The Political Economy of African Debt: The Case of Zaire

Abstract

As one shrewd analyst of the international political economy has noted, ‘Indebtedness among developing countries generates fierce emotions. Anger, anxiety, fear, resentment, jealousy, disdain and discontent — these are strong feelings often associated with debtors and creditors or (for different reasons) with both at once.’ 2 President Nyerere of Tanzania has called the IMF a device by which powerful forces in some rich countries increase their power over poor nations. In late 1982, Ghana state radio referred to the IMF as the arch capitalist institution. Subsequently, however, Ghana came to terms with the IMF and performed relatively well, to the pleasure of both. Rhetoric about the IMF and debt played a major role in the Nigerian elections in 1983, and statements about both were used as justification for the military coup d’état of 31 December 1983 which overthrew an elected civilian government. The new military regime subsequently reopened talks with the banks and the IMF. 3 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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