Elsevier

Political Geography

Volume 22, Issue 7, September 2003, Pages 741-763
Political Geography

Performing partnership: civil society and the illusions of good governance in Tanzania

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0962-6298(03)00103-3Get rights and content

Abstract

The predicament of heavily indebted states is often marginalised in discussions of globalisation. This paper examines the experience of one heavily indebted African state, Tanzania, with recent IMF, World Bank and international donor initiatives to foster ‘good governance’ and ‘partnership’ in African countries within an overall framework of debt relief and continued adjustment. The paper focuses on the experience of civil society’s engagement with the emerging structures of governance, highlighting the contradictions of ‘partnership’ and the poverty of participation. The paper concludes that civil society’s involvement in governance structures in Tanzania engages it in a performance of partnership in the interests of ‘good governance’ which serves to legitimise continued adjustment.

Section snippets

Introduction: globalisation, governance and indebted states

This paper contributes to the on-going project in political geography of mapping the form and nature of the state in a global era. It seeks to make its intervention in the context of so-called Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), of which 34 (out of 42) are currently to be found in sub-Saharan Africa. Through the case study of Tanzania, which in November 2001 became only the second country to reach ‘completion point’ (i.e. to qualify for debt relief) under the World Bank and IMF Enhanced

Scrutinising partnership

“The partnership that has been developed between Tanzania and the donor community is widely recognised as one of the most advanced in Africa” (Bi- and Multi-lateral statement on partnership, Consultative Group Meeting, September, 2001, Dar es Salaam).

“In the eyes of ordinary folk, the annual Consultative Group Meeting in Dar es Salaam registered several positive scores for Tanzania.…western donors endorsed the government’s development programme, and agreed to provide Tanzania with US$1.1

Adjusting Tanzania

Tanzania is currently enjoying relative ‘star status’ with the IFIs. Adjustment-style liberalisation has continued apace since the early 1990s when a multi-party political model, followed by a strategy of privatisation, was implemented. The CCM1 is the main political party which, having survived the one-party state era, has overseen Tanzania’s transition to a market-led democracy. President Benjamin Mkapa was re-elected for a second term in October

Conclusion

The poverty of partnership as experienced by Tanzania’s elite NGOs during the formulation of the PRSP and the CG reveals the contradictions inherent in the idea of development partnerships. Donors and international NGOs have cherry-picked a handful of elite NGOs which become further professionalised and disciplined in the process of policy reform, while the majority of NGOs are excluded due to their perceived ‘weakness’. Those NGOs which deviate from the main script also find themselves

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Alex Wynn, Gordon Macleod, three anonymous referees and the Geography seminar in the Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The author would also like to acknowledge the support of the Nuffield Foundation in making this research possible.

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