Togo: Failed election and misguided aid at the roots of economic misery

Kohnert, Dirk (2007): Togo: Failed election and misguided aid at the roots of economic misery.

Abstract

The holding of early parliamentary elections in Togo on October 14, 2007, most likely the first free and fair Togolese elections since decades, are considered internationally as a litmus test of despotic African regimes’ propensity to change towards democratization and economic prosperity. Western donors took Togo as model to test their approach of political conditionality of aid, which had been emphasised as corner stone of the joint EU-Africa strategy. Recent empirical findings on the linkage between democratization and economic performance in Western Africa are challenged because of lack of viable data. It is open to question, whether Togo’s expected economic consolidation and growth will be due to democratization of its institutions or to improved external environment, notably the growing competition between global players for African natural resources.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: GIGA - Institute of African Affairs, Hamburg
• Language: English
• Keywords: democratization; governance; economic growth; development; LDCs; Africa
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F51 - International Conflicts ; Negotiations ; Sanctions; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology; P - Economic Systems > P4 - Other Economic Systems > P48 - Political Economy ; Legal Institutions ; Property Rights ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Regional Studies; P - Economic Systems > P4 - Other Economic Systems > P47 - Performance and Prospects; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa; F - International Economics > F5 - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy > F59 - Other; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance > F35 - Foreign Aid

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