ABSTRACT
The new international environment presents a tremendous opportunity for Africans if leaders on the continent can propose new initiatives. On the positive side, the grand policy debates of the 1980s – when there was long discussion about the need to devalue overvalued currencies, reform poorly working state enterprises, pay workers market prices, control inflation and decrease deficits – are largely over. For the most part, Africans have rejected the statist economies that they inherited from the colonialists then enhanced, while, to varying degrees, clinging to various socialist doctrines. There is now also consensus across the continent that, while macroeconomic reform is necessary, it will only have the desired effect if it is grounded in good governance. Finally, populations and elites have largely rejected the one-or no-party regimes of the past. This has produced results. Some African economies are beginning to grow again; the continent grew faster than any other region in 2001. Also, many polities are freer than before and there is strong rhetorical commitment to good governance.
