Book: PM Meles Zenawi writes on ‘States and Markets’

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi wrote a scholarly article titled ‘States and Markets: Neoliberal Limitations and the Case for a Developmental State’.Good Growth and Governance in Africa (including Meles Zenawi's article on Neoliberalism and Developmental state)

The article is published in a book titled ‘Good Growth and Governance in Africa: Rethinking Development Strategies’. The book consists articles written by various experts in the field of economics and development, edited by the renowned economist Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz together with Akbar Noman, Kwesi Botchwey, and Howard Stein. Initiative for Policy Dialogue of Columbia University is the publisher of the book.

The book is said to be an outcome of the deliberation of a diverse group of experts on development convened by the Initiative for Policy Dialogue. The book’s description states that:

This volume reflects the highlights of [the] deliberations. It broadens the policy debate, expands the policy options, and proposes alternative development strategies. This book captures the lively, and sometimes contentious, debate, and provides a note of optimism for the future. Though success is not assured, this volume argues that there is good reason to believe that policies based on lessons of successes, notably in East Asia, can be adapted successfully in African contexts.

Meles Zenawi’s piece is found in ‘Part II: Governance, Institutions and the State’ of the book, under the heading ‘States and Markets: Neoliberal Limitations and the Case for a Developmental State’, (page 140-175).

The book will be released on March 1, 2012, according to Amazon.com. However, Google Books is displaying some pages from the book as a preview.

The first 7 pages of Meles Zenawi’s article, which are visible on Google-books, present a theoretical criticism of the neo-liberal paradigm prescriptions regarding the role of the state in the economy.

Meles Zenawi begins his article stating that:

The political and economic renaissance of Africa is an issue that continues to preoccupy Africans and non-Africans alike. Various methods of achieving such a renaissance have been proposed, mostly variations of the dominant neoliberal paradigm of development. My argument elaborated elsewhere is that the neo-liberal paradigm is a dead end incapable of bringing about the African renaissance, and that a fundamental shift in paradigm is required to effect a revival. In this paper, the focus is on the theoretical or conceptual limitations of the neo-liberal paradigm and the need for African states to move towards becoming developmental.

It is to be recalled that in a panel convened Initiative for Policy Dialogue in 2006, Meles Zenawi presented a 51-page draft paper, titled ‘African Development Dead Ends and New Beginnings’ that argues the need for replacing the neo-liberal paradigm with a developmental state paradigm in Africa.

* You may see the description of the book at: Amazon.com (link) , Oxford University Press (link)

* You may read parts of the book at Google Books (link).

[Download here – ‘African Development Dead Ends and New Beginnings’ – (link).]

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Daniel Berhane

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