reduction strategy papers (PRSP), seem to have contributed to Africa's poor
economic performance [12].
Moreover, factors such as ethnic conflicts, political instability, unfavorable security
conditions, and protracted civil wars contributed to the region's dismal economic
performance before the mid-1990s. The ineffective national government management
of the mandated macroeconomic reforms was at the root of their failure. In nearly
every SSA country, these development strategies were associated with a particular
authoritarian regime type, referred to as "the development dictatorship". African
development dictatorships promised high economic performance and rising living
standards. In return, they gave themselves the right to maintain a centralized and
authoritarian governance system [13].
Leadership problems plague many SSA countries. Besides being authoritarian,
African leaders are noted for their high-level corruption and are in no position to
promote development [14]. By changing the state's constitution or rigging elections,
most African leaders continue to perpetuate themselves in office. For instance,
according to Luiz and Charalambous [14], only 7% of African leaders between 1960
and 1999 had left office via free election compared to 60% overthrown in a coup
d’état, war or by assassination with an average time in the office of 7.2 years
compared to 3.2 years in Europe. Corrupt elongation of office tenure has negatively
affected sufficient power, which is essential to building stable and efficient institutions
for good governance.
Bräutigam and Knack [15] argue that institutions in many SSA countries are weak
due to colonialism, which failed to develop domestic institutions to meet modern
states' demands. Acemoglu, Johnson [16] also suggest that Africa is more inferior
compared to the rest of the world due to European powers building "extractive
colonies". This means the colonialists launched institutions devoid of rules to enforce
accountability and transparency, a trend that has persisted even after political
independence. Currently, the state in many SSA countries is significantly influenced
by neo-patrimonial tendencies and poor policy choices, severely hindering state
capacity [17]. These repressive regimes were associated with a lack of efficient
political checks and balances systems. In addition, the absence of real electoral
democracies had significantly retarded the region's economic performance and was a
primary cause of the ineffective reform [18-20]
Furthermore, out of 26 African conflicts between 1963 to 1998, affecting 61% of the
continent's total population, seven were classified as inter-state, while 19 happened
within countries [14]. This political violence damages the state's capacity and destroys
any efforts for serious reform. Also, it disrupts physical and human capital, reduces
savings, diverts FDI from national economies, disrupts economic activities and leads
to adverse structural change in government expenditures from the provision of civic
services to military spending [21].
However, in recent years, especially starting from the mid-2000s, SSA economies
have experienced a persistent increase in economic growth. The notable performance
has been attributed to reduced conflict, slightly improved political stability, meaningful
3C Empresa. Investigación y pensamiento crítico. ISSN: 2254-3376
Ed. 51 Iss.12 N.1 January - March, 2023