The Marriage of Governance and Development

Abstract

It is our pleasure to inaugurate The African Journal of Governance and Development, a newvoice in the evolving conversation regarding the fate of the African continent in this era of globalisation. The editorial team wishes to thank the University of Saint Thomas of Maputo, Mozambique for offering the opportunity to provide a new outlet for those wishing to contributeto our understanding of the human condition in Africa. This journal aspires to be a multi-discipli-nary publication that seeks to bring researchers and governance/development practitioners from around the world to share social scientific knowledge focused at the intersection of governance and development. The journal aims to provide space for debating issues from an academic perspective, and for policy consideration as well. What is the nexus of governance and development? Development in the broadest sense,encompassing economic, social and political dimensions has been the preoccupation of the countries of the global South since the end of World War Two. By development, we simply mean the improvement in the quality of human life. After the war, countries emerging from colonialism and many that were not such as China or Ethiopia, suffered from political weakness and mate-rial scarcity in comparison with the European descendant states from the Northern hemisphere. Development was what those latter states presumably had achieved and it was that comprehen-sive societal development which the South sought in order that their peoples might reclaim theirs overeignty and their dignity. There has been uneven evolution across the south in the quest for development. Large parts of East and South Asia, and areas in Latin America are developing quite steadily over the last two decades, though significant areas of underdevelopment also remain in those regions. In Africa, strides have been registered in a number of countries toward stable democracy and sustained economic growth. Yet, a substantive and meaningful development still eludes far too many African countries, as widespread poverty remains a seemingly intractable problem in far too many places