World Bank, International Monetary Fund and United Nations Led Democratic Governance and Economic Development Campaign: Can Africa Speak One Voice?

Abstract

The subject of democratic governance and economic development is currently of critical importance in various fora of debate in Africa. This paper discusses the subject with respect to the voices of Africa’s academia. The paper discusses the subject in the context of Western world-Africa interaction since the early 1960s when the fight for political independence by African countries was at its peak. The paper also discusses the subject around modern economic development thought, defined as that which emerged in the mid 1940s when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were created by the United Nations Organisation (UN). The paper observes that while there has been consensus in the Western academia on critical subjects like the one under discussion in this paper, in the African academia such consensus is missing, making it difficult for the later to give policy guidance on such critical issues. The paper calls for consensus in the African academia on issues critical to the economic development of Africa. To this effect, the paper makes a proposal of how consensus can be reached with particular reference to the World Bank, IMF and UN-led democratic governance and economic development. From this example consensus on other critical issues can be reached.

Keywords: Good Governance, Democracy, Economic Development