Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.

Jacqueline Best argues that the 1990s changes in IMF, World Bank and donor policies, towards what some have called the 'Post-Washington Consensus,' were driven by an erosion of expert authority and an increasing preoccupation with policy failure. Failures such as the Asian financial crisis and the decades of despair in sub-Saharan Africa led these institutions to develop governance strategies designed to avoid failure: fostering country ownership, developing global standards, managing risk and vulnerability and measuring results. In contrast to the structural adjustment era when policymakers were confident in their solutions, this is an era of provisional governance, in which key actors are aware of the possibility of failure even as they seek to inoculate themselves against it. Best considers the implications of this shift, asking if it is a positive change and whether it is sustainable. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Books Online and via Knowledge Unlatched.

'Structural adjustment' has been a central part of the development strategy for the 'third world'. Loans made by the World Bank and the IMF have been conditional on developing countries pursuing rapid economic liberalization programmes as it was believed this would strengthen their economies in the long run. M. Rodwan Abouharb and David Cingranelli argue that, conversely, structural adjustment agreements usually cause increased hardship for the poor, greater civil conflict, and more repression of human rights, therefore resulting in a lower rate of economic development. Greater exposure to structural adjustment has increased the prevalence of anti-government protests, riots and rebellion. It has led to less respect for economic and social rights, physical integrity rights, and worker rights, but more respect for democratic rights. Based on these findings, the authors recommend a human rights-based approach to economic development.

Examines contemporary development theory and discourse and explores its relationship to processes of democratization in sub-Saharan Africa. Focuses on the emergence and implementation of the good governance discourse. Draws on examples from four countries to demonstrate the impact of structural adjustment on economic and social conditions and describes the activities of democracy movements opposed to adjustment programmes. Concludes that the good governance agenda has been largely unsuccessful in promoting stable multi-party democracies in Africa.

This new collection critically examines the new global policy of 'good governance'. This catchphrase of aid policy and development thinking has been the subject of too little analysis to date. This book redresses the balance. It places the prefix 'good', and exactly what that means, under the microscope and examines the impact of neoliberal governance in a wide range of countries and territories, including Chile, Russia, Argentina and Indonesia.

This book is among the first to take the poverty reduction paradigm as its central focus. Offering a comprehensive introduction, overview and critique, it traces the emergence of the framework and illustrates its consequences with global case studies.