Abstract Two 2014-2015

GLOBAL

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

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Volume Seven Winter 2014-Spring 2015 Numbers 3-4.

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THE STATE, INFRASTRUCTURE AND HUMAN CAPACITY AS INSTRUMENTS FOR PROMOTING

SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA

Peter Arthur

Department of Political Science, Dalhousie University

1459 Oxford Street

P. O. BOX 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2.

Email Address: parthur@dal.ca

Published Online: March 15, 2017

ABSTRACT

Since independence, African governments have adopted numerous policy initiatives to promote socioeconomic development, employment generation and poverty alleviation. Although some gains have been realized, the consensus is that compared to other developing regions Africa still lags behind in the development process and that the stated goals for socioeconomic development have hardly been achieved. This article therefore examines the appropriate policy choices to be formulated and implemented by African countries to facilitate social and economic transformation. In particular, it focuses on the role of the state and the importance of promoting human capacity, as well as addressing the infrastructure deficit as an important precondition for socioeconomic transformation in African countries.