Institutions, governance and economic development in Africa

As poor policies are blamed for dismal economic outcomes in many African countries and institutions and governance have assumed greater importance in explaining policymaking, the current volume presents a set of papers on the importance of institutions for economic development in Africa. The following results emerge. First, while politically accountable governments can lead to improved economic outcomes, they are unlikely to adopt economically desirable policies that are unpopular with the populace. Unfortunately, such governments also tend to increase the risk of political disorder in Africa, which may in turn be growth-inhibiting. Thus, recent attempts by African countries to adopt more democratic governments may not lead to the expected improved growth and development outcomes unless successful attempts at minimizing political disorder can be achieved (article by Robert H. Bates). Second, the existence of ethnically based interest groups is likely to result in sub-optimal provision of public goods, which can be critical to the development process. Hence, the challenge of attenuating ethnic polarization is a salient one (Mwangi S. Kimenyi). Third, as the Botswana case indicates, the ability to appropriately accommodate minority interests, coupled with the existence of external threats and natural resource endowments that foster the delineation of property rights, augu+rs well for the State-building required for good governance, notwithstanding the existence of low population density (James A. Robinson and Q. Neil Parsons). The volume opens with an overview article (Augustin Fosu, Robert Bates and Anke Hoeffler). [Journal abstract, edited]