Abstract:
I would like to begin by thanking the Vice Chancellor, Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies,
and other leaders of the University of Dhaka for inviting me to this conference, and my good friend
and former colleague at Quinnipiac University, Professor Mohammad Elahee, for gently
persuading me to come to this lovely country and city for the first time.
Please allow me to make two analytical caveats at the outset. First, Africa is a vast continent
whose 54 countries have varied historical geographies, political economies, and sociocultural
ecologies. Consequently, it is not easy, indeed it may be foolhardy to make generalizations about
the state and trajectories of democracy and development across this exceedingly diverse and
complex continent. Second, ever since the emergence of the modern world system more than half
a millennium ago, developments within Africa have always been connected to and affected by
global dynamics and forces. This local-global nexus has engendered transboundary formations that
are complex, contradictory, and always changing, thereby complicating analyses of phenomena
and processes within the continent.
As the title states, in this presentation I will do three things. First, explore the dynamics of
economic growth and development in Africa. Second, examine the trajectories of democracy
across the continent. Finally, analyze the intersections of African developmental and democratic
transformations and transitions within the changing global order and political economy. I argue
that, as in much of the world, notwithstanding advances in recent years the continent has been
experiencing recessions of both development and democracy, although there are notable variations
among countries.
While the ghosts of Afro-pessimism of the 1980s and 1990s occasionally peep into
discourses of contemporary Africa, the “Africa Rising/Rising Africa” narrative of the early 2010s
retains its seductions. But it has loss some of its gloss to a more sobering appreciation of the
challenges of constructing integrated, inclusive, and innovative democratic developmental states
and societies. Thus, while African economies generally continue to grow the yawning gap between
growth and development, which we learned from dependency theory in the 1970s, persists.
In short, the scale and durability of Africa’s growth and its translation into sustainable
development remain questionable. Despite almost two decades of economic growth widespread
poverty persists, inequality is deepening, and the crisis of employment for Africa’s exploding
youth populations perseveres. Similarly pressing are the enduring democratic deficits despite
notable improvements in governance. The apparent recessions of inclusive development and
democracy are of course not confined to Africa. Many parts of the world are witnessing similar
challenges, another indication of how deeply imbricated the continent is in global affairs.
Description:
Paper specially written for Special Guest Address, 3rd International Conference on Business and
Economics "Shaping the Future Through Inclusive Development", University of Dhaka, Dhaka,
Bangladesh, October 9-10, 2018.