JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / SEPTEMBER 2001Geo-JaJa, Mangum / HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AS AN INADVERTENT ENEMY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

African economies have experienced numerous disruptions since the 1980s, while other parts of the world have significantly pros-pered. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become impoverished in absolute and real terms, and today faces the need for some form of an economic miracle. According to the harsh verdict of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Africa is unable to point to any significant growth rate or satisfactory index of gen-eral well-being in the past two decades. To a substantial degree, these two international organizations have themselves to blame. Following Africa’s emergence as independent nations after the col-lapse of colonialism in 1960, too many African nations immersed themselves in debt, overspending on public enterprises, public employment, excessive military, and, all too often, cronyism and corruption. Their currencies collapsed, and debt repayment ceased. When these troubled nations sought assistance, the international lending agencies justifiably demanded reforms classified as struc-tural adjustment. However, structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and stabilization policies have seldom delivered on their promises. Even worse, the available evidence suggests that they have accentu-30 AUTHORS ’ NOTE: I am grateful to Garth Mangum who has been my academic mentor since graduate school. He has been a source of constant encouragement to my research. My discussions with him, coupled with his probing questions, led to this work. The authors thank Jennie Nelson of Brigham Young University, whose invaluable research assistance has facilitated this work