RETHINKING AFRICAN DEMOCRACY: CASE STUDIES FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT

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In a 1991 article entitled Rethinking African Democracy Claude Ake argues the following:

Having agreed that authoritarianism presents a serious obstacle to development, the IFIs now recommend as a solution reducing the expenditures, powers, and controls of the state. It is critical, however, to distinguish between the size of the state and its strength. The public sector in many African countries has grown too bloated. Indeed, the bloated state has become a strategy for massive corruption, and it makes sense to try to trim the state by reducing the extent of state economic ownership and control. But it is a very different matter to claim that democracy can be promoted in Africa by weakening the state. The state in Africa needs to become both leaner and stronger in order to carry out successfully its essential development tasks.

Do you agree with Ake that the African state should become leaner and stronger in order to carry out successfully its essential development tasks.? What are these essential development tasks? Use a case study to illustrate your argument.

Citation: Ake, Claude. \”Rethinking African Democracy.\” Journal of democracy 2.1 (1991): 37-8.
Comment
An essay that responds to this question requires that you do at least the following:
Read this article by Ake and others in which he makes this argument.
Discuss what one other thinker or several other thinkers have said about the need to move to a stronger, leaner state to achieve development in Africa. You can do this by considering questions like:
Do they agree that this is necessary?
Do they think that this is sufficient?
Do they think this argument mischaracterises the kind of state that is needed to develop African societies?
Is there an agreement in this literature about what development means and what the essential tasks of African states are if they wish to bring about development?
Choose an African country that allows you to discuss these questions.
Claude article: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/225609/pdf
I will upload a sample essay to be used as an outline and guide.

Kenya would be a good case study. Please answer the questions in the essay accordingly. Thank you so much for writing this essay.
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