| Popis: |
The analysis presented here is part of a larger study on the role of the military in Tropical Africa, the objective of which is a comprehensive and realistic evaluation of the possibilities of reducing the involvement of the military in the political life of the African states.' In this more limited essay, the intention is not to evaluate the performance of African military regimes in the economic sphere but rather to analyze the contributions which the armed forces per se purportedly make to the economic development of the young African nations, keeping in mind not only past performances but also the potential capabilities of the armed forces in this role. Such an analytical study is necessary because very often military takeovers are wished for and welcomed in the respective societies because of certain expectations of performance from the military-expectations based quite often on the assumption that the military is better equipped than other institutions in the society to deal with the economic problems which plague almost every one of the developing states. That such expectations exist within these poverty-ridden societies, where any change carries promise for betterment, is only natural. That they are shared, reinforced, and given expression in the scholarly literature not only is noteworthy but calls for a more precise and empirical examination. |
