Dynamics and Policy Implications of the Global Reforms at the End of the Second Millennium

Book excerpt: Most people, and indeed governments, hold the conviction that reforms, rather than revolutions, are likely to produce more appropriate and acceptable results. This is especially true for developing countries. That is because reforms are gradual in their implementation and respectful to past policy fabrics of a society. On the other hand, the simultaneous spread of communication technology, global liberalization of the market, and peripheral homogenization of cultures, have caused extreme tensions in just these developing countries. In this book, scholars from different countries around the world highlight the reforms and the tensions, in the light of the questions: what has been achieved, what has failed, and what is still needed? Experiences from such diverse locations as Nigeria, Ghana, Guatemala, South Korea, Taiwan, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania are combined with more general observations from other countries. Contributors are Don Adams, N’dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba, Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Thomas Clayton, Mark Ginsburg, Julius O. Ihonvbere, Kent Klitgaard, Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo, Martha Mantilla, Arild Schou, Judy Sylvester, and Yidan Wang