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Khabele Matlosa and others, editors, The State, Democracy, and Poverty Eradication in Africa. Johannesburg: EISA, 2008.
23 x 16 cm, card wraps, sewn binding, 452 pages, some tables, extensive bibliography.
Very good condition.
Scarce.
Africa's record of governance and development since independence four decades ago is a mixed bag. Few countries in the continent boast a commendable record in terms of democratic governance and the socio-economic livelihood of ordinary people beyond mere economic growth. Most countries are experiencing a crisis of governance combined with a crisis of development. The combined effect of 'mis-governance' and 'mal-development' has exacerbated political instability and deepened the scourge of poverty. Policy efforts toward poverty eradication have not generated optimism that the continent will meet the Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015.
In order for Africa to make appreciable progress in tackling the governance and development crises and strive toward eradication of both income and human poverty, it requires a functional and capable state. The state ought to play a complementary role to markets in eradicating poverty since markets on their own are incapable of eradicating poverty. Democratic developmental states have greater prospects for advancing sustainable human development than authoritarian states. For this reason, African states need to embrace more than just procedural democracy with emphasis on mere electioneering. They need to embrace substantive democracy that transcends electoralism and advances social justice. Such developmental democracy rooted profoundly in the continent's own cultural context, historico-political trajectories and socio-economic realities is what Africa needs.
KHABELE MATLOSA is the senior research advisor at EISA.
KWESI KWAA PRAH is the director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society
BERTHA CHIRORO is a senior researcher at EISA.
LUCIEN TOULOU is a researcher at EISA.
