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For decades now, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa have implemented the structural adjustment programs of the Bretton Woods Institutions. The results, however, have been less than sterling. Extreme poverty and underdevelopment continue to plague sub-Saharan Africa, and it is now generally agreed that a new approach is urgently required.

Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.

Our Continent, Our Future is the very first publication to present the African perspective on the Bretton Woods approach to structural adjustment, and it does so with the input and support of top economists and scholars from every corner of Africa. This important book should be read by students, professors, academics, and researchers in development, economics, and African studies; professionals in donor organizations around the world; policymakers in both the governmental and nongovernmental sectors; and all citizens concerned with the future of Africa and issues of sustainable and equitable development.

THE AUTHORS

Thandika Mkandawire is Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Geneva. From 1986 until 1996, he served as Executive Secretary of CODESRIA, the Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa in Dakar, Senegal. Dr Mkandawire also serves on the editorial boards of Global Governance, Development and Change, and Africa Development, and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Association of African Universities, the International Board of the Swedish NGO Fund for Human Rights, and the Executive Board of the International Institute for Labour Studies.

Charles C. Soludo is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, Nigeria. Dr Soludo has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund, the University of Cambridge, The Brookings Institute, and the University of Oxford and a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (USA). He has also worked as a consultant for a number of international organizations, including The World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the United Nations Development Programme.

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 BACKGROUND — ASSESSING INITIAL CONDITIONS
Physical conditions
Human capital
Economic performance
Social development
Overall political-economic structure
Conclusions
Chapter 2 THE CRISIS — DIAGNOSIS AND PRESCRIPTIONS
Explaining the crisis
Prescriptions
Chapter 3 THE ADJUSTMENT EXPERIENCE
Results
Governance and state capacity
The nature of success
Extent of reform and degree of compliance
Chapter 4 WIDENING THE ROAD AHEAD
Broadening the fundamentals
Financing industrialization
Agrarian revolution and reforms
Mobilization of resources
Reducing the debt
Regional integration
Sociopolitical fundamentals
Developmental states, once again
Conclusions
Appendix — Abbreviations and Acronyms
Bibliography

Book(s) 92 of 193