Showing papers by "Deborah Bräutigam published in 2002"

Business associations and growth coalitions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: Why are ‘growth coalitions’ involving business interest groups and governments so rare in Africa? How has democratisation aected the possibilities for growth coalitions? In three cases with varying degrees of democracy ‐ Mauritius, Zambia, and Zimbabwe ‐ we find that hypotheses about growth coalitions that place importance on the organisation of the business sector are generally borne out. Yet even when the business community is organised in an ‘ideal’ manner, growth coalitions still depend on factors within the state: leadership, ideas, and capacity. Democratisation has a mixed eect. We find that in the case of Zambia, business‐state relations did not improve despite a pro-democracy stance by business and the pro-business agenda of the democratic government coming to power in 1991. In Zimbabwe, the erosion of democracy reduced business access to state elites, breaking up a growth coalition that initially showed considerable promise. In Mauritius, the strengthening of democracy has paralleled the deepening of the growth coalition, and both have been reinforced by a strong economy. Our study shows that growth coalitions are possible in Africa; the key lies in determining the conditions under which such coalitions can be sustained in Africa’s fragile polities.

Building leviathan: revenue, state capacity, and governance

Abstract: Raising revenue is the most basic task of the state. Before a state can protect its citizens, before it can provide justice or administer a bureaucracy, it needs to raise money. Through its key role as the tie that binds the ruler and the ruled, taxation supports representation, accountability, and state capacity. Yet taxation and revenue are rarely mentioned as democracy and governance issues in developing countries. A concern with taxation should be at the core of development efforts, yet it is not.