Africa’s Immiserization and Declining Development Interventions in a Globalizing World

Abstract

African countries recorded impressive growth rates in the 1960s and 1970s. However, the global economic crisis of the 1980s dealt a severe anti-developmental blow on African countries. Eventually, African countries embarked on widespread liberalization of their economies following intense pressures from Bretton Wood institutions. This paper explores the notion that globalization have engendered the immiserization (a term used by Karl Marx to indicate increasing misery or depth of poverty) of African countries on the one hand and resulted in a sustained decline in the resources available for development interventions on the other hand. To get out from the underdevelopment quagmire, some specific directions were proffered for the development of African countries and these must of necessity include structural changes that encompass spiritual, economic, social, political, institutional, attitudinal, cultural and ideological transformations.

Keywords: Africa, immiserization, development interventions, globalization