Political instability in Africa: A rent-seeking approach

Military expenditures and bureaucratic competition for rents

“…Such political violence invariably involves the military either as defender of the constitution or as one among many groups attempting to seize the apparatus of government. In many countries in Africa, for example, the coup d'6tat has become one of the most common ways of regime change and the armed forces have, since independence, become a very pervasive part of government in these countries (Mbaku, 1988;and Mbaku and Paul, 1989). Either way, appropriations to the military are likely to rise.…”

“…Mbaku and Paul (1989) have shown that political violence is an important rentseeking behavior in Africa, an area replete with dictatorships. Since capture of the apparatus of government in dicatorships invariably involves force, it follows that the successful rent seekers in these economies are most likely to be groups with a comparative advantage in violence.…”

“…No group seems better equipped to handle this job than the armed forces. As a result, the military has emerged as the dominant group in many developing countries, where the coup d'6tat has become an important method of regime change (Mbaku, 1988;and Mbaku and Paul, 1989). Once a change in government regime has been achieved through a coup, the military will act to ensure that its rent stream is secure.…”

Preparing Africa for the twenty-first century: Lessons from constitutional economics

“…This process, in which interest groups expend resources in an effort to influence policy outcomes, is called rent seeking (Tullock, 1967;Krueger, 1974;Tullock, 1993;Nitzan, 1994). Several studies have shown that rent seeking has been one of the most important constraints to development in postindependence Africa (Mbaku, 1991d(Mbaku, , 1991b(Mbaku, , 1992(Mbaku, , 1994a(Mbaku, , 1994bMbaku and Paul, 1989;Kimenyi, 1989). Excessive regulation of private exchange by the state encouraged and advanced opportunism, including rent seeking.…”

“…Since many African constitutions lacked these qualities, rent seeking, including political and bureaucratic corruption, has been rampant during the last thirty years. Part of this rent seeking has exhibited itself in political violence as political coalitions, including the military, fight to capture the apparatus of government and use its regulatory powers to create rents for themselves (Mbaku, 1991c(Mbaku, , 1994a(Mbaku, , 1994bMbaku and Paul, 1989;Kimenyi, 1989). In addition, few African countries, even those that had federalist types of governments with several regional or local units within the polity, allowed or encouraged internal migration.…”