ABSTRACT
The implementation of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) entails the monitoring and in some cases, the actual control of key ministries thereby placing them beyond the pale of domestic politics. About 32 African countries had implemented SAPs and drawn on the International Monetary Fund standby facility to support their reform programmes. The link between democratization and market economies, entailed by SAPs, was intended to fully integrate the markets of African countries into the international capitalist economy. The new conditionalities have been seen as the sine qua non of socio-economic development in Africa. The pressure for political reform in Africa during the 1980s renewed the debate about the relationship between democracy and development. Since Africa’s problems were increasingly perceived to be of a political nature, political reform was elevated to the top of the reform agenda. The World Bank’s report which directly linked political liberalization to successful economic rehabilitation should therefore be seen as the precursor of the new conditionality.
