Disciplining Democracy: Development Discourse and Good Governance in Africa

Abrahamsen, Rita. Disciplining Democracy: Development Discourse and Good Governance in Africa. London: Zed Books Ltd, 2000. 168 pp.

This is an attempt by the author to uncover the existing linkages between democracy and development in the context of Africa. In Chapter One, the author is of the opinion that recent (from the early 1990s) democratization efforts in Africa should be explained not just by internal factors but also external ones.

Chapter Two focuses on the development regime that has evolved in the post-Cold War period. Among the fundamental changes has been the enlargement of the role of market forces at the expense of the African state in matters of development. This has been primarily at the behest of the international development organizations.

Chapter Three introduces quite a radical interpretation of the involvement of Western nations and agencies in African development. The author argues that recent calls by Western countries and institutions for "good governance" and economic liberalism in Africa are a mere smoke screen for advancing Western interests and culture. In a sense, then, the author argues, these calls equate to the revival of modernization theory in African development.

In Chapter Four, the author opines that the usual assumption that Western democracy necessarily translates into the socio-economic empowerment of the poor does not hold true for Africa. More often than not, it has ended up protecting and enhancing the power of the economic elite at the expense of the poor.

In Chapter Five, the author debunks the "myth" that democratization of African countries in the 1990s was a direct outcome of the positive attributes contained in the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) imposed on various African countries by the Bretton Woods institutions. On the contrary, because of the many negative effects of SAPs, African peoples rose to protest against their imposition. Democratic protests were thus protests against SAPs as much as they were demands for political pluralism.

In the final chapter, the author questions the widely held assumption by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that economic liberalism necessarily co-exists with democracy. The African case has shown that democratization does not all the time lead to economic empowerment for the poor. SAPs, an aspect of economic liberalism, have been accompanied with extreme economic difficulties for the majority poor.

This book's greatest contribution is its ability to challenge the widely held assumption by the Western institutions and agencies over the relations between democracy and development. It successfully does so by providing empirical examples from African countries. However, within this contribution, lies its major weakness-the author fails to provide an effective alternative development path for the African countries.

Frank Khachina Matanga School of Development and Strategic Studies

Maseno University, Kenya

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