Economist to speak on Africa's development

Accra, June 16, GNA- Dr. Thandika Mkandawire, Director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva, would deliver the next Ghana Speaks lecture on Wednesday. The lecture, the third in the series by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), would be on the topic "From Maladjusted States to Developmental States in Africa", a statement by IDEG said on Monday.

Dr. Mkandawire is a renowned economist with many years experience in research on development issues and for more than a decade, he served as Executive Secretary of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), in Dakar.

He is also Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Development Research in Copenhagen. Dr. Mkandawire's publications cover critical issues in the area of democratization and policy making. He is a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including Africa Review of Books; Global Governance and Journal of Human Development.

The statement said the lecturer would review the development trajectory of African countries and analyse the role of the state in Africa's development.

The lecture would be attended by politicians, economists, persons from professional bodies and businesses, academia, civil society, representatives of development partners and foreign missions, as well as media and communications experts. According to Dr Mkandawire, African states had gone through a number of transformations within the last three decades of neo-liberal economic reforms.

Among other factors, these reforms became necessary due to a bloated public sector which put undue pressure on state budget and also because of the increasing social and economic role the state had assumed. These developments according to him were alleged to breed corruption, incapacitate the private sector, and distort the economy in several ways.

"The reform policy therefore requires downsizing the state as part of the package of solutions to the continent's development crisis. The result is what some have described as an 'anaemic state,'" Dr. Mkandawire said. He said maladjusted state accounted largely for Africa's failed development after decades of reform. Evidence from contemporary world history is that all successful "late industrializers" have had states that assumed more than just regulatory roles. "In these instances the state has stimulated private businesses, taken up entrepreneurial roles, coordinated economic activities and so on." Dr. Mkandawire observed that African countries had to find a key institution that can play a developmental role in today's more competitive world if they were to develop. The Ghana Speaks Lecture Series was inaugurated in 2007 in the wake of Ghana's 50th independence anniversary. The lectures are delivered by eminent persons with a track record of public service at the national and international levels, and are designed to promote informed discussions on critical issues on national development and good governance.