Challenges to The Assumption That Economic Success Could Enhance State Legitimacy in Africa, Ten Years Later

Social upheavals are outbursts of latent political and socio-economic crises. A perennially dysfunctional state-society relationship is bound to lead to the disgruntlement of citizens and the alienation of the state from its societal base. It thus entails a legitimacy crisis. This article argues that even though economic growth is amongst factors determining the legitimacy of the state, it is by no means the major one. A political space that ensures participation by citizens, socio-economic policies which address inequality and injustice, as well as governance, transparency and accountability will be discussed as key factors determining state legitimacy. The article further argues that sustainable socio-economic development, as with state legitimacy, crucially depends on re-structuring the state-society relationship. It then concludes that state legitimacy in Africa can only be achieved by liberating the state from the grip of particular interests, such that it becomes accountable to its citizens; in other words, ‘making it owned by society’ so as to make it function in the best interests and the needs and aspirations of its citizens.