Structural Adjustment Reconsidered: Economic Policy and Poverty in Africa.(Review)

By David E. Sahn, Paul A. Doresh, and Stephen D. Younger. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press; 1997 (xiiv + 304 pages, including index).

It has become customary for much of the literature dealing with the political economy of contemporary Africa to include highly generalized ritualistic incantations for or against Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). On the one hand, it is indisputedly the case that in many countries, the implementation of SAPs has led to damaging cuts in state expenditure in crucial areas such as education and health care. In addition, by diverting resources away from admittedly corrupt or incompetent governmental structures, they may have the adverse consequence of terminally weakening already feeble and dysfunctional states. On the other hand, there is, too often, little evidence to support assertions that any benefits, in terms of overall growth that may stem from SAPs, are more than offset by a decline in the …