Instruments et politiques des mesures en Afrique

Instruments of measures are more and more central in the government of contemporary Africa. They have become central in the rise of economic performance as a tool for reforming development aid and states. New ways of intervening and of producing public action in Africa emerge : quantification, experimentation, knowledge production are central in shaping contemporary states. These tools mobilize specific knowledges and experts, and put states in an ambiguous position. They are at the same time constrained by the technical infrastructure of the international interventions, and yet, they are able to manœuvre to affirm their positions, in particular on their population. These instruments create the condition of an ‘infiltration’ : international donors, rather than impose conditions from the outside, now prefer to act from the inside through techniques, measures, standards, evaluation tools and a specific vocabulary.