Abstract
This paper examines the impact of leadership on economic growth and development in all African countries. The historical records of leadership changes in African countries since independence show a dichotomous pattern. In 23 countries, the changes in leadership occurred more frequently, which indicated a "scramble" for leadership. In 30 countries, the changes in leadership were infrequent, which fit the "strongman-sit-tight" leadership syndrome. Based on the historical data of leadership changes, we construct the ideal leadership bounds for each country and compute the indices of dysfunctional leadership. We find that the index is positive in countries with more frequent leadership changes and negative in countries with infrequent leadership changes. More importantly, our empirical evidence which shows that both groups of countries have poor economic growth performance supports our contention that dysfunctional leadership is the fundamental cause of Africa's economic growth and development dilemma over the past five decades.
Recommended Citation
Owoye, Oluwole and Onafowora, Olugbenga A.
(2015)
"Africa's Economic Growth and Development Dilemma: Dysfunctional Leadership,"
Journal of African Policy Studies: Vol. 21:
No.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/joaps/vol21/iss1/2