The political assumptions underlying the structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s were initially derived from the theory of urban bias. This paper questions the validity of those assumptions, by reference to case studies of the implementation of adjustment policies in three sub-Saharan African countries–Ghana, Malawi and Kenya. Attention is focused on the agricultural interests of the political elites in Kenya and Malawi as an impediment to implementation. A critique is then offered of the plea for authoritarian regimes as protagonists of economic liberalization. In conclusion, the prospects of using aid as leverage for political liberalization are discussed.