Military Coups and Political Development: Some Lessons From Ghana and Nigeria

Feit, Edward

doi:10.2307/2009794

Cited by 35 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…If accounting reforms predicated on assumptions of legal-rational authority are aimed at eliminating neopatrimonial governance, then given that neopatrimonialism persists, the reforms will probably fail like their predecessors. As Feit (1968) observes “structures keep emerging [because of] […] the absence of change in the institutions that underlie the structures. […] If the most appropriate structures are removed and replaced by others less appropriate, men will seek to change back to the most appropriate” (p. 193).…”

Section: Corruption and Neopatrimonialism Revisitedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neopatrimonialism, good governance, corruption and accounting in Africa

Hopper

2017

JAEE

130

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how best to design, implement and assess accounting reforms in Africa. Design/methodology/approach A cross-disciplinary literature review. Findings Whilst neopatrimonialism inhibits optimal development, some forms do not block it. Such governance often permeates African politics and reforms directed at its elimination may fail due to a lack of political will. Thus accounting reforms should recognize their political feasibility and be directed at areas congruent with strengthening attributes of a developmental state. Research limitations/implications There is a need to evaluate accounting reforms with respect to the level of a country’s development, relate them to its political governance, and evaluate them with respect to incremental rather than absolute achievement of their aims. Practical implications Rather than relying on imported “best practice” accounting standards and systems, there is a need for greater indigenous involvement to create systems that meet local needs and circumstances to increase indigenous accounting capacity and will to reform. Social implications Whilst the push to good governance is a desirable ideal, reforms need to be pragmatic with respect to feasibility. Originality/value The paper relates recent work on development to accounting reform in Africa which has been neglected by accounting scholars and practitioners.

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Section: Corruption and Neopatrimonialism Revisitedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neopatrimonialism, good governance, corruption and accounting in Africa

Hopper

2017

JAEE

130

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“…! For African case studies that illustrate this, see Apter (1969), Baynham (1980), Bebler (1972), Bennett (1973), Bienen (1968), Clapham (1968), Decalo (1973Decalo ( , 1974Decalo ( 1976, Dent (1975), Feit (1969), First (1971), Fisher (1969), Hansen and Collins (1980), Higgott and Fuglestad (1975), Laitin (1976), Lewis (1972), Liebenow (1981), Lofchie (1972), Nelkin (1967), Okolo (1981), Pachter (1982), Southall (1975), Terray (1964), Tixier (1966), Twaddle (1972), Welch (1967Welch ( , 1970, Wolpin (1980), and Yannopoulos and Martin (1972). permit us to explain theoretically military interventions in the states of Sub-Saharan Africa during the period .…”

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confidence: 99%

Explaining African Military Coups d'Etat, 1960-1982

Johnson¹,

Slater²,

McGowan

1983

Am Polit Sci Rev

109

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The purpose of this article is to contribute to the theoretical understanding of African military coups d'etat. We begin by replicating a well-known model (Jackman, 1978) that purports to identify the structural determinants of coups d'etat within the states of Sub-Saharan Black Africa. When the research problem is changed slightly to focus exclusively on military coups, we find major weaknesses in the original Jackman model. We then extend and refine this model and thereby account in a theoretically meaningful fashion for 91% of the variation in military coups within 35 Black African states from 1960 through 1982. Our major substantive findings indicate that Black African states with relatively dynamic economies whose societies were not very socially mobilized before independence and which have maintained or restored some degree of political participation and political pluralism have experienced fewer military coups, attempted coups, and coup plots than have states with the opposite set of characteristics.

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“…Increasingly paranoid, Nkrumah distrusted, undermined, and underfunded the military, creating a separate personal guard to ensure his safety. Military leaders resented austerity and comparable favoritism of the president’s personal guard, eventually culminating in a near-bloodless military coup (Feit, 1968; Price, 1971).…”

Section: Ghanaian Casementioning

confidence: 99%

Conciliatory States

McDonnell

2016

Comparative Political Studies

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Existing theory associates ethnolinguistic diversity with a host of negative outcomes. This article analyzes the puzzle of Ghana, the 12th most diverse state globally, yet among the most peaceful, democratic, and developed African states. It argues the position of post-independence political elites within ethno-demographic structures helps explain why some diverse African states pursued broad nation-building public goods, mitigating the political salience of diversity. Diversity encouraged provision of social goods with broad-based support in states with a modest plurality-not large enough to dominate, but without proximately sized ethnic groupsespecially for leaders from a minority. Comparative historical analysis of Ghana is expanded with abbreviated case studies on Guinea, Togo, and Kenya.

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Military Coups and Political Development: Some Lessons From Ghana and Nigeria

Cited by 35 publications

References 2 publications

Neopatrimonialism, good governance, corruption and accounting in Africa

Neopatrimonialism, good governance, corruption and accounting in Africa

Explaining African Military Coups d'Etat, 1960-1982

Conciliatory States

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