b1854
Corruption, Good Governance and Economic Development: Contemporary Analysis and Case Studies
Chapter 5
Governance, Institutions and Corruption: Negative Sovereignty in Africa* Derek H. Aldcroft University of Leicester
Abstract Since the Second World War, Africa and especially Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has had the poorest economic performance of any region in the world. Ironically, many African countries had set out with high hopes once they had thrown off the yoke of colonial rule but it was not long before disaster struck. Against the background of an expanding world economy Africa experienced ‘a chronic failure of economic growth’ (Collier and Gunning, 1996), so that by the end of the 20th century incomes per capita were little better than they had been at the time of independence, and in some cases a good deal worse. The main problem was the failure to improve the efficiency of resource use; in contrast to the position in many other developing countries total factor productivity was either static or negative for much of the time (Ndulu and O’Connell, 1999; Crafts, 2000). Thus while poverty was declining elsewhere, it was increasing steadily in SSA. By the turn of the century two-thirds of the population were estimated to be living at subsistence or below the absolute poverty line, while nearly one-half the world’s poor lived in Africa (United Nations, 1997).
* Professor Keith Snell kindly read a draft of this chapter and offered most helpful comments especially on the role of the African tribal system. 63
b1854_Ch-05.indd 63
12/2/2014 11:40:26 AM
