From Prebendalism to Predation: the Political Economy of Decline in Nigeria

1996 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
The Political ◽  
Adjustment Programme ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Early Results ◽  
The World ◽  
Democratic Rule ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

Upon taking power in August 1985, General Ibrahim Babangida promised a decisive course of economic and political change for Nigeria. Alongside a phased transition to democratic rule, the new President outlined far-reaching reforms intended to alleviate major distortions in the economy, to resolve a lingering impasse with external creditors, and to reduce a mounting burden of debt. Within a year, a comprehensive structural adjustment programme (SAP) was launched, incorporating key policies advocated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and yielding significant early results in stabilising the economy and arresting decline.

Adjustment with Growth: a Fragile Consensus

1988 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ravenhill
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
External Environment ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
The International Monetary Fund ◽  
Intense Debate

Six years of intense debate have produced a measure of agreement on a solution for Africa's malaise. This is captured by the latest catchphrase of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, ‘Adjustment with Growth’, which implicitly acknowledge past errors by African governments – or, minimally, that a continuation of previous policies is no longer tenable in a changed external environment. An emphasis on ‘growth’ recognises that ‘adjustment’ must encompass more than ‘stabilisation’, that the continent needs additional externally-provided financial resources on concessional terms if import strangulation is not to exacerbate the downward economic spiral in which many countries are currently trapped. This fragile consensus is facing its first serious practical test as the World Bank attempts to extend its Structural Adjustment Lending programme in Africa. Clearly, significant differences remain between the attitudes of African governments and external donors, and within the academic community, on the sources of the continent's problems and on the policy measures that are needed to counteract them.

The Real World Heritage Conservation and Development

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-51
Author(s):  
Rob Winthrop
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Heritage Conservation ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Neoliberal Economics ◽  
Fiscal Austerity ◽  
The International Monetary Fund

This is a troubled time for development policy, and for the institutions that define it. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization have been subjected to an unprecedented barrage of criticism. Since the disastrous 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle, the conspicuous failures of development policy—structural adjustment, the Asian financial crisis, and the unraveling of the post-Soviet economies—have become a matter of public debate. Critics of development have directed much of their fire at the assumptions of neoliberal economics, which prescribes fiscal austerity, monetary stability, trade liberalization, and a minimalist role for government. But it is less often recognized that development economics is in the midst of its own debate, which in tandem with the voices of outside critics may portend interesting changes in the practice of institutions such as the World Bank. Through such debates, and the innovative programs they may engender, anthropologists may find new intellectual and practical connections with the field of international development.

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