Party Politics and Economic Reform in Africa's Democracies

Download or read book Party Politics and Economic Reform in Africa's Democracies written by M. Anne Pitcher and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-07 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Party Politics and Economic Reform in Africa's Democracies, M. Anne Pitcher offers an engaging new theory to explain the different trajectories of private sector development across contemporary Africa. Pitcher argues that the outcomes of economic reforms depend not only on the kinds of institutional arrangements adopted by states in order to create or expand their private sectors, but also on the nature of party system competition and the quality of democracy in particular countries. To illustrate her claim, Pitcher draws on several original data sets covering twenty-seven countries in Africa, and detailed case studies of the privatization process in Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa. This study underscores the importance of formal institutions and political context to the design and outcome of economic policies in developing countries.