State Legitimacy and Development in Africa

Differences in historical state legitimacy, argues Englebert (politics, Pomona College) can account for the wide regional variations in developmental fortunes and the economic stagnation of the continent as a whole. He shows how the arbitrary nature of postcolonial African states conditions the types of policies that elites adopt, and looks at the impact of imported government institutions on government performance. Structural adjustment and reforming the public sector will not avail, he says, only institutional and territorial restructuring. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR