In November 2024, the IDEAs Feminist Economics team convened a pivotal meeting in Ghana, bringing…
Conditionality Breeds Contempt: Donor and Multilateral Myopia in Sudan Muez Ali, Muzan Alneel and Mayada Hassanain
Abstract
Sudan’s political distortions under Bashir’s regime between 1989 and 2018 resulted in multiple economic crises and civil wars. After assuming office in 2019, the Transitional Government implemented economic reforms aiming to stabilize the economy. It sought support from donors and international financial institutions, who conditioned support on stringent conditions. Civil society publicly decried the economic reforms and warned of the implications of discounting Sudan’s political distortions. Ultimately, the military orchestrated a coup citing poor economic management. Sudan’s experience highlights the importance of contextual policymaking during political transitions and the limitations of the approach employed by donors and multilateral organizations.
Introduction
The overwhelming majority of the population will have nothing to lose by relying on themselves, as they have been doing so in the past anyway. Hence, the question remains, whether the economic, social and political elites can conduct themselves in a similar manner … Perhaps the time has come for the governing minority to change its behavior and become self-reliant, for when crisis comes, it will be the only social class that will lose in the end, no matter how much wealth it has accumulated. (Ali Reference Ali1990)….. Read full article
(This article was published online by Cambridge University Press on 23 January 2025)
