Introduction

The last fifteen years have seen pervasive and far reaching economic reforms in many developing countries, towards a greater role for the market and a lesser one for the State. These reforms have had manifold dimensions, which have come to be described in shorthand as economic ‘liberalisation’. In developing countries, these economic reforms generally preceded political reform, but in Latin America first, and subsequently in SubSaharan Africa, major change also came in political systems, with a series of moves away from the established authoritarian regimes towards political liberalisation and democratisation. In dramatic and momentous events in the late 1980s, eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union also effected political and economic reforms, perhaps more accurately described as revolution rather than reform: here, in contrast to Third World countries, political reform generally preceded economic reform. As the years have proceeded, it has become apparent — in both areas — that there are complex interactions between political and economic change, with socio-economic change inducing economic reforms and also generating conditions that lead to political change; while political change then interacts with economic events leading to further change in economic policy. As the unfolding drama develops, complex, iterative and sometimes chaotic two-way connections emerge between political and economic dimensions of reform.