ABSTRACT
East Asian states have demonstrated that development can proceed extremely rapidly in the context of norms of governance that are generally regarded as a problem in an African context, and without the wholesale adoption of Western institutions. If good governance reforms were not working, it was possible to imagine ways in which development might progress better by returning to African societies' historical grain. In many African countries, bureaucratic agencies have been so weakened by a combination of material dearth and informal pressures that citizen entitlements have failed. It is important to note that even in the most successful cases 'developmental patrimonialism' is subject to some limitations, and is probably not feasible for every African country. More research needs to be conducted in African area, but what seems clear is that development with the grain is most likely to emerge when donors are sensitive to the nature of in-country political settlements and systems of rule, appreciate their potentialities.
