Organizational development and change in Africa(1)

Little is known about organizational functioning and managerial behavior in Africa. The need for organizational development and change is urgent. Current attempts to reform African public sector organizations tend to focus on mechanistic measures, neglecting the complexity of organizational life. Western approaches to organizational development tend to reflect their cultural milieu and may contain elements which are irrelevant or inimical to African contexts. There is a need to develop concepts and approaches to organizational development and change which are effective and sensitive to African contexts.

Most African nations have been independent for less than four decades. Immense changes have taken place on the African continent during that time. ‘Development’ remains the most common word in the rubric of Africa. Many governments still claim to be ’revolutionary,’ although change since independence has generally not been radical. ’Change’ in education has meant more schools, more teachers, more colleges, more universities: more and more of the Western assumption that education and learning inevitably means schooling. ’Change’ in health provision has meant more hospitals, more imported drugs, more complex procedures, more university trained medical practitioners: more and more of the health arrangements which the rich countries of the West can afford less and less. ’Change’ in organizational arrangements has meant more -- and bigger -- bureaucracies, more ministries, more departments, more parastatal corporations, more bureaucrats, more procedures, more forms, more control mechanisms: more and more of the organizational structures and practices which are now seen to retard change and development.     

Population growth and development in the third world: The neocolonial context

Less developed countries (LDCs) that were colonies of other nations continued operating under the same social and political structures set up by the former ruling nations. The small minority of elites in the LDCs held on to the power acquired during colonial times. In order to preserve their political and financial status after independence, they maintained their close linkages to the capitalist nations and their multinational corporations (MNCs). The elites did not generally have popular support, however. These capitalist nations and their commercial interests continue to dictate most LDCs development process which supports the financial interests of the MNCs and the local elites and not those of the majority, the poor. The poor realize that they are trapped and unable to break away from the economic and political structures, therefore, to assure some form of security, they have many children which exacerbates their poverty. Yet population control policies based on Malthusian theory and those that rely on such undimensional, technical approaches as family planning alone cannot cure the multidimensional social problems of high population growth and poverty. Neither the Malthusian nor Marxist theories totally explain the situation in the LDCs or even provide workable solutions. Research on population and development in LDCs needs to address both the Malthusian concern for the problems posed by high growth rates and the Marxist critique of class struggle in development trends. To eliminate the trap of poverty and dependent economies, each country must design its own remedies based on its history, culture, and geography and alter the prevailing social, economic, and political power structures in favor of the poor. 6 propositions that must be modified to each nation's particular problems and needs are presented to guide LDCs in formulating or reformulating policies to alleviate the problems of population and poverty.     

Civil society and democracy in the third world: Ambiguities and historical possibilities

The terminology of “civil society” has gained currency in recent discussions of democratic movements around the globe. Although less grandiose in its implications than claims about the “end of history,” this terminology does suggest a certain universality in human experience. We argue that this claim of universality is warranted, but also problematic. We establish the relevance of our argument in reference to the literatures in African and Indian studies. We note first that the common employments of the concept ignore the theoretical and historical specificity of civil society: civil society is used to label any group or movement opposed to the state, regardless of its intent or character, or used so generically that it is indistinguishable from the term “society.” Instead, we argue that civil society is a sphere of social life, involving a stabilization of a system of rights, constituting human beings as individuals, both as citizens in relation to the state and as legal persons in the economy and the sphere of private association. Thus, we link the wide resonance of the concept to its embeddedness in the logic of liberal capitalist society and the capitalist global division of labor. This conception allows us to see that, although the emergence of a sphere of civil society involves at least minimal democranization and is supportive of struggles for further democratization, the status of democracy is also made quite problematic by the tensions endemic to liberal capitalism and the processes of uneven development within international capitalism. Our usage also allows us to distinguish more clearly movements dedicated to the construction of civil society from those that may count actually as counter-civil society movements. David L. Blaney received his M.A. and Ph.D. at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver. He is on leave from Hanover College, Hanover, Indiana as a visiting scholar for the 1993–94 academic year at The Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20052. His main research interests include international political economy, culture and international relations theory, and democratic theory. Mustapha Kamal Pasha received his M.A. and Ph.D. at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver. Currently, he is an assistant professor in the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C. 20016. His main research interests include international political economy, with particular regard to the Third World, and South Asian politics.     

The Urban crisis of the third world

Dynamics of Urban Development. Edited by L H Klaassen, W T Molle and J H P Paelnick, Farnborough, England: Gower. 1981. 267pp. £17.50.