A eficácia do condicionalismo da ajuda externa: o caso das privatizações em Moçambique, 1990-2000

Abstract

Over the past 20-30 years, the amounts of foreign aid to many developing African countries, such as Mozambique, have been quite high. Although at the same time (especially in the last 10-15 years) the country has achieved considerable economic growth rates, Mozambique has been identified as one of the countries whose dependence on foreign aid has been increasing 1 year after year. The present study intends to critically analyze the problematic of the concept of effectiveness of the conditionality of aid in what concerns its rationality, how to measure such effectiveness and the contestation that exists around this concept. And, for this purpose, privatizations were chosen as a case study. The choice of privatizations arises because they represent one of the constraints imposed in the scope of foreign aid and because they have had a great impact on the economy, continuing to be a matter of great debate and controversy. This controversy is linked to the fact that privatizations not only interfere and change key points of the economy such as employment, the well-being of populations, the business environment, productivity and production, the supply of goods and services and competitiveness , but also and perhaps mainly because these have meant a relative shift of power from the public to the private sector. The investigation was based on bibliographical and documental research, having resorted to conversations with professors, academics, donors and government as a way to supplement the literature. The approach used on the effectiveness of conditionality was a political economy that involves social relations between different interest groups. The central argument is that the effectiveness of the conditionality of foreign aid is subject to political, social and economic contestation, contributing to this effect the diversities of interests of agents in the economy, causing the State to face some difficulties in formulating and implementing policies in a multidimensional, structural and dynamic context of dependence on foreign aid. The study concludes that the effectiveness of the aid conditionalism is a field of contestation and social conflict that encompasses diverse interests, and that these interests often influence decision-making and, probably, its outcomes.(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)