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Neopatrimonialism and the political economy of Economic Permormance in Africa: Critical Reflections

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Abstract

During the last two decades the idea that neopatrimonialism is central to unravelling the facts behind Africa’s poor economic performance has been advanced by what this study will refer to as the “Neopatrimonialism School”. This paper will argue that while providing descriptions of the styles of exercise of authority, idiosyncratic mannerisms of certain colourful individual leaders, or the socio-cultural practices of states and individuals occupying different positions within them, the concept has little analytical content and no predictive value with respect to economic policy and performance. As the concept is also deployed in comparative analyses, in order to explain why Africa underperforms when compared to other regions in the developing world, this paper touches upon a number of comparisons between Africa and other parts of the developing world

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  • Mkandawire, Thandika, 2013. "Neopatrimonialism and the political economy of Economic Permormance in Africa: Critical Reflections," Arbetsrapport 2013:1, Institute for Futures Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifswps:2013_001
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    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Paul N. Acha-Anyi, 2020. "A survey on the Washington Consensus and the Beijing Model: reconciling development perspectives," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(2), pages 111-129, June.
    2. Mark Purdon, 2015. "Advancing Comparative Climate Change Politics: Theory and Method," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(3), pages 1-26, August.
    3. Symphorien Ongolo & Sylvestre Kouamé Kouassi & Sadia Chérif & Lukas Giessen, 2018. "The Tragedy of Forestland Sustainability in Postcolonial Africa: Land Development, Cocoa, and Politics in Côte d’Ivoire," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Pritish Behuria, 2019. "African development and the marginalisation of domestic capitalists," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-115-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    5. Addo, Atta A., 2016. "Explaining 'irrationalities' of IT-enabled change in a developing country bureaucracy: the case of Ghana's Tradenet," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69471, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:487627 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Robtel Neajai Pailey, 2020. "De‐centring the ‘White Gaze’ of Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(3), pages 729-745, May.
    8. Sam Hickey, 2019. "The politics of state capacity and development in Africa - Reframing and researching ‘pockets of effectiveness’," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-117-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    9. Tom Lavers & Sam Hickey, 2015. "Investigating the political economy of social protection expansion in Africa: At the intersection of transnational ideas and domestic politics," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-047-15, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    10. Rebecca Simson, 2020. "The Rise and Fall of the Bureaucratic Bourgeoisie: Public Sector Employees and Economic Privilege in Postcolonial Kenya and Tanzania," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 607-635, July.
    11. Marianne Kneuer & Andreas Mehler & Jonas Sell, 2015. "Conference Report: Neopatrimonialism, Democracy, and Party Research: The German and International Debate – In Remembrance of Gero Erdmann (1952–2014)," Africa Spectrum, Institute of African Affairs, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 50(2), pages 113-123.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    neopatrimonialism;

    JEL classification:

    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania

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