On Economic Science and Ideology in Tanzania: A Commentary from Political Science

Abstract

Tanzania started implementing neo-liberal economic policies on a large scale from the mid-1980s. Since then there has been a debate over the direction of change from a centrally planned to a free market economy. Whereas economists generally seem to be optimistic, others—including political scientists—although in principle they may not necessarily be opposed to the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies per se, seem to have serious reservations with the way such policies are implemented. The central argument of this article is that economics and economic policies in Tanzania are dogmatically driven by neo-liberal ideology at the expense of economic science, which would have allowed serious reasoning and pragmatic thinking in the formulation of sound economic policies and decisions that would be contextually sensitive. The article further argues that as a result of dogmatic application of neoliberal economic principles, the current trend of economic growth may not be sustainable in the long-run since the structure of the economy is mercantile and lopsided. To improve the situation in terms of generating sustainable and responsive policy outputs, the article suggests the adoption of a system of rigorous interdisciplinary policy analysis based on integrated knowledge from the various disciplines relevant to economic policy problems.

Keywords: economic science, ideology, neo-liberalism, economic growth, sustainable development.