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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Social Science and Policy Making in Africa: A Critical Review
Author:Rasheed, SadigISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Africa Development: A Quarterly Journal of CODESRIA (ISSN 0850-3907)
Volume:19
Issue:1
Pages:91-118
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:social research
economic policy
government policy
Bibliography/Research
Education and Oral Traditions
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24486834
Abstract:The majority of African countries are currently mired in interrelated economic, political and social crises. The way out of these crises can only be based on an understanding of the problem and the application of appropriate policies. Herein lies the need to utilize social science research in a more effective manner for the purposes of policymaking. Yet, social science research for policymaking purposes has come to be viewed by many in less than favourable terms. The article discusses several reasons why, from the second half of the 1970s on, the amicable attitude of African governments towards their research institutions has given way to increasingly strained relationships. The distrust and lack of cooperation between academia and bureaucracy came to a head with the adoption by a number of African countries of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) enforcing externally formulated development policy frameworks. While the intensification of the socioeconomic crises has created a salutary effect on social research at the regional and subregional levels, the SAPs have left African governments with little or no room for manoeuvre to implement the policies these regional institutions propose. However, to successfully counteract the shortcomings of current donor policies, notably SAPs, African countries need to support their indigenous research institutions to be able to develop their own development programmes. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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