The politics of adjustment in Kenya and Zimbabwe: The state as intermediary

Abstract

In considering the selection and implementation of adjustment strategies in Africa, it is critical the analyze the role of the state as the main intermediary between international creditors and domestic societal interests. The state is at the locus of interaction with the former in identifying a debt management strategy as a means to protect state interests and with the latter in assessing and distributing the costs of adjustment. With this role of the state in mind, an adjustment strategy becomes a series of state-enacted policies that are molded by the interaction of domestic political groups and international creditors as they seek to control the costs of adjustment in a highly polticized environment. In order to identify and explain the selection of adjustment strategies in Kenya and Zimbabwe, this article examines the state's relationship with societal interests, the financing of adjustment from international creditors, and the distributive consequences of adjustment.