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Togo: Thorny transitions and misguided aid at the roots of economic misery

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  • Kohnert, Dirk

Abstract

The parliamentary elections of October 2007, the first free Togolese elections since decades, were meant to correct at least partially the rigged presidential elections of 2005. Western donors considered it as a litmus test of despotic African regimes’ propensity to change towards democratization and economic prosperity. They took Togo as model to test their approach of political conditionality of aid, which had been emphasised also as corner stone of the joint EU-Africa strategy. Empirical findings on the linkage between democratization and economic performance are challenged in this paper because of its basic data deficiencies. It is open to question, whether Togo’s expected economic consolidation and growth will be due to democratization of its institutions or to the improved external environment, notably the growing competition between global players for African natural resources.

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  • Kohnert, Dirk, 2011. "Togo: Thorny transitions and misguided aid at the roots of economic misery," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 179-210.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:118654
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kohnert, Dirk, 2015. "Donor’s double talk undermines African agency: Comparative study of civic agency in Burkina Faso and Togo," EconStor Conference Papers 120921, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2021. "Togo (2019 -2021) : Développement politique et socio-économique [Version étendue et annotée du « BTI 2022 - Togo Country Report »]," AfricArxiv fcyxr, Center for Open Science.
    3. Kohnert, Dirk, 2020. "BTI -2022 Togo Country Report : political and socio-economic development, 2019-2020 [enhanced author's version]," MPRA Paper 105007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kohnert, Dirk, 2017. "Togo: Political and Socio-Economic Development (2015 – 2017)," MPRA Paper 81176, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kohnert, Dirk, 2015. "Togo: recent political and economic development," MPRA Paper 62029, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Kohnert, Dirk, 2019. "Pas de changement en vue : Le développement politique et socio-économique du Togo (2017 - 2019)," AfricArxiv hvrtm, Center for Open Science.
    7. Kohnert, Dirk, 2019. "No change in sight - Togo’s Political and Socio-Economic Development (2017 – 2019)," MPRA Paper 91813, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 29 Jan 2019.
    8. Kohnert, Dirk, 2020. "BTI 2021 -Togo Country Report [author's version]," MPRA Paper 103792, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kohnert, Dirk, 2019. "Togo - 2018: Domestic politics, foreign affairs, socio-economic development," MPRA Paper 91679, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Democratization; Fragile states; Togo; West Africa; Development Aid; Transition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • F5 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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