State Capacity-building in Zambia amidst Shifting Political Coalitions and Ideologies

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the performance trajectories of three sometime ‘pockets of effectiveness’ (PoEs) in Zambia, namely the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Zambia, and Zambia Revenue Authority. It shows that their performance has been shaped by structural forces underpinning Zambia’s historical trajectory, namely the character of its political settlement, the structure of the economy and global neoliberalism, and of the shifting political coalitions that have governed the country. Originally shaped by the nationalized copper industry and a state-led economy, these organizations were subject to a radical reorientation under the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s. Donor supported ‘capacity-building’ efforts and the need to adhere to international standards disciplined Zambia’s economic institutions, moderated political interference from the executive, and enabled them to function effectively in a narrow organizational sense. Over time these PoEs turned out to be politically unsustainable in the face of developmental failures, alternative ideological commitments, elite fragmentation, and political populism. Zambia’s governing elite was only fully aligned with this project of technocratic neoliberalism for a relatively brief period during the mid-2000s that ended with the death of the then-president. With politics becoming increasingly competitive and fragmentary, this mode of economic governance came into conflict with political populism and a residual commitment to a more statist and planning-based approach within the bureaucracy. Despite the rhetoric of economic nationalism, the prioritization of short-term survival strategies had undermined the quality of economic governance to the extent that rising levels of debt dependency threatened both Zambia’s sovereignty and its developmental future.