Donors, Democracy and Development in Africa: Western Aid and Political Repression

Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda have figured prominently in the post- Cold War relations between Western donors and Sub-Saharan Africa. Their ‘new leaders’ were embraced by Western countries as the antithesis of former Cold War-era African strongmen, and their countries became ‘donor darlings’, benefitting from regular and significant inflows of Western development assistance. To the dismay of African democracy activists and human rights defenders, such aid enabled the regimes in these countries to strengthen the repressive political and economic governance systems over which they preside. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, this book examines the role of Western development assistance in supporting these authoritarian African regimes. It connects changing Western donor policies and priorities to developments within the three African countries, to the past of these ruling parties as armed liberation movements, to wider regional and global political, economic and strategic shifts, and highlights the skillful management by Kampala, Addis Ababa and Kigali of Western aid and international aid architecture to ensure regime preservation. Preface Acknowledgements Contents About the Author Abbreviations Chapter 1: Contexts Controversies and Commonalities The Place of Aid in the West’s Relations with Africa Aid and Its Discontents: Variants of the Debates The Importance of Historical Perspectives The Utility of Comparative Approaches, Multi-disciplinarity and Data Analysis Dissimulation, Hybridity and Donor Responses COVID-19 and the Second Cold War: Revelations and Inflection Points References Chapter 2: COVID-19 and Political Repression Authoritarianism revamped Global Democratic Backsliding The Pandemic and the West’s Favoured African Regimes COVID-19 as Regime Consolidation Opportunity in Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda Washington’s Summit for Democracy and Notable Absences The Spurned Favourites React and Wait References Chapter 3: Elements of Continuity: Promoting Democracy During the Cold War Political Freedoms and Washington’s Cold War Africa Policy British Development Assistance and Anglophone Africa’s First Strongmen Paris and its African Protégés Betting on Continuity References Chapter 4: Embracing the ‘New Leaders’ The Continent’s Nadir Signs of a Turnaround The End of the Cold War and America’s New Afro-optimism Washington’s Linking of Development Aid to Democratisation Bill Clinton, Africa’s Renaissance and the ‘new leaders’ Parisian Responses and London’s Post-Cold War Enthusiasm for Africa Voices of Scepticism and Calls for Caution References Chapter 5: Bloody Legacies, Regime Hybridity and Donor Rationalisations Burdens of the Past and Regime Formation The Impact of Historical Influences The NRM and Uganda’s Post-independence Instability The RPF and the Deadly Bequests of Pre-genocide Rwanda The EPRDF: Absolutist Rule, Warfare and Totalising Ideologies Africa’s New Leaders and Their Hybrid Regimes Donor Rationalisations References Chapter 6: The Silences of International Development Frameworks and ‘Good Governance’ International Compacts From New York to Accra via Monterey and Paris The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) The Rise of the ‘Good Governance’ Agenda The UK’s Evolving Position on Democracy and Good Governance A Permissive International Development Ecosystem for Authoritarianism References Chapter 7: Democracy and Civil Rights: Securing Political Closure and Western Responses Uganda: From Hostility to Multi-party Democracy to Manipulation of the Electoral System Ethiopia: Yet Another Attempt at Revolutionary Transformation Rwanda: Unwavering Repression of Political Dissent References Chapter 8: Controlling Economic Liberalisation Western Pressures for Reform Holding the Line The Developmental State and Justifications for Economic Dirigisme Committing to the Developmental State Regime-strengthening and Party-Business Empires References Chapter 9: Ambition, Authoritarianism, Participation and Decentralisation Visions and Results Development Progress, Justifying Authoritarianism and Contrary Evidence Controlling Participation and Decentralisation References Chapter 10: Development Assistance and the West’s Changing Security Agenda From the Red Peril to African Transnational Threats Donors and the Securitisation of Development Western Programmes for the Securitisation of Aid to Africa Defining Terms of Engagement, Objectives and Conditionalities Capitalising on Western Security Concerns References Chapter 11: Western Security, Regime Security and the Fruits of Plunder Uganda Rwanda Ethiopia References Chapter 12: Working the Compacts: Western Aid and the Consolidation of Authoritarianism See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil Pushing for More, Faster and Better Aid Turning on the Taps PRSPs and Marketing the ‘New Partnerships’ Stellar Progress, Really? Keep Your Money and Mind Your Own Business Playing the China Card Selective Myopia and Sunk Costs References Chapter 13: The New Cold War: Competing for African Allies and the Place of Democracy Promotion A Short-Lived Zeal for Democracy Promotion New Old Western Strategic Priorities Wooing, Selective Censuring and Continuity Returning to Business as Usual African Democracy Activists and Western Aid References Index