Political liberation and economic policy reform in Africa

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of political liberalization on economic reform in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that the emergence of more participatory politics will not necessarily make successful reform less likely. Although the instability of political change will exact an economic cost in the short run, in the long run, political liberalization provides opportunities as well as risks for economic reform. It probably makes some macroeconomic reforms more difficult, but it provides a window of opportunity for significant progress on governance issues. The net impact will vary across states; in most countries, the prospects for economic reform will not be dramatically altered, because political reform does not alter some of the structural characteristics of economic policy making in Africa.