Poverty, Hunger and Democracy in Africa: Potential and Limitations of Democracy in Cementing Multi-Ethnic Societies

353 Pages·2011·2.87 MB·English

by  David Bigman

Poverty, Hunger, and Democracy in Africa
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Also by David Bigman
COPING WITH HUNGER: Toward a System of Food Security and Price Stabilization
EXCHANGE RATE AND TRADE INSTABILITY: Causes, Consequences and Remedies
(co-editor with T. Taya)
FLEXIBLE EXCHANGE RATES AND THE STATE OF WORLD TRADE AND PAYMENTS
(co-editor with T. Taya)
FOOD POLICIES AND FOOD SECURITY UNDER INSTABILITY: Modeling and Analysis
FOOD SECURITY AND FOOD INVENTORIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: Issues and
Policies (co-editor with P. Berck)
THE FUNCTIONING OF FLEXIBLE EXCHANGE RATES: Theory, Evidence, and Policy
Implications ( co-editor with T. Taya)
GEOGRAPHICAL TARGETING FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION: Methodology and
Applications (co-editor with H. Fofack)
GLOBALIZATION AND THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: Potentials and Pitfalls
THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON STRATEGIES OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND
POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES (editor)
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Poverty, Hunger, and
Democracy in Africa
Potential and Limitations of Democracy in
Cementing Multiethnic Societies
David Bigman
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© David Bigman 2011
Foreword (1) © John E. Endicott 2011
Foreword (2) © Arie Kuyvenhoven 2011
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
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ISBN: 978–0–230–20528–4 hardback
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Contents
List of Tables ix
List of Figures x
List of Maps xi
List of Boxes xii
List of Abbreviations xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Preface xvii
Foreword xxi
John Endicott
Foreword xxiii
Arie Kuyvenhoven
Part I Introduction and Background
Introduction 3
1.1 The Black Man’s Burden 31
From hopeful independence to stagnation 32
From prolonged stagnation to a decade of
miraculous growth 34
New investment opportunities and capital flows to Africa 37
Will the commodity crisis and the global recession end
Africa’s recovery? 40
Despite the continent’s growth and the more prudent
economic policies, poverty continues to rise 42
The threat of global warming 46
The growing gap between countries, and growing
inequalities between people 47
Africa’s agenda in the coming decade 51
Notes 54
Part II Coping with Escalating Food Insecurity
2.1 The Threat of Climatic Changes 57
The haunting Malthusian predicament: the water crisis 59
v
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vi Contents
How relevant are Malthus’s “principles of production and
population”? 61
The Neo-Malthusian vision of the limits to growth 63
2.2 Can Africa Feed Its People? 65
The Millennium Development Goals: can
they end hunger? 65
Is Africa reaching limits to growth? 69
Can African farmers produce enough food? 75
How can African farmers increase their yields? 83
Coping with hunger: a global imperative 91
2.3 Is Africa Doomed to Permanent Food Crises? 100
Some lessons from the food crisis of 2007–08 100
How can the African countries cope with
local food shortages? 109
Can the food crisis happen again? 113
Notes 116
Part III Africa’s Poverty Traps and Obstacles to Growth
3.1 The Geographical and Man-Made Obstacles 121
The myth of a poverty trap in landlocked countries 127
The potential strategy for landlocked countries—
regional trade agreements 132
Africa’s most crippling obstacle: decaying infrastructure 138
The “resource curse” 142
Nigeria’s resource curse 148
3.2 The Demographic and Social Changes and the
Urbanization of Poverty 154
Rural–urban migration and growing urban population 154
The urbanization of poverty 158
The dilemma: promoting urban industrialization or
alleviating rural poverty 159
Notes 169
Part IV Civil Conflicts, Wars and Democracy:
Will Democracy Inflame or Help to
Settle Civil Conflicts?
4.1 The Roots and Long-Term Effects of Africa’s Wars and
Civil Conflicts 175
The tribal roots of civil conflicts 177
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Contents vii
Conflicts caused by deprivation and exclusion 180
The tribal wars in the Great Lakes region 188
The legacy of colonial borders 197
Has poverty been the cause of conflicts and
wars in Africa? 202
4.2 The Impact of Wars and Civil Conflicts on
Africa’s Growth and Poverty 206
Africa’s missing billions 208
The threat of rising inequalities 210
Africa’s “fragile” and “failed” states 214
Conditions for aid to fragile states 218
Criteria of governance 223
The role of state institutions 226
Building the state institutions 230
The deterioration of the African state institutions 232
Does the public trust the public institutions? 236
The impediments of the endemic corruption 238
4.3 Will Democracy Settle or Intensify
Civil Conflicts? 244
The debate over Western-style democracy 245
Countries’ experiences with the transition
to democracy 248
Africans’ mistrust in democracy 252
Do elections intensify tribal conflicts? 255
Reducing civil conflicts: external “nation building”
interventions vs. internal public pressure 260
Sierra Leone: mission accomplished—with
external intervention 269
Conclusion 273
Notes 274
Part V The Fourth Wave of Democratization:
Will Democracy Cement the African
Multiethnic Nation State?
5.1 The Transition of the African Countries
to Democracy 277
The structure of the tribal society 280
From the tribal society to the state 284
Africa’s greatest curse: its autocratic leaders 289
Ending the addiction to aid 293
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viii Contents
5.2 Can Democracy Help the African States to Cement Their
Multiethnic Societies? 294
Alternative scenarios of future political developments 295
The shape of the democratic reforms in Africa 299
The dubious significance of democratic elections 301
Notes 308
References 310
Index 315
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Tables
1.1 S ub-Saharan Africa: selected macroeconomic indicators
(as percent of GDP) 42
1.2 T he share and growth of the poor population in
South Asia and in SSA (poverty line
2005 PPP and $1.25/day) 44
1.3 P overty rates in selected African countries
(International poverty lines at 2005 prices and
exchange rates) 46
2.1 World trade in staple foods—average 2007–09 84
2.2 M easures of chronic and mild poverty and indicators of
income inequality in selected African countries (estimates
for 2005; income per capita in 2000 prices and
exchange rates) 93
2.3 C orrelation coefficients between key per-person
indicators 96
2.4 The annual rise in commodity prices 104
2.5 C ommodity futures price increases
(March 2003–March 2008) 105
3.1 N atural resources and access to the coast in the
African countries 123
3.2 Costs of trade across borders 133
3.3 D istribution of cropland and rural population by
market access zones (in percent) 140
3.4 I nfrastructure of personal services in
developing countries 141
3.5 Demographic trends in the world and in SSA: 1950–2050 157
3.6 U rban and rural poverty in SSA (Poverty line is
US$1 a day in1993 international purchasing power parity) 158
3.7 The costs of starting a business 163
4.1 List of African fragile states 216
4.2 OECD criteria of fragile states 217
4.3 A frican countries’ indicators of governance global
competitiveness (2007–08); ease of doing business
(2008); corruption (2008); political stability (2008) 224
ix
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