ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how external economic forces – aid, trade, and investment – affect politics and policy in African countries. It narrates a stylized but common progression of economic policies in Africa from post-colonial developmentalism to crisis, structural adjustment, and liberalization. The chapter reviews the dependency debate in light of the preceding discussion. It focuses on the politics, policies, and choices of African governments, rather than those of donors or international institutions, and on how global forces create incentives and constraints for governments, rather than on whether these forces are 'good' or 'bad' for Africa. The chapter also focuses on aid delivered by multilateral institutions and bilateral donors rather than non-governmental organizations. Countries' policy choices are subject to formal limits of varying rigidity, as well as a set of incentives that establishes a 'path of least resistance', which may or may not coincide with the national interest.
