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The Developmental State Experiment in Africa: the Experiences of Ghana and South Africa

Abstract Several strategies have been designed and implemented in African countries to promote development. Even though they may have contributed to increased gross domestic product growth over the years, they have largely failed because of a number of factors, namely: ineffective leadership; poor policy implementation; policy discontinuity; slow industrialisation; and an environment not conducive for private sector growth. The failure of these strategies or paradigms has led to the continued search for an appropriate strategy to address Africa’s development predicament. This search has also been exacerbated by the rise of China, East Asia and some Latin American countries as newly industrialising countries, the 2008 global economic crisis stemming from market failure and the renewed interest in the role and nature of the state in the development process, especially its role in reviving the economies of many Western countries with bail-out packages by the state. These developments no doubt point not only to the role of the state in development but also to the kind of state that will promote and facilitate socio-economic development. The kind of state to shoulder the burden of socio-economic development is the developmental state, which according to (Evans, 2008, p. 13), ‘If … it was important to 20th century economic success … will be much more important to 21st century success’. Using Ghana (considered as a non-developmental state) and South Africa (considered to be an emerging developmental state) as case studies, the paper examines the extent or the degree to which the two countries have met or achieved the key seven features of the developmental state. Some recommendations are also made with the aim of consolidating progress thus far and deepening or accelerating the process. In doing so, it is hoped that the lecture will make a contribution to the literature on the concept of the developmental state.