Background: Recent stalls in fertility decline have been observed in a few countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and so far no plausible common reason has been identified in the literature. This paper develops the hypothesis that these fertility stalls could be associated with stalls in the progress of education among the women of the relevant cohorts, possibly resulting partly from the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) of the 1980s. Methods: We descriptively link the change in the education composition of successive cohorts of young women in sub-Saharan Africa and the recent fertility stalls. We use reconstructed data on population by age, gender, and level of education from www.wittgenstein centre.org/dataexplorer, and fertility rates from the United Nations. Results: In most sub-Saharan African countries, we observe that the same countries that had fertility stalls had a stall in the progress of education, particularly for young women who were of primary school age during the 1980s, when most of the countries were under structural adjustment. Conversely, stalls in fertility are less common in countries that did not have an education stall, possibly in relation to SAPs. Conclusions: The results point to the possibility of a link between the recent fertility stalls and discontinuities in the improvement of the education of the relevant cohorts, which in turn could be related to the SAPs in the 1980s. This descriptive finding now needs to be corroborated through more detailed cohort-specific fertility analysis. If the education-fertility link can be further established, it will have important implications for the projections of population growth in affected countries.

The hard fought freedom that many colonies underwent to free themselves from their colonial powers came with many unprecedented consequences. For example, financial institutions, such as The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund offered loans to ameliorate developing nations' incapacitating economic situations. However, acceptances of such loans were accompanied with major costs associated with structural adjustment programs (SAPs ). Adoption of these programs entailed liberalizing trade policies, privatization, and increasing exports. Implementation of the program proved to be detrimental to many developing nations. Research for four developing nations, (Mexico, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and Jamaica) showed that structural adjustment programs failed to substantially benefit their economies. The enforcement of SAPs typically led a country to be in worse financial straits than from the one they began with. Common calamities experienced by the states were widespread poverty and high levels of unemployment. Faced with this grueling reality, many citizens were forced to migrate. However, due to a lack of adequate education (education programs were cut in all nations), many migrants fell prey to human traffickers. The data studied suggests that the implementation of SAPs creates desperation in the citizenry that is so profound that many are willing to risk their lives to exit their home county.

<p>Monetary funding to developing countries is today accompanied by so called “Structural Adjustment Programs” (SAPs) imposed by the IMF and the World Bank, consisting of economical policy reforms that the countries have to undergo in order to be eligible for loans. The impact of these adjustment loans is widely criticized due to the negative effects observed. Our purpose is to investigate in depth why these adjustment programs have not delivered the expected results. We’ve found that there exist some undesirable consequences following SAP implementation that has a hindering effect on growth. These, combined with the complicate context in which the IMF and World Bank operates can be seen as the explanation for the adversity experienced.</p>

Monetary funding to developing countries is today accompanied by so called “Structural Adjustment Programs” (SAPs) imposed by the IMF and the World Bank, consisting of economical policy reforms that the countries have to undergo in order to be eligible for loans. The impact of these adjustment loans is widely criticized due to the negative effects observed. Our purpose is to investigate in depth why these adjustment programs have not delivered the expected results. We’ve found that there exist some undesirable consequences following SAP implementation that has a hindering effect on growth. These, combined with the complicate context in which the IMF and World Bank operates can be seen as the explanation for the adversity experienced.

The dissertation research answers the question of what explains the variation across countries where the IMF SAP implementation is associated with the onset of armed civil conflict in some countries but not in others. Do SAPs increase the likelihood of the outbreak of armed civil conflict in recipient countries? By what causal mechanism could SAPs increase the probability of the onset of armed civil conflict? This study contributes to extant literature by taking actors’ preferences and ethnicity in recipient countries into account. I argue that the effect of SAP implementation on armed civil conflict is conditional on the ethnic characteristics of recipient countries. From a two-level game perspective, highly ethnic-fractionalized countries have a strong bargaining position vis-à-vis the IMF at the international level due to their domestic weakness. Hence such governments will receive relatively moderate conditionality from the IMF because the Fund will adopt its second-order preference of containing the contagious effect of debt crisis and ensure the loan repayment. The ethnically fractionalized countries will also implement the austerity measures across different ethnic communities. The result is reducing probability of the onset of armed civil conflict when ethnic fractionalization increases. But in ethnically-dominant countries, the governments’ bargaining position at the international level is relatively weak due to their domestic strength. Therefore the governments are more likely to get stringent conditionality from the IMF because the Fund will adopt its first-order preference of satisfying its constituents by imposing stringent conditionality. The result is to increase the likelihood of the onset of armed civil conflict when ethnic dominance increases. By analyzing cross-national data for 162 countries from 1992 to 2009 based on improved measurement of IMF conditionality, the empirical results confirm the theoretical hypotheses. The statistical results also reveal that SAP impact on the outbreak of armed civil conflict varies with conditionality. Historical analyses of Ghana and Rwanda provide further understanding of the theoretical mechanisms.

Scholars have examined the impacts of neoliberal policies on women, children, small farmers and more, but little attention has been paid to the impact of these policies on orphans. The issue of orphan care is crucial now, and will become increasingly more urgent in the future. Even as HIV/AIDS rates are on the decline, more and more children are being orphaned by the disease. This paper examines the policies, positions and language of the World Bank and I.M.F. regarding orphans in order to understand the biases and assumptions within neoliberalism about orphans, and who is responsible for providing care for them. I then compare the assumptions, commitments, policies, and language of neoliberalism with those of community based organizations working with orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. To personify the effects that neoliberal policies have on orphans and orphan care, I interview orphan care providers in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. I conclude that the neoliberal approach relegates orphan care to the private sector (charities, extended families, NGOs). That approach is flawed in many ways. An alternative theoretical foundation, the Feminist Ethic of Care, argues for public sector support. The Feminist approach contends that care is not the "burden" of private citizens, but the "duty" of a democratic government.

This study investigates the socioeconomic effects of the economic crises and the post-crisis programs based on the experiences of Argentina, Indonesia and Turkey. For this purpose, main socioeconomic indicators of these countries are analyzed for the 1990-2002 period by utilizing the before-after methodology. The comparative analysis of the results shows that significant deteriorations in the socioeconomic indicators of these countries had occurred in the crisis periods. In addition, the social policy components of post-crisis programs of these countries are analyzed. In this regard, it is found that the governments and the BWIs are more likely to incorporate active social policy measures, which would mitigate the negative socioeconomic effects of the crises on the households, into the post-crisis programs under the presence of significant public pressure emanating from social protests.

The presented thesis examines impacts of neoliberal policies on agriculture in the developing countries using the example of Zambia and Angola. It is based on a comparision of two most similar countries, which have been different in their approach to implementation of neoliberal policies. Another objective of this thesis is also the spatial transformation of Zambia's agriculture as a result of implementation of policy conditions in structural adjustment programmes. The focus of the paper is motivated by lack of similar approaches in research of neoliberal agriculture policies. This thesis also analyszes research of neoliberalism of agriculture and food regime theory, which has already been carried out. A large amount of data was compiled and processed from several data sources, and utilised to evaluate research questions. Research has confirmed decline in food crops production and yields in Zambia as a result of neoliberal policies, which could threaten the food sovereignty of the country. Furthermore, changes in the spatial distribution of crop production were observed, which are mainly related to the abolition of subsidies and different farmers behavior due to the introduction of Structural adjustment programs. Key words: Angola, agriculture, agriculture subsidies, neoliberalism, Structural...

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate some of the contending issues associated with economic underdevelopment in sub-Saharan African states. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the combined effects of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic austerity programs, the increased spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the continuous democratic deficit on the sluggish economic performance within four sub-Saharan African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The research questions are: are there any unique political, cultural, and economic issues that underscore and determine the path of sub-Saharan African development? What are the potentials for sub-Saharan Africa going beyond its present state of socioeconomic and political underdevelopment? Can sub-Saharan African nation-states truly claim the 21st century? It is hoped that what is learned from examining the situation in these four countries may be generalizeable to other sub-Saharan African states. This thesis has been written with the conviction that sub-Saharan Africa, although it has missed opportunities over the past thirty years, has not completely closed the door on economic development. Although sub-Saharan African conditions have not favored development and there is no simple solution for sub-Saharan Africa's economic and social ills, there are a number of 'common sense' approaches toward sustainable economic and social development. This thesis examines why sub-Saharan Africa's economic crisis has persevered for three decades, and why efforts to establish and uphold more effective economic policies and functioning public institutions have been so much more difficult in sub-Saharan Africa than elsewhere. My account concentrates on political and institutional factors: I explore how the predicament has progressed over the last thirty years, and the repercussions of the long-term nature of this predicament. The focal purpose is to identify and explain the causes which have kept sub-Saharan Africa for several decades mired in an ostensibly permanent crisis. The general theme of the thesis emphasizes that politics and economics are interconnected in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, the thesis focuses on the changing role of politics and markets in the process of economic development since the 1970s – and prospects for the future of this region.

This report analyzes the spatial shift occurring in the nature of poverty in Pakistan. Given the rapid urban growth in Pakistan, poor families residing in cities are confronted with limited employment opportunities, poor living conditions, minimal access to services, and face environmental and health risks. Macroeconomic factors such as slow economic growth, Structural Adjustment Programs, food inflation, low job creation rate and housing crisis have all contributed to the rise in urban poverty. The weak local government structure and a lack of community involvement in governance decisions have only worsened the situation. With a burgeoning urban population, it is imperative that the government introduces a holistic pro-poor development package that focuses on interventions in the education, labor and housing markets across Pakistan. / text