"Although it typically is taken for granted that African economies perform poorly, it is less well-known that there are a small but significant number of success stories on the continent. What accounts for Africa's average stagnation and for the wide regional variations in developmental fortunes?

Englebert argues with compelling statistics and the liberal use of examples that differences in economic performance both in Africa and across the developing world can be linked to differences in historical state legitimacy.".

"Showing how the arbitrary nature of postcolonial African states conditions the type of policies that African elites adopt, Englebert establishes the impact of imported government institutions on government performance. His analysis calls into question the relevance of both structural adjustment and public-sector reform programs, pointing to institutional and territorial restructuring as prerequisites for sustainable African development."--BOOK JACKET.