Research Paper on:
Articles on Post Colonial Development

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the continent as a result of the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) developed by the World Bank/ IMF. He links these with the changes in political as well as economic structures  which have taken place in Africa since independence from colonial rule, although he acknowledges that in a number of cases there was a pre-existing burden of debt which cannot in  itself be blamed on the monetary structures of the IMFs loan and development programmes. However, he makes the point that it was partly these pre-existing debts which prompted the imposition  of the SAPs in the first place and considers that these have played a major part in contributing to the political instability in the countries concerned. The underlying aim of  the SAPs was to encourage the relevant nations to allow market forces to control all aspects of the social and economic infrastructures: not only production and trade itself, but also  social welfare, education and other infrastructures. Adekanye then goes on to point out that there are other, related factors which have contributed to the continuing level of debt in Africa,  not least the authoritarian state structures and internal conflicts which have come into being as a result of social and economic upheavals following the withdrawal of colonial rule. Whilst he  is correct in stating that the increase in the burden of debt has been an important factor with regard to the growth of more authoritarian rule, there is perhaps too  little emphasis on the extent to which such hierarchical political structures grew out of the colonial paradigm, especially in regard to the ethnic divides which contributed to the more widespread  economic instability of the region. Kolenda, in The Caste System Analysed: the Localised Social Structure, makes some interesting comments with regard to the impact of industrialisation and modernisation