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- Description:
- Despite improvements in some social sectors in some countries, conditions in African countries worsened over the last two decades of the 20th century. As corporate globalization continues to make in roads into national policies and politics, further weakening the ability of African countries to act, there is a need to explore other alternatives for development in Africa. Although this article is essentially an effort to articulate a theoretical deconstruction and reconstruction of the African State, in its content, it is based on numerous empirical case studies and research projects developed by the author over the years on Africa's international relations, political economy, development, and world politics. Reconceptualizing the African state is a must because, firstly, about four decades of preoccupation with development have yielded only very meager returns. It has proven a mistake to attempt to analyze something that has not yet been seriously on the agenda, dealing mainly with symptoms related to behaviors of the state instead of its substance. Secondly, all the available evidence points to the inescapable conclusion that political conditions in Africa are the greatest impediment to development. Thirdly, despite the explosion of the number of actors in the global system and the deliberate efforts of mega financial, multinational and multilateral institutions to African States, and also despite the fact that the African systems of delivering services or performance at the national level are highly problematic, the African State is still the most visible actor in world politics. Finally, the fate of Africa's peoples and cultures has been historically defined by the dynamics of the state, especially its role in international political economy and in making alliances for its own immortality. Colonial Africa was created essentially as states and not as nations, and neo-colonial political elites inherited African States as the central agencies defining the parameters of economy, culture, and the people or citizens.The typologies used here are shaped by an historical structuralist approach that stipulates that systems, states, corporations or social institutions do not function randomly. The system is not just the sum of its elements. It is more than what is tangible. This holistic approach puts the emphasis on change. The African State in its current form is not an agent of positive social change because this state was created to advance the interests of metropolitan capitalism. Development has not started in Africa for many reasons, despite the goodwill of many Africans and African social movements. African people need to reinvent new state forms that can effectively address issues related to poverty, gender inequalities, etc. Despite corporate globalization and the struggles to dismantle welfare states, African people can learn a great deal from the policy and politics of such states.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- This paper explores the usefulness and feasibility of using emergency aid and food aid to stimulate development processes during periods of famine in Africa. The proposition that relief aid can be utilised in creative ways that directly benefit individual households by increasing the value of their assets is made in a forceful way. Diversified sources of rural income resulting from this strategy reinforce the capacity of the most vulnerable households to protect themselves against the effects of future drought. This may seem a somewhat ambitious objective. However, even under considerable personal stress people have a tremendous will to survive and to invest in their future if given the chance. If this is true, then the bulk of emergency food aid supplied to African countries is used inefficiently because it does not offer families this possibility.
- Date Issued:
- 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Date Issued:
- 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Economy
- Description:
- This paper offers a criticism of modernisation and dependency schools of thought which have retarded the ability of social work to contribute in a meaningful way to the solution of Africa's many problems. A move from a residual to a radical paradigm is urged, reflecting five key dimensions which together offer a blueprint for a way forward. Radical developmental social work of an interdisciplinary nature, guided by informed, forward-thinking profesionals and grounded in African realities may be the only answer if the profession is to survive into the next century. Perhaps only then will the social workers be able to produce a practice that meets Africa's requirements and one that deals effectively with the major concerns faced by the African peoples.
- Date Issued:
- 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- The death of Julius Nyerere in 1999 has renewed interest in the history of the socialist experiment in Tanzania and its relevance for the future of the developmetalist project in Africa. Positions on the issue have been polarized, with some commentaries based on reasoned, empirical research and analysis and others, essentially speculative, assuming a pattern that has been described as "African bashing". This article explores Nyerere's philosophy of Ujamaa as an attempt to integrate traditional African values with the demands of the post-colonial setting. As a philosophy, the central objective of Ujamaa was the attainment of a self-reliant socialist nation. The fact that its achievements were rather qualified was no doubt partly due to its inadequate appreciation of the Tanzanian reality, and the fact that it was more Utopian than practical. But this is not to deny the legitimate intentions and aspirations that informed Ujamaa as a development strategy. Implementation was a major challenge. However, in assessing how well it fared as policy, Ujamaa has to be placed side by side with comparative schemes, or alternative developments models, including the IMF/World Bank sponsored structural adjustment programmes. Given the current developmental challenges in Africa, there is need to go beyond "Africa bashing" to constructively interrogate previous developmental experiments like Nyerere's Ujamaa and ask what lessons they hold for the quest for socio-economic development in the continent.
- Date Issued:
- 2003-06-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Economic issues are critical to social development in the African context. The authors examine four areas: economics as a central social development issue, employment creation with particular reference to income generating projects, appropriate technology, and regional economic inter-dependence. Current patterns in the creation of income generating projects are analysed in detail so as to illustrate the central thesis that economic development is an essential part of social development but is more likely to be effective if practiced from a clearly social development orientation rather than from an exclusively economic development framework. The building of human capacities and self-reliance at both community and national level are also emphasised. The authors conclude that, although development is not mere economic growth, nevertheless the knowledge and skills needed to facilitate economic development should be acquired by everyone involved in social development.
- Date Issued:
- 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Journal of Social Development in Africa
- Description:
- President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron hold a joint press conference in the Rose Garden during the Prime Minister's official visit. Obama describes the close relationship which exists between the United Kingdom and the U.S. He details the topics of conversation including the war in Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program and embargo, NATO capabilities, Syrian violence, African economic development, and the world economic situation. Cameron echos Obama's remarks. Question and answer concludes the session.
- Date Issued:
- 2012-03-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- President Obama, while on a state visit to a number of African countries, meets with business leaders from across Africa to discuss investment, trade and economic growth. Held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
- Date Issued:
- 2013-07-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a meeting of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Topics include these: political corruption, economic development and the U.S. relationship with African nations.
- Date Issued:
- 2015-07-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection