ABSTRACT
The central proposition of this chapter is that development in most of the developing world has fallen far short of expectations. This is especially the case in Africa, which persists in lagging behind other developing world regions. This phenomenon continues despite financial and technical development aid provided by multilateral aid agencies. From this vantage point, the chapter draws on critical as well as apologetic notions, concerning the work of the Bretton Woods institutions and the resultant sporadic and intermittent development of Africa. Against this background the chapter examines the hegemony of the Bretton Woods institutions as they worked with African states following their independence from disparate colonial experiences. Subsequently the chapter analyses two major interconnected phenomena: (1) the conditions that went with development financing, from a Gramscian hegemony vantage point of the Bretton Woods institutions and (2) the efficacy of debt relief initiatives as far as Africa is concerned. These two phenomena are juxtaposed with the impact of the rise of the BRICS countries-based multilateral development aid agencies, which are emerging as development aid providers in parallel to the Bretton Woods and other Western multilateral development aid institutions.
