ABSTRACT
In the last chapter we considered the evolution of European development policy in the 1980s. We saw how the questions of policy dialogue and adjustment emerged as the new dominant issues in Lomé aid diplomacy. This chapter extends the discussion to the problem of Africa’s external indebtedness. Indeed, it can be argued that the changed international aid regime was in direct response to the global debt crisis of the 1980s. We shall examine, first, the international context of the African debt problem, its origins and structure, and the political responses by international creditors; second, we shall consider the responses by the European Community in the context of Lomé diplomacy.
