nigeria," Journal of Modern African Studies, 34, 1(1996), p. 85.
53. Ibid.
54. "The Crackdown," Newswatch (Nigeria), 13, July 3, 1989, pp.9-15.
55. Many of the "gains of SAP," which the government held out as representing the success of the program in Nigeria, actually accrued to state elites within specific sections of the public and private sectors. The creation of a number of institutions such as the Directorate of Food, Road and Rural Infrastructure, the People and Community Banks and the Better Life for Rural Women Program as part of the broad program of adjustment became an avenue for political patronage. Economic restructuring furnished powerful state officials with a measure of control over emerging markets, providing new opportunities for corruption. Speculative pricing in the cocoa market provided a windfall for agro industrial exporters. The privatization and liberalization of banks led to a boom in the banking sector and attracted a new class of investors in retired senior civil servants and retired military officers. For a detailed discourse of the social inequities of SAP in Nigeria, see Julius Ihonvbere, "Economic Crisis, Structural Adjustment and Social Crisis in Nigeria", World Development, 21, 1 (1993), pp.145-149.
56. Section 1(b) of the PNDC Law 42 promulgated on February 18, 1983.
57. Jeff Haynes, "Human Rights and Democracy in Ghana: The Record of the Rawlings' Regime," African Affairs, 90 (1991), p. 410.
58. For a detailed discourse on the ideological and policy changes of the Rawlings regime, see Richard Jeffries, "Ghana: The Political Economy of Personal Rule" in Donald B Cruise O'Brien et al., Contemporary African Affairs, (Cambridge, 1989).
59. Linda Van Buren, "Ghana's Economy" in Africa South of Sahara 1998, (London, 1998), p. 496.
60. See E. Gyiamah-Boadi, "Associational Life, Civil Society and Democratization in Ghana," in John Harbeson et al., eds., Civil Society and the State in Africa, (London, 1994), passim...
61. Kwadoo Konadu-Agyemang, "Structural Adjustment Programs and the Perpetuating of Poverty and Underdevelopment in Africa: Ghana's Experiences," Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives and Area Studies, 17, 1 and 2 (1998), pp.32-35.
62. E. Gyiamah-Boadi, "Associational Life, Civil Society and Democratization in Ghana," in John Harbeson et al., eds., Civil Society, p. 141.
63. Ibid.
64. World Bank, Guinea: Conditions for Economic Growth. A Country Economic Memorandum, (Washington DC, 1984).
65. Bonnie Campbell and Jennifer Clapp, "Guinea's Economic Performance Under Structural Adjustment," Journal of Modern African Studies, 33, 3 (1995).
66. See, for example, Sigrun Skogly, "Human Rights and Economic Efficiency: The Relationship between Social Cost of Adjustment and Human Rights Protection," in Peter Baer et al., eds., Human Rights in Developing Countries, (Oslo, 1994).
67. This apparent shift in World Bank policy is well articulated in its document, Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth: A Long Term Perspective Study, (Washington DC, 1989).
68. World Bank, Managing Development: The Governance Dimension - A Discussion Paper, (Washington DC, 1991), pp.ii-iii.
69. The Word Bank's position on these political themes is well articulated in its document, Sub Saharan Africa. From Crises to Sustainable Growth, pp.61 and 193.
70. Ibid, pp.9, 30 and 192.
71. See John Toye, "Interest Group Politics and the Implementation of Adjustment Policies in Sub Saharan Africa" and Bjorn Beckman, "Empowerment or Repression: The World Bank and the Politics of African Adjustment," in Peter Gibbon et al., eds., Authoritarianism, Democracy and Adjustment: The Politics of Economic Reform in Africa, (Uppsala, 1992).
72. See articles 55 of the ICESCR which emphasizes the need for the creation of conditions of stability and well being which are necessary for the peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on the principle of equal rights.
73. General Comment of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, No. 2, 1990, p. 87.