Structurally Adjusted Africa
Poverty, Debt and Basic Needs
Pluto Press
Published on 20. March 1995
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-7453-0973-6 (ISBN)
Description
Structural adjustment has become a development catchword: in international development discourse, aid has become inextricably linked with the introduction of "good governance" and economic reform, all in the best interests of everyone concerned. But the effects of structural adjustment programmes have been far from uniform. In some areas of the world, their imposition has had many strongly negative aspects - economically, socially and politically. Voices from the periphery have begun to ask who really benefits from structural adjustment: recipient or donor? This work looks at the effects of structural adjustment programmes "on the ground" in sub-Saharan Africa, now one of the poorest and most heavily indebted regions in the world, partly as a consequence of the undifferentiated adjustment policies that have been imposed on the area. The contributors to this volume highlight the complex and problematic connections between the global and the local, and offer a more holistic and comparative perspective on the problems of underdevelopment and the sometimes tragically inappropriate remedies that have been prescribed.
A particular feature of the book is the focus on different geographical scales and the combination of rural and urban as well as locality and sectoral analyses. The book offers a challenge to the ambitious claims made for structural adjustment, by demonstrating a detailed understanding of how those programmes really affect the peoples and the countries concerned.
A particular feature of the book is the focus on different geographical scales and the combination of rural and urban as well as locality and sectoral analyses. The book offers a challenge to the ambitious claims made for structural adjustment, by demonstrating a detailed understanding of how those programmes really affect the peoples and the countries concerned.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations, maps
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
Weight
358 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7453-0973-6 (9780745309736)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Editor
Universiy of Amsterdam, Netherlands
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Content
Introduction - the nature of structural adjustment. Part 1 Debt, democracy and development in sub-Saharan Africa; fighting fire with petrol - how to control social ills with economic structural adjustment; regional food trade in West Africa in relation to structural adustment. Part 2 structural adjustment and urban poverty in Zimbabwe; towns and urban migrants - an example from Tanzania. Part 3 Tanzania - sugar sector development and the Netherlands; rural development in Tanzania - the case of Makete district; peasant responses in Tanzania. Part 4 Government consumption, sub-Saharan Africa and industrialized countries; structural adjustment in comparative perspective - lessons from Pacific Asia.