After the Lost Decades: Rethinking Africa’s development from a Developmental State Perspective

Abstract

This article rekindles the debate on the developmental state for the consolidation of gains in the growth of Africa’s economies in recent years. That Africa is unlikely to meet any of the ‘poverty-busting goals’ nor the United Nations benchmarks on education, health, and women’s empowerment is the rationale behind the argument for the developmental state. This article argues that African does not need some delusional epistemological or ontological revolution of paradigms but Africa needs a new cause that suggests practical and pragmatic approaches to both economics and politics. Highlighting the Chinese experience, the article demonstrates that a declared commitment to poverty eradication is not an end in itself, rather, it must be a means to an end, coupled with the promotion and sustenance of development and a far reaching transformation of society’s economic, social, political and cultural structure which is typical of a developmental state. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n11p423