Bonnie Campbell - Böcker

Providing overviews and case studies of states and sectors, classes and companies in the new international division of labour, this series treats polity-economy dialectics at global, regional and national levels. This volume in the series looks at the complexities of structural adjustment in Africa. Structural adjustment programs in Africa are as widespread as they are controversial. This book examines the complex economic and political nature of these programs and seeks to make them intelligible to the non-expert. It analyzes, in a concise accessible manner, the impact of specific policy measures designed to achieve structural adjustment, such as devaluation, price liberalization, fiscal restraint and privatization. It critically evaluates the past experience of countries implementing these policies and assesses the likelihood of such policies providing sustainable long-term economic solutions to the African crisis. Particular attention is paid to whether orthodox approaches to adjustment, as imposed by the IMF and World Bank as conditionality for their loans, can generate the broad political consensus required for long-term growth and stability in Africa.

The continent of Africa is rich in minerals needed by Western economies, but rather than forming the basis for economic growth the mining industry contributes very little to African developmentInvestigating the impact of the 2003 Extractive Industries Review on a number of African countries, the contributors find that a key dimension of the problem lies in the regulatory frameworks imposed on the African countries by the IMF and World Bank. They aim to convince academics, governments and industry that regulation needs to be reformed to create a mining industry favourable to social and economic development and environmental protection.