Review Essay : Structural Adjustment, Industrialisation and Technological Capabilities in Africa 1

Abstract

After nearly two decades of structural adjustment programmes in Africa, this paper exam ines the state of African industrialisation and efforts to build or rehabilitate technological capabilities. It is argued that industry and, even more, technology have been largely ignored in nearly two decades of structural adjustment and that there is a serious mismatch between policies being pursued in the region and measures that are needed to (re-)build industrial and technological capabilities. As a result, there is a process of unlearning in African industry. The paper explores ways in which this process may be reversed in the context of the current reforms and suggests areas for fruitful future research.