Marie Michael Library

Institutional monocropping and monotasking in Africa

Mkandawire, Thandika

The author argues that the rising interest in development institutions has led to institutional monocropping, idealized versions of Anglo-American institutions being imposed on developing countries. Institutional reforms also suffer from institutional monotasking, whereby institutions service a standard set of imposed policies. The author believes the focus on institutional design is not desirable from a developmental point of view. The adherence of institutional reform to one set of policies has denied institutions the capacity for learning from a range of global experiences. He argues that it has led to the marginalization of concerns that Africans have sought to address with their own institutions. This practice has diminished the effectiveness of institutions by denying them their full potential.