African Politics
African Politics

Author: Ian Taylor

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-09-20

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 0192529242

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Africa is a continent of 54 countries and over a billion people. However, despite the rich diversity of the African experience, it is striking that continuations and themes seem to be reflected across the continent, particularly south of the Sahara. Questions of underdevelopment, outside exploitation, and misrule are characteristic of many - if not most-states in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this Very Short Introduction Ian Taylor explores how politics is practiced on the African continent, considering the nature of the state in Sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. Exploring the historical and contemporary factors which account for Africa's underdevelopment, he also analyses why some African countries suffer from high levels of political violence while others are spared. Unveilling the ways in which African state and society actually function beyond the formal institutional façade, Taylor discusses how external factors - both inherited and contemporary - act upon the continent. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Dead Aid
Dead Aid

Author: Dambisa Moyo

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2009-03-17

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0374139563

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world's poorest countries.

Challenges to the Nation-state in Africa
Challenges to the Nation-state in Africa

Author: Adebayo O. Olukoshi

Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The challenges facing the nation-state in contemporary Africa are increasingly attracting the attention of scholars interested to understand how the decomposition and recomposition of popular political identities on the continent are affecting the post-colonial unitary project. The studies presented in this volume show that the challenges to the post-colonial nation-state project in Africa have mainly taken ethno-regionalist, religious and separatist forms. These challenges have been shaped by the long drawn-out economic crisis, zero-sum, market-led structural adjustment, and the legacy of decades of political authoritarianism and exclusion that dates from the colonial period. The contributors to this book present different suggestions to promote national unity and a supporting civic identity in Africa.

Contending Issues in African Development
Contending Issues in African Development

Author: Obioma M. Iheduru

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2001-02-28

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 0313001014

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Taking a forward-looking approach, this book critically examines the issues and dynamics central to Africa's problematic development and situates these issues within the contents unique cultural, political, economic, and social milieu. Moving away from a simple litany of problems bedeviling Africa's economy, the book is the culmination of several scholars' efforts to identify specific causative factors. Each chapter delineates a specific issue, demonstrates the role it plays in overall development, and speculates on probable ways to meet the challenges it poses. The major conceptual and epistemological constructs considered include the tamed African State, social capacity, management of change, reconceptualized gender roles, and economic integration. Although the contributors' various approaches diverge and disagree, the epistemological variations contribute cumulatively to an understanding of the issues at the root of Africa's slow pace of development. While traversing the spectrum of issues that affect development, the book uniquely points out that the management of change is pivotal to fostering development. The authors' efforts provide a useful base for future research and help to chart a course of action leading to success in the 21st century.

Democratization in Africa
Democratization in Africa

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1992-02-01

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 0309047978

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The global movement toward democracy, spurred in part by the ending of the cold war, has created opportunities for democratization not only in Europe and the former Soviet Union, but also in Africa. This book is based on workshops held in Benin, Ethiopia, and Namibia to better understand the dynamics of contemporary democratic movements in Africa. Key issues in the democratization process range from its institutional and political requirements to specific problems such as ethnic conflict, corruption, and role of donors in promoting democracy. By focusing on the opinion and views of African intellectuals, academics, writers, and political activists and observers, the book provides a unique perspective regarding the dynamics and problems of democratization in Africa.

Nigeria
Nigeria

Author: Julius Ihonvbere

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-11-01

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1040278868

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Nigeria is in a long-standing crisis. Military rule has suffocated civil society and has entrenched a culture of repression, corruption, and official irresponsibility. The reign of Ibrahim Babangida has resulted in near total economic disaster for the country. The situation is so bad, as Julius Ihonvbere shows, that Nigerians are now saying that the days of colonialism were better. In this major new study, Ihonvbere searches out the sources of Nigeria's predicament. He finds them in the country's historical experience, and the consequences of that experience since gaining political independence.Nigeria has become a society in which its citizens live in fear and its youth emigrate to other countries. It is now impossible to survive in the country without belonging to a certain religion, living in a particular region, having connections with top military officers, and being involved with some form of corruption. Even involvement in drug pushing or extrajudicial murder is no longer considered a crime, but a circumstance of life. Such conditions have encouraged the emergence of several popular organizations. New alliances of students, workers, women, youths, intellectuals, professionals, and the unemployed transcend ethnic, regional, and religious differences. For the author, it is at this emerging level of struggle and interaction that the future of Nigeria lies.This work examines several critical, but often overlooked or underresearched aspects of Nigeria's political economy. Ihonvbere analyzes in detail Nigeria's foreign policy, its economic crisis, the military, the decay of its educational system, and democratization. He pays particular attention to the paradoxical connection between IMF/World Bank-supervised structural adjustment and the struggle for democracy. His book will be of interest to experts hi socioeconomic development, foreign policy analysts, students of military science, and scholars of African politics and history.

The Routledge Companion to World History since 1914
The Routledge Companion to World History since 1914

Author: Chris Cook

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-01-27

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 113428179X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Routledge Companion to World History since 1914 is an outstanding compendium of facts and figures on World History. Fully up-to-date, reliable and clear, this volume is the indispensable source of information on a thorough range of topics such as: the Arab-Israeli conflict anti-semitism and the Holocaust all the world's major famines and natural disasters since 1914 whether all countries of the world have a king, president, prime minister or other governance GNP of the world's major states, year by year biographies of key figures civil rights movements the Vietnam War the rise of terrorism globalization. Thematically presented, the book covers topics relevant from the First World War to the Iraq war of 2003, and from post-colonial Africa to conflicts and movements in Southeast Asia. With maps, chronologies and full bibliography, this user-friendly reference work is the essential companion for students of history, politics and international relations, and for all those with an interest in world history.