Reformism and Revisionism in Africa's Political Economy in the 1990's: The Dialectics of Adjustment

## Preface This text was conceived towards the end of the 1980s, when it became ever more glaringly apparent that the political economy of Africa was in aperiod of profound transformation, one not yet captured in the established literature . Timely support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) enabled me to spend my 1989 sabbatical year on the continent, based at the University of Zimbabwe, where I was Visiting Professor of Political and Administrative Studies and World University Service of Canada (WUSC) Associate. However, I was diverted there by not unrelated and equally instructive projects on 'liberalisation' in Zimbabwe and 'liberation' in Namibia and South Africa. As it turned out, this was most fortuitous because my overly economy-and policy••centric perspective on structural adjustment has since been transcended by a more comprehensive one which incorporates crucial political conditionalities and popular responses. Happily, the University 01' Manchester provided me with a perfect opportunity to complete this process of conceptual and editorial revision by giving me a generous Hallsworth Research Fellowship in Political Economy for the first half of 1991, and the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Geneva facilitated final improvemcnts through a twomonth residency in mid-1991. Throughout these 30 months of research and reftection I have been encouraged and challenged by innumerable colleagues in the academy, bureaucracy, and community in Africa, Europe and North America, especially by the new generation of African(ist) scholars who have instructed and supervised me, when they thought I was doing so for them! My Department and University in Nova Scotia have been understanding throughout. And as always, my spouse and critic, Jane Parpart, has been a constant source of support, comment, and diversion. Notwithstanding all this encouragement and input, I alone am responsible for the remaining deficiencies and contradictions. This timely text reevaluates the contemporary political economy of Africa in the light of continuing economic and ecological crises, changing perceptions and prescriptions, and transformations in global economic and strategic relations. It treats hitherto overlooked issues such as gender and informal sectors and examines proliferating conditionalities, such as democratic structures and military expenditures. It suggests that established perspectives need to be superceded by revisionist approaches and it anticipates disappointment with current structural adjustment programmes, advocating instead a return to various forms of self-reliance. This text re-evaluates the contemporary political economy of Africa in the light of continuing economic and ecological crises, changing perceptions and prescriptions, and transformations in global economic and strategic relations. It treats hitherto overlooked issues such as gender and informal structures and military expenditures. It suggests that established perspectives need to be superseded by revisionist approaches and it anticipates disappointment with current structural adjustment programmes, advocating instead a return to various forms of self-reliance. Timothy M. Shaw. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 199-210) And Index.