Paper short abstract:

The paper I am proposing aims to discuss the way the political economy context at the level of individual African countries can affect the effectiveness with which specific regional integration programmes and initiatives are implemented.

Paper long abstract:

One of the main pillars of the developmental regionalism agenda implicitly pursued by the African Union Commission and Regional Economic Communities over these recent years is the development of regional infrastructure in order to promote the reduction of trade costs and the expansion of intra-African trade. In the case of cross-border transport corridors, their construction (or rehabilitation) is generally accompanied by a number of regional reforms aimed at reducing logistics costs and which include the liberalization of transport services at the regional level.

As this paper will show, the level of logistics costs along cross-border transport corridors is highly dependent on the functioning of domestic logistics sectors in countries sharing the corridors, independently of the availability or not of quality transport infrastructure.

Drawing on data collected during fieldwork in Ethiopia and Djibouti, this paper will use a political settlements approach to analyse the extent to which the rehabilitation of the Ethiopia-Djibouti transport corridor could substantially reduce logistics costs along this transport corridor in view of the political economy context in Ethiopia. More particularly, this paper will discuss the way the nature of state-business relations in Ethiopia affects the level of logistics costs along the Ethiopia-Djibouti transport corridor and the way the nature of those state-business relations can also affect the feasibility of continental and regional reforms aimed at liberalizing transport services. Data was collected between March and July 2019 through observation, documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with transporters, government officials, members of the private sector and officials from international organisations.

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the contradictions between urban policies and national industrial policies in South Africa since the early 1990s. The focus on nationally directed efforts and an uneven mix of spatial agendas has impacted the character of industrial policies and their impacts in cities.

Paper long abstract:

Cities and the economic processes that they host are widely seen to be central to the economic prospects of nations. This reality presents actors, both in cities and those at a national scale, with challenges on how to jointly conceive of both urban and economic development policies, with a view to contributing to local and national economic development objectives. Whilst national urban policies might have highlighted the scope for cities to contribute to economic outcomes at the local and national scales, the treatment of spatial dynamics in national economic development policies and programmes remains highly uneven across countries. This paper explores South Africa's national economic policies, specifically industrial policies, to see how they have reflected the changing dynamics of the economic geography of the country. The paper finds that despite some growing discursive recognition of the importance of the spatial dimension of growth, policies have failed to integrate the urban dimension.

Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the role of international soft policies in telecommunication services and questions whether they play a role in structural transformation. Challenges linked to investment in technology-intensive digital infrastructure are explored in relation to state capacity.

Paper long abstract:

Following the Chinese mantra of 'let the small go and the big stay' Telecommunications was one of the first sectors to be liberalised in Uzbekistan. It is one of the most dynamic sectors and it covers a wide range of economic activities from smart cities to banking, from agriculture to radio to the internet. Yet, there is still a gap in the way citizens access these services. This paper will look at the role of international soft policies in telecommunication services and question whether they play a role in structural transformation. Soft power policies are defined here as the set of cultural, educational, and divulgation activities that the private and public players implement in a field in order to exercise power, build affiliation and expand markets. Telecommunications can be of crucial support to the process of structural transformation: first, the industry is a relevant source of employment in urban areas; second; are linked to sensitive political objectives in relation to data and security; third, are a source of forward linkages for agriculture and manufacturing. Looking at the main players in the market, including local, Turkish, and the main Chinese providers, it will show that such services have become the vehicle to establish multiple political, cultural, and material channels between international investors and the host country. Challenges linked to national infrastructure and investment in technology-intensive sectors will be explored in relation to state capacity and foreign capital inflow.

Paper short abstract:

This paper situates the privatization of US development assistance since the 1980s in the wider context of globalization, demonstrating how privatized development finance has served as a form of American industrial policy that seeks to mitigate the effects of trade liberalization.

Paper long abstract:

Scholarship on American development assistance has documented the expanding role for the private sector as a development actor since the 1980s. This literature has cast this transformation as one of privatization, in which activities historically carried out by the state are instead carried out by private corporations. In this paper, we complicate this narrative, showing that the privatization of American development policy has transformed the nature and purpose of development programs, not merely their funding source. Using a hand-coded database of 74 USAID reports from 1960 to the present, we show that privatization proceeded in two, normatively-distinct stages. From the 1980s to the end of the 20th century, the United States promoted the growth of the private sector in developing countries as the goal of its development policy through structural adjustment. Since the late 1990s, however, development policy has become a vehicle for expanding trade and investment opportunities for American businesses. In the context of political controversy about trade liberalization, the use of development to promote marketing opportunities for American firms has been justified as a mechanism to preserve American jobs in a globalizing world. We argue that explanations of the privatization of development must distinguish between programs that promote the interests of business in donor versus recipient countries, and take account of the links between development, trade and the domestic politics of donor states.