ABSTRACT
The last decade has witnessed the phenomenon of Structural Adjustment Programmes invading the African continent with widespread repercussions. By 1993, at least forty countries in Africa were engaged in one form of structural adjustment or the other. This chapter examines the history, character and application of Structural Adjustment in the broader African and, indeed, limited global context. Africa and Sub - Saharan Africa in particular, has recorded the weakest economic growth rates, let alone development, of all developing regions of the world. A major problem of the study and critical analysis of adjustment is the absence or at best inadequacy of any cohesive body of knowledge that can safely pass as a theory of adjustment. This problem emanates from among other things, the conflicting ideological and idiosyncratic philosophies of the two major players -the Fund and Bank. Adjustment programmes have a number of components both from an institutional point of view and from the point of inputs.
