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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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State capacity for poverty reduction in Mozambique: the relationship between the state and domestic non-state actors in micro-regionalization processes
| Panel |
5. Afro-regions: The Dynamics of Cross-Border Regionalism in Africa
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| Paper ID | 454 |
| Author(s) |
Nuvunga, Milissao
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | How to understand that efforts at state capacity building in Africa do not seem to deliver the expected poverty reduction outcomes? Both critics and supporters of development assistance agree that economic and political reform does not seem to have been strengthened the link between state capacity and poverty reduction. This happens amidst growing empirical evidence from Africa showing that states are involved in apparently successful externally and market oriented regionalization schemes that defy claims of a generalized state weakness. This seems to indicate that while reforms have increased the capacity of the state to deal with market friendly processes in the context of reforms, it has not led to a strengthening of state capacity in dimensions relevant for poverty reduction.
The paper provides a framework to understand state capacity for poverty reduction in Mozambique in terms of the relationship between the state and domestic non-state actors in two trans-border micro-regionalization processes. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate about how state capacities in Africa are affected by economic and political reforms and the nature of the state - more specifically to the debate about the lack of an automatic correlation between the capacities of the state that are strengthened by reforms and those that are needed to fight poverty and promote development in the continent. Methodologically, it uses poverty reduction categories as a yardstick to critically examine state capacity in these micro-regionalization processes. Empirically, the paper provides up-to-date and relevant information about ongoing efforts by the Mozambican state aimed at tackling poverty in trans-border micro-regions through the involvement of non-state actors.
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