Fixing African Economies: Policy Research for Development

African Studies Review, Dec 2004 by Gondwe, Derrick K

Lucie Colvin Phillips and Diery Seck, eds. Fixing African Economies: Policy Research for Development. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc., 2003. ix 236 pp. Figures. Tables. Bibliography. Index. $49.95. Cloth.

This book is a compilation of case studies reflecting the desire for change in the approach to the policymaking process in Africa. They follow the disasters caused by the IMF/World Bank-mandated structural adjustment, "arm-chair economist"-based policies of the 1980s-a period that can unambiguously be called a "lost decade" in sub-Saharan Africa. As the book's editors point out, useful economic research in sub-Saharan Africa did not begin until the 1990s. The explanation for this is threefold. First, there was a dearth of trained indigenous scholars before this decade. Second, resource-poor African countries did not begin to gain access to funds through foreign assistance until then. Finally, the 1990s brought with them electronic access to hitherto inaccessible data.

The main purpose of this collection is to demonstrate how important policy-relevant research is for economic development in African countries. The major issue is the value, at least in sub-Saharan Africa, of economic policy based on policy-driven research. This is a departure from the prevailing approach to research from the 1960s to the 1980s. Throughout that period, canned policy actions based on foreign experiences were the closest researchers on Africa came to recognizing a policy-research nexus. In the selection of case studies, the editors mostly succeed in ensuring that the book effectively explains the circumstances under which policy research is more or less likely to be successful in Africa. In addition, a very interesting, but by no means surprising, conclusion is that useful policy research in Africa needs the significant participation of well-trained indigenous scholars. These scholars add a dimension to the research that is lacking when only foreigners are involved.

The case studies presented may be divided into three categories. There are the essays that demonstrate the failures that have followed either when policy was not preceded by research because the research-policy nexus was unrecognized, or when research results were too inconvenient to be used because of political considerations. This category includes chapters on Ghana, Kenya, and Madagascar. In contrast to these are the cases in which the research-policy nexus was clearly recognized and well carried out: Tanzania, Ghana (again), Uganda, and South Africa. Each of these essays addresses a different policy issue, but each demonstrates the main points in the book: first, that it is crucial for African economic development that economic policy follow an appropriate process of conception, collaboration, and execution of solid research; and second, that there is no substitute for research geared to the practical questions that face African policymakers from day to day. The final essay, entitled "Understanding Attitudes toward Democracy and Markets in Nigeria" seems out of place. Although it is an interesting piece, the book would have been better without it since it does not address the policy-research nexus, merely reporting the results of research done.

The concluding chapter not only pulls together the case studies presented, it is also brings in issues and arguments that are not so apparent in the articles. In fact, this chapter should be a must-read for African policy-makers and researchers. Indeed, the book as a whole is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in African economic development and the special problems associated with policy research on that continent.

Derrick K. Gondwe

Gettysburg College

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania