REVISITING CHINA'S DEVELOPMENTAL STATE: LESSONS FOR AFRICA
1. Introduction Recent reports on Africa's development displayed high levels of optimism. This is different from previous pessimistic accounts about the future of the continent. The new view on the African political economy is mainly promulgated by international development agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) They perceive the rapid economic growth of some African countries as a sign of economic development. Seven of the 13 fastest growing economies in the world are African (World Bank 2015) This growth lies at the heart of what some commentators and politicians describe as "Africa rising" However, Africa remains behind in almost every human development indicator. According to the United Nations Development Project UNDP (2013) Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) was ranked the lowest in the annual Human Development Index (HDI) There has been minimal improvement in key areas such as health, education and inequality (Gumede 2010a) Furthermore, SSA states have low levels of social protection, high unemployment, poverty and pervasive food insecurity (FAO2014; UNDP 2014; ILO 2015) Critics of the African growth thesis have argued the abovementioned evidence illustrates that the region's growth path is not inclusive and sustainable. It is characterised by low levels of human development, and driven by ecologically destructive economic extractivism. Hall (2011: 198) describes this accumulation model as one based on: "non sustainable forms of resource extraction that are repatriated as profits to corporations outside the locality" Her account resonates with Harvey's (2004) notion of "accumulation by dispossession" which highlights how global capitalism continues to expand by reproducing socioeconomic underdevelopment in less developed countries. His observations raise the question of whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a sufficient measure of development. Socio economic indicators in SSA clearly illustrate that it is not. Fioramonti (2013) provides concrete evidence that justifies why less developed regions (like SSA) should use other indicators, which place human development at the centre of growth strategies. He urges policy makers to identify and address the underlying systemic challenges of their various political economies. The following section will therefore briefly discuss the structural causes of the crisis in the African political economy. 2. Structural causes of the African crisis Africa's developmental impasse is mainly attributed to the dominance of economic liberalism in global development discourses. It coincided with what Butler (2007) describes as New Right policy revolutions. These prioritise free trade, privatisation, market led development, deregulation, and financial liberalisation. Proponents argued that the implementation of these principles accelerate economic growth and socio economic development (Hayek 1979; Schumpeter 1954) Olayode (2005: 25) claims that British and US American political parties in the 1970s and 1980s "led a systematic and sustained ideological and policy agenda to dismantle the capacity, scope and role of the state that developed in the post World War Two period" The policy agenda was also supported by the Bretton Woods Institutions (World Bank and IMF) which sought to fortify the newly created global market based economic system. This paradigm also influenced the economic policy prescripts that came along with financial assistance provided by these institutions. Developing countries had to accept these as part of their lending conditionalities (Gumede 2010a) The main objective was to significantly reduce the role and capacity of the state. The private sector received pre eminence in the new development approach, characterised by privatisation of most of state owned enterprises and contracting out service delivery. Many scholars argue that Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) may have aggravated the deterioration of human security in SSA.