Disciplining democracy : development discourse and good governance in Africa
This thought-provoking book does not simply link the West's good governance agenda with the demise of the Soviet Union. Abrahamsen shows that this democratic agenda involves little more than superficial institutional reforms. The West's primary goal in developing countries remains the enforcement of structural adjustment. African governments, in particular, remain in a double bind, nominally responsible to their electorates at home, but also beholden to external creditors and donors. Demands by impoverished electorates that their new democratic institutions actually work to defend their interests are often branded as illegitimate by the West.--Publisher description
xv, 168 pages ; 23 cm
9781856498586, 9781856498593, 1856498581, 185649859X
44447071
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Democratisation and Development Discourse2. New World Order, New Development Discourse3. The Seductiveness of Good Governance4. The Democratisation of Poverty5. Whose Democracy?6. Economic Liberalisation and Democratic Erosion7. The Success of the Good Governance Discourse