Structural Adjustment, Riots and the Break With the IMF

On May Day 1987, Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda publicly announced to stop adhering to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after years of following its prescriptions for economic policy reform. Zambian politicians and newspapers assisted by accusing the Bretton Woods institutions of being ‘neocolonialist organizations’ and forcing the country to implement a painful ‘structural adjustment program’ (SAP). Agency seemed to rest exclusively with international financial institutions. However, Kaunda was obviously taking a decision by breaking with the IMF in 1987. Against this background the article asks who was taking actions in formulating, shaping, and finally canceling the SAP in place in Zambia between 1985 and 1987. I argue that the SAPs in mid-1980s Zambia were shaped by a broad spectrum of actors, from the Bretton Woods Twins to Western donor governments, to the Zambian administration and other social forces within the country. Secondly, I refute narratives of SAPs as ‘neocolonial’ impositions, highlighting instead that IMF and Bank had considerable leverage though not complete control over the process. Thirdly, I show that the period in question was a time of ‘global disconnect’ for large parts of the Zambian economy and society, although SAPs were pushing for liberalization and world market integration

Agency (philosophy) · Control (management) · Developing country · Leverage (statistics) · Liberalization · Narrative · Negotiation · Newspaper · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · International Development and Aid