The Significance of Neoliberalism in the Political Economy of Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Ethiopia
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Date
2011-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Currently because of the age of globalization the world is becoming to be conceived as a village. One of the major projects of globalization is the integration of the political economy of the less developed regions in to the global political economic order. Accordingly, during the past few decades the continent of Africa has been trying to integrate itself in to the international political economy either forcefully or by consent.
The driving force of this integration is the ideology of neoliberalism. Under this integration states are recommended or forced to open up their markets to foreign companies competitions, to minimize the role of the government in the economy including minimizing the government expense for social security and social goods, to create fertile grounds for the market to be the only means to distribute the wealth of a nation and the prices of goods and services to be determined based on the principles of demand and supply, etc…
The central question of this research is “does neoliberalism work in Africa?” The empirical discussion is made in Ethiopia. It tries to give deep explanations about the theoretical principles of neoliberalism and also this research deals with arguments for and against neoliberalism in to the political economy of Sub-Saharan Africa. Then the research proceed to the debates between the Revolutionary Democrats and Liberal Democrats concerning to the role of ideology of liberalism (neoliberalism) in the political economy of Ethiopia.
After analyzing some key issues of the ongoing debate, the research findings conclude that the ideology of neoliberalism doesn‟t work in Africa. It is the conclusion of this research that neoliberalism is an ideology which doesn‟t subscribe to the socio-economic and political realities of the continent of Africa. When we come to the case of Ethiopia, after considering the strong and weak sides of both Revolutionary Democracy and Liberal Democracy, the author argues that we have to search for another political and economic ideology that can subscribe to the realities of the country.
Key words:- Neoliberalism, Ideology, Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia, Political-Economy, Theoretical Principles
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Keywords
Neoliberalism, Ideology, Sub-Saharan Africa, Political-Economy, Theoretical Principles, Ethiopia